Monday 24 October 2011

Board / Card Games: What's Hot Now: Top 10 Card Games of 2005

Board / Card Games: What's Hot Now
These articles that had the largest increase in popularity over the last week // via fulltextrssfeed.com
Top 10 Card Games of 2005
Oct 24th 2011, 10:07

This is the first year I've separated card games into their own year-end list, and there's a good reason: 2005 was a fantastic year for card games. These are my picks for the best card games published in 2005.

1. Control Nut

For 2 to 4 players, designed by James Miller, published by James Miller. This independent game is not widely available, but if you enjoy trick-taking games do yourself a favor and find a copy. The game begins with an auction: four "control" cards are sold to the highest bidder (bidding is done with the regular cards). Then, trick-taking begins. But only some of the cards (those marked with stars) have scoring value -- so it's important to use your hand wisely. Best as a partnership game.

2. Harry's Grand Slam Baseball

For 2 players, designed by Harry Obst, published by Out of the Box Publishing. Back in 1962, Obst designed this fun, fast-playing game. Thankfully, Out of the Box is introducing it to a new generation. Players each draw a hand of three cards, and then play them one at a time to their best advantage. At some point, you'll have to play an out on yourself -- and give your opponent a hit. Managing your team, using pinch hitters and relief pitchers effectively... it does feel like a baseball game.

3. Saboteur

For 3 to 10 players, designed by Frederic Moyersoen, published by Amigo Spiel and Z-Man Games. The dwarves are looking for gold, but one -- or more -- of them might be a saboteur and uninterested in sharing with the team. Players dig through underground tunnels trying to find the gold, but they can also break each others' tools, peek at hidden cards, or dig a tunnel that leads the wrong way. Players are dealt a hand of six cards to start; at the end, the dwarf with the most gold wins.

4. Forbidden

For 2 to 4 players, designed by Philip Orbanes, published by Winning Moves. Mah Jongg meets Gin Rummy in this game from Orbanes, who also designed the Clue and Monopoly card games. Players work to score 200 points by forming sets and using the powerful but dangerous "forbidden" cards cleverly. The royal cards (emperor, empress, rooster and monkey) also must be handled wisely, and the three wild cards can be used to help complete sets. Forbidden is a welcome challenge.

5. Poison

For 3 to 6 players, designed by Reiner Knizia, published by Playroom Entertainment. The components are simple: 42 potion cards, 8 poison cards and 3 cauldron boards. The cards are all dealt to the players, who take turns playing one card per turn. When the value of the cards in a cauldron exceeds 13, the player who caused this to happen takes those cards. The goal is to have the lowest score, which means taking fewer cards is better. But no Knizia game is really that simple: there are twists.

6. Trump, Tricks, Game!

For 3 to 4 players, designed by Gunter Burkhardt, published by Phalanx Games. This game starts with the standard: 52 cards divided into 4 suits of 13 cards each. But the way the cards are customized and how they're scored make Trump, Tricks, Game! unusual. In the first three rounds, each player can only win three tricks and earns points for cards with footprints on them. In the fourth round, players try to win as many tricks as possible, especially aiming for the high-scoring red cards.
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7. Drive

For 2 players, designed by Michael Schacht, published by SimplyFun. Believe it or not, in 2003 this game was known as Crazy Chicken. But SimplyFun has, for me at least, given it a much improved theme (classic cars). Tough decisions await players on almost every turn, as they try to play the largest sets of each kind of car -- because only the largest sets score points.

8. Street Illegal

For 1 to 7 players, designed by Heinrich Glumpler, published by Z-Man Games. Racing across a variety of terrain, players try to be in the lead after the eighth track card is played. (The game comes with 20 track cards; since only eight are used each time, there's a nice variety of racing possibilities.) Players are given eight tempo cards, used to determine speed and handling. Street Illegal's artwork -- including time-lapse photography -- is striking, and the gameplay is no less impressive.

9. Ice Cream

For 3 to 5 players, designed by Joseph Huber, published by Face 2 Face Games. Mmm... ice cream. Building ice cream cones to fill orders won't help me stick to my diet, but it does make for an entertaining card game. Players use their gallon cards to match the scoop cards, scoring points for making customers happy. There's just enough strategy mixed in with the luck to make the game Ice Cream just as tasty as its junk food namesake.

10. Havoc: The Hundred Years War

For 2 to 6 players, designed by K.C. Humphrey, published by Sunriver Games. Players recruit soldiers to form sets which are used to win victory points in battle. Cards are played up to six at a time, in Poker-like groups, to win the battles. The Dogs of War are used to retrieve cards; they can also help in other ways. Even when you can, the best choice is not always to win a battle, because doing so can leave you to weak to compete in future skirmishes. Havoc presents interesting challenges.

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