Category: card-based game

Tonight I thought I'd feature another card game. Amber and I read Rapunzel's Revenge earlier this week, so I decided to stick with the Wild West theme. Bang! created by Emiliano Sciarra, published by daVinci games "The Outlaws hunt the Sheriff. The Sheriff hunts the Outlaws. The Renegade plots secretly, ready to take one side or the other. Bullets fly. Who among the gunmen is a Deputy, ready to sacrifice himself for the Sheriff? And who is a merciless Outlaw, willing to kill him? If you want to find out, just draw (your cards)!" This card game recreates an old-fashioned spaghetti western shoot-out, with each player randomly receiving a Character card to determine special abilities, and a secret Role card to determine their goal. All the roles are kept facedown, except the Sheriff, so it may take a little while to figure out who's on which side. There are Bang! cards to shoot with, guns that have different ranges, Missed and Dodge cards and horses...

Rat-a-Tat Cat designed by Ann and Monty Stambler, published by Gamewright Description: A game of suspense, strategy, and anticipation. Get rid of the rats and go for the cats! Sneak a peek, draw two, or swap cards for an added twist.  In Rat-a-Tat Cat, less is always better, and you want to go out with the lowest score. Can you remember the numbers on the other players' cards? Can you keep a poker face, but notice when another player looks pleased? Sharpen your memory and your timing, and have fun with the cool cats and bad rats of Rat-a-Tat Cat.   My thoughts: This is a great family game, recommended for ages 6 and up. Basically at the beginning, each player is dealt four face-down cards. You can only look at two of them though. By drawing and replacing the cards, swapping, and peeking, each player tries to get the lowest score they can. When someone calls Rat-a-Tat Cat at the end of their turn, each...

Dominion by Rio Grande Games Author: Donals X. Vaccarino, Development: Valerie Putman & Dale Yu, Illustration & Layout: Matthias Catrein Description: In Dominion, each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the center of the table is a selection of other cards the players can "buy" as they can afford them. Through their selection of cards to buy, and how they play their hands as they draw them, the players construct their deck on the fly, striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points by game end. From the back of the box:  You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams! You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion! In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and feodums. All are small bits of land,...