During my descent into the card game cavern, I started picking up nice looking playing cards (check out Steve Minty cards for some truly gorgeous ones) and I’ve been spoiled by the feel of a high quality card in my hand. One thing that doesn’t quite match the classic mold is the card quality. All the typical trick taking tropes work in concert with a more hobby-centric, combo style game making creating something that resembles a classic card game with more modern sensibilities. Leading the next trick means you dictate the flow of play. Taking a card from the draw pile gives you more information and allows you to hide a weak card. More than half of the cards in the game have an ability and each one is a tool that helps you manipulate the game state in your favor. When you lose with a 1 card you lead the next trick, dulling the sting of getting dealt the lowest card in the game. The 5 card, for example, allows you to draw the top card from the draw deck and then return any card from your hand to the bottom of the deck. The 7 card awards an immediate victory point to the winner of the trick.Įvery odd card in the game has an associated power that activates when played. It’s the replacement to the uncertainty that multiple opponents ordinarily introduces, but it isn’t the only trick this Fox has up its sleeves. Where you might ordinarily hesitate to play a 10 card when you know an 11 card will beat it, now you can gamble and hope that any card that would beat yours isn’t in play. Setting aside a small draw deck that isn’t dealt to the players introduces a bit of uncertainty into the equation. Luckily, The Fox in the Forest adds some chaos into the mix in two distinct ways: not dealing out every card and a bunch of card powers. In a two player game, having complete information would make the puzzle fairly trivial. It’s the unknown variable that makes it a game and not merely a puzzle for you to ruminate. In all the trick taking games I’ve played, every card is dealt so you can keep track of every card in play, just not exactly who has what. It wasn’t until I started tracking cards and keeping mental notes did I begin to recognize a good play from a bad one. I won’t claim to have a great handle on advanced card game strategery, but I do know that keeping track of cards played and piecing together which cards might be played by which players goes a long way towards not only winning, but actually understanding what’s going on. I’m sure there are other trick taking games that work or are even explicitly designed for two player, but The Fox in the Forest is a first for me. As much as the games, especially trick takers, tread in the same waters and hit similar notes, it’s the unique spins that the designer puts on the game that makes it sing its own song. Seeing how varied a simple deck of cards can be manipulated by designers to make all sorts of different games has been enlightening. I was a card game newbie at the time and I’ve since brushed up on my card game knowledge with the help of a guide and by playing a multitude of other card games. I previously reviewed Anansi and the Box of Stories and chastised it for its poor rulebook and inability to explain a major concept of trick taking games. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game is, strangely enough, declared the winner. Multiple hands are played until one player reaches 21 points which signals the last hand of the game.
The number of tricks you won that hand determines the number of points you earn. The winner of the trick leads the next and play continues until all 13 cards are depleted from the players’ hands. Whoever played the highest valued card in the lead suit wins the trick, unless a card in the trump suit was played. If they have no cards in their hand of the same suit, they may play any card in their hand. The starting player leads the trick and the other player must play a card of the same suit. The top card of the draw deck is turned face up and establishes the trump suit.
Each player is dealt a hand of 13 cards and the remaining cards are set aside to make the draw deck. The deck of cards consists of 3 different suits with values ranging from 1 to 11. The Fox in the Forest is a trick taking game made for two players. I mean it’s just a card game, but some eye candy wouldn’t hurt.”Īnd they lived happily ever after … that’s how games are made, right? “Oh yeah? Well, I was just drawing some pictures of a fox and fairy tale stuff. It’s actually going to be a trick taking game.” “Hey, so I have this idea for a card game.
0 kommentar(er)
