A while back, I reviewed Tichu, the classic climbing game. For those who don’t feel like finding the review, let me save you the trouble: it’s a terrific game. You should buy it, okay? But here’s its one weakness: it requires four people. Yeah, I know you can play Tichu three-handed. But that’s pretty clearly not the way it was meant to be played. It involves dummy hands, switching partnerships, and individual scoring. It works, but it’s not ideal. And forget about even trying Tichu with two people. It doesn’t work. So what is the short-handed Tichu addict supposed to do?
The answer used to be “play something else,” but that’s no longer the case. Because a couple of years ago, Haggis dropped like a sheep’s stomach full of tense play and climbing-game goodness. Haggis is essentially a climbing game meant for two or three players. By “climbing game,” I mean that it’s something along the line of <PERSON> or <PERSON>. The person who leads plays a certain kind of combination, and the other players must play a higher form of the same combination (like say, a higher set of three cards) or pass. The person who plays the highest combo takes the cards. <PERSON> has a couple of key points that distinguish it from other climbing games. First of all, each player has three wild cards, an unsuited <PERSON>, <PERSON>, and <PERSON>. These can be used to form combinations, or as a bomb (more on those in a minute). This is nice because it keeps someone with the “best hand” from just steamrolling the other players. There’s always a possibility that those wilds will create something even bigger. Secondly, the hand combinations are a little different. Since there are five suits, you can play anywhere from a single card to five of a kind plus all three wilds, to make eight of a kind. If you play a sequence of cards, they all have to be in the same suit. 755
You can also play two or more identical sequences in different suits. Those sequences are difficult to form sometimes, so the wilds are a welcome addition.
Let’s talk about bombs. In Tichu, a bomb is any straight flush or four-of-a-kind. They can be played out of turn to win the trick, and then can only be beaten by a bigger bomb. They are fairly rare, and it’s a cause of rejoicing when you are dealt one. In Haggis, there are bombs that can be formed from your hand, but your wild cards can also be formed into a variety of different bombs. So everyone has at least one bomb in a hand. This isn’t a problem though, because people don’t often use their wilds this way. Why? Because winning with a bomb gets you the lead, but requires you to give the cards won to your opponent. All cards that can form bombs are point cards, so it can be a real wrench to give your opponent points from your hand to get the lead. Sometimes it’s necessary, but usually only as a last resort. It’s a terrific way to assure that bombs don’t throw the game off too much, and it makes for one of the most difficult choices in the game.
One reason that Tichu works is because of the act of calling “Tichu!” If you think you can go out first, you can stake some points on it. <PERSON> allows for this as well. Before you make your first play you can make a big bet or a little bet, which will bet 30 or 15 points, respectively. If you go out first, you get the points. Otherwise they go to your opponent. In this respect, I feel that Tichu does better. Part of this boils down to the more complex combos available in Haggis, which make it more difficult to assess your hand and decide whether or not to bet. This gets better with experience, but it didn’t come as naturally to me as it did in Tichu. The other factor is that most of your points in Haggis come from going out. You receive five points per card in your opponent’s hand. So if you storm through and stick them with a hand full of cards, you will score more than you will from a bet. In Tichu, the bulk of points is scored from successful Tichus, so the temptation to call “Tichu” is very strong. Bets work in Haggis, but they don’t quite capture the same sense of risk.
But overall this game works. 755