As the title suggest this review explains how this has become the number one game for my two young children, and I think would suit many other children. I have been a convert to this game ever since picking it up in Essen. I love it. Many do and certainly some don’t. This negative reviewand the discussion thread afterwards provides both sides of this debate. For my part I side with <PERSON>– while not a “deep” game there are definitely some interesting tactical decisions to be made. Bottom line I find it fun. And very, very addictive!
The Game
If you already know about the game from others reviews skip this bit. In case you have ended up here first the game works like this:
- There are 16 cards with 8 different characters, between 5 and 1 copies of each
- Each player holds a single card
- On your turn you draw a second card and must then play and discard one of them
- Each card has an effect when played, usually on other players
- You win by knocking all other players out of the game
- OR by having the highest numbered card in your hand when the decks runs out.
Courtesy mudshark_baby
A few examples of gameplay with 2 players can help to give an idea of how the game works. I have ripped these (with minor tweaks) from Zimeon’sgreat that for me gives a good feel for how the game plays.
[cards are dealt] [plays Soldier – if you guess the other players card they are eliminated] "you're the princess" [haven't looked at card] "no" [looks at card] "Sorry, yes" [explosion]
[draws card, Plays Soldier] –"You're the princess" –"No" [draws card, plays soldier] "But you are!" – "No" [draws card, Plays Clown: see other players card] "Can I see your princess?" – "No, but you can see this" [shows <PERSON>, draws card, plays <PERSON>: player with lowest value card is eliminated] –"but we can compare!" [shows <PERSON>, rank 7] –"………" [shows <PERSON>, rank 8] [massive rofl erupting]
[plays general] "We change cards!" [gets <PERSON> and gives away a Wizard]”Ha Ha”[next player uses <PERSON>: other player must discard their card][player discards <PERSON>: if discarded loose the game] [massive rofl erupting]
[cards are dealt] [shows <PERSON> and <PERSON>: highest ranked card in the game] "I win!"
Can my children play it?
So my children are 4 (<PERSON>) and 7 (<PERSON>) years old. <PERSON> knows his letters and numbers beyond 20 but cannot read or do maths. <PERSON> can read pretty well. They both have a reasonable amount of games experience (see for some titles they play - needs updated now though).
When I first taught it, I got them to play a 2 player game and had to read all the cards to <PERSON>. 755
I also had to explain some of the cards to <PERSON>. This did not put them off and they continued to play a few games over a couple of days. When we picked it up again a month or so later they could remember the basic rules and the characters came back to them pretty quickly. As there are only 8 characters in the game it is pretty easy to remember what they all do without having to read the text. <PERSON> could quickly make the decisions for himself without any explanation. Initially these could be bad decisions - playing the Knight [lowest ranked player is eliminated] when holding a Soldier [Rank 1]. He has now learned to avoid such an obvious mistake and is starting to pick up on some subtleties. So any child that can read can easily play and younger children, eg age 4, can be taught to play pretty quickly.
Why is it so good for children?
Simple rules
Pick a card up, play a card. Winner is last man standing or highest card at end. Explained and remembered quickly .
Simple card set
Each card has little text so any reading while learning is minimal. While I am less familiar with the AEG version the Japon brand art is also quite distinctive for each character and also to my eye appealing to children. With only 8 different cards in play children can quickly memorise their effects. This not only avoids the need to read cards but allows children to start to think about the strategy, deduce what cards other players are holding and quickly learn the common pitfalls and combos of certain cards.
Short play time
A game will generally last a 2-3 minutes. 755