| Game Reviews From a Parental Perspective! | |
|
|
|
| Home | Forums | Review Archive | Columns | Feature Articles |
|
Home >
Columns > Unplugged > #52: Play a card game? - No Thanks!
Politeness has never been so vicious!  In the past year or two, I have found myself falling in love with card games. Not the traditional Spades, Hearts, Bridge, or Euchre mind you, but the more strategic, thematic variety that might be more commonly lumped together with German/European/Designer board games (whichever moniker you prefer to refer to the modern crop of board games that tend to be the focus of this column...) Sure, set-collecting games are OK and I do enjoy a good trick-taking game, but some recent card game titles have really hit a sweet spot for me. Take For Sale by Uberplay, for example: Players first bid for a hand of cards that represent houses, and then turn around and play those cards in an auction to sell them off to the bank. It has fairly simple mechanics and can be easily taught to new gamers without being intimidating. Coming in a fairly small box it is quick to set-up and easy to transport. They can be set-up and played very quickly, and don't need to be scheduled into an evening's plans. If a few people are standing around with a bit of extra time at a party or gathering, it is a simple proposition to get them playing a card game. All of which make card games an excellent early introduction to the world of modern board games. Since these card games often use quite untraditional mechanics, such as auctions or special powers, they serve as a taste of what can be seen in many popular modern board games. A game of No Thanks is very different from Rummy or Hearts, just as Settlers of Catan is so different from Monopoly.
 No Thanks! by Z-Man Games The newest card game to catch my fancy is No Thanks!. Originally produced in German under the name, Geschenkt!, the game is now available in English due to the efforts of Z-Man Games. It is a simple little game consisting of a deck of 32 cards, and some small plastic poker chips. Players take turns spending chips to NOT take cards, with the winner declared to be the player with the fewest points at the end of the game. It plays quick but has a surprising amount of depth to make it more than just a game of luck. Playable with three to five players, the game begins by assigning each player eleven chips. Each chip represents -1 point. As the goal is to have the fewest points at the end of the game, chips are quite important. A deck of cards labeled from 3 to 35 is then shuffled with nine cards then secretly removed entirely from the game. The first player then flips over the top card and must take it into their collection or say "No Thanks" by placing one of their chips onto the card. Players continue to place chips onto the exposed card until someone is willing to take the card and its associated chips. Thus, a number 25 card with five chips on it is the equivalent of 20 points. In the long run, chips are more valuable than their -1 value when large-numbered cards show up. Having one more chip than your neighbor may mean they will be the one picking up that 35 point card and not you.
 When all the cards have been distributed, players count up their point totals. As mentioned, each chip is worth -1 point, and cards are worth their face value. However, if you have a contiguous run of cards (say, the 24, 25, and 26) then ONLY the lowest valued card in the set is counted for points. So, having the following cards: 16, 17, 18, 25, and 26 would result in a score of 16 + 25 = 41 points! (Minus any chips remaining...) I find the game fun as there are actually several viable strategies for winning. One can try to take as few cards as possible, spending chips on any card even remotely large in value, hoping to be able to last the game without running out and being forced to take a high value card. Another option is to take a moderately high card early, and then hope for more cards to appear that are next to it in value. For instance, if I own the 33 card, I might refuse to take the 34 card if it appears, and make everyone else place another chip or two before I finally take it into my hand. This strategy can sometimes backfire ﾖ a player's taken cards are displayed for all to see, but their chips left are not common knowledge. A player may be forced into taking a high-value card due to a lack of remaining chips. Both styles of play are very viable, and I have won using each of them and some strategies in-between. Since a player's cards are always visible, there is often a friendly rivalry between players as they all realize one player may actually want a card, but is forcing her opponents to continue to pay out chips in order to avoid taking it themselves. Playable in 20 minutes or even less, this is a great little party game. Unfortunately, the player limit caps at 5, so it doesn't accommodate as many as some other games. However, it is quickly played so everyone can get up and try another game or sit and play yet another round (far more likely). In my book, No Thanks! is the current champion of games that can fit in my pocket (barely). It has a little something for almost all playing styles ﾖ the strategist, the new gamer, the young gamer ﾖ without failing any of them. Kid Factor: No Thanks! should be accessible to quite a broad age range, all the way down to kids around 10 or 11 years old. Some might need a little help adding up their scores at the end. Younger kids could easily play within the rules of the game, but the strategy of the game will be reduced as they will tend to not grasp the forward-planning involved in the game and may revert to just trying to gain as many chips as they can. While this will prevent them from winning the game, even this style of play can be accounted for in a one's strategy and the rest of the players can still enjoy a reasonably strategic game. The poker chips are the inexpensive tiny plastic ones, so be sure to keep them out of the hands of little ones who might try to swallow them...
|
Read the GamerDad 2007 Holiday Guide!
|
Please Note: GamerDad is not intended to be read by anyone under 18. We stay clean, but be warned! Content Management System developed by Redbird Solutions. |
