Every now and then a game comes along that people say should be in everyone’s board game library. Is The Game one of those games? Why should The game be in everyone’s board game library?
The Game should be in everyone’s board game library because it’s fun, fast, strategic, replayable, easy to learn, and you can play it with anyone. In short, The Game is a great game that is a modern classic.
Table of Contents
What Is The Game?
The Game is a card game that came out in 2015. Since then, it has sold over a million copies, which, if you don’t know, is a big deal in the board gaming world if you’re not named Hasbro or are a similar big-time company.
Back-Of-The-Box Facts About The Game
- Player Count: 1-5
- Time To Play: 20 minutes
- Age Range: 8 and up
- Difficulty: Beginner/Easy
- Price Range: $10-$15
- Release Year: 2015
- Publisher(s): Pandasaurus Games
- Designer(s): Steffen Benndorf
- Artist(s): Kwanchai Moriya and Jason D. Kingsley
- Where To Buy: Amazon, Pandasaurus Games
How To Play The Game
It plays one to five players, and it plays in about 20 minutes or less. It’s a game all about working with the other players to play numbered cards in rows (always at least two) with the ultimate goal of playing all of them. If you do, you win. If not, your only consolation is seeing how many you have left and hoping it’s a pretty small number (10 or less is excellent according to The Game).
There are catches to this, of course. Two of the four rows start with a card numbered one, and the other two rows start with a card numbered 100. In the rows starting with one, you can only play cards that are higher than the last card played. In the rows starting with 100, you can only play cards that are lower than the last card played.
You can break this rule by playing a card that is exactly 10 away from the last card played though. For example, in a row starting with 100, if the last card played was a 63, you could play a 73 so that you could play cards 72 down instead of just 62 down.
Alternatively, if the last card played in a row starting with one was again a 63, you could play a 53 so you could play cards 54 and up as opposed to only 64 and up.
Also, you can talk to each other and strategize just so long as you don’t tell anyone what cards you have in your hand.
Why The Game Should Be In Everyone’s Board Game Library
There are several reasons The Game should be in everyone’s board game library. Let’s start with how fast it plays.
It Plays Fast
On your turn, at a minimum, you’re only ever playing two cards. These two cards can be played to any row, even separate rows if you want, but you only ever have to play two. You can play more if you want, but that may not be a good idea.
Still, even if you played every card in your hand, turns are over in seconds, usually less than a minute. Since there are only 98 cards to play and it’s likely you won’t be able to play all of them, that means The Game goes by fast.
And that’s awesome.
It’s Easy To Understand But Difficult To Master
There are only so many rules in The Game. Most of them tell you how to play cards and what the exceptions to those rules are. The rest talk about setup and how to win.
The Game is an easy game to play, but playing all 98 of those cards or even coming close to it? That’s another story entirely.
This also leads to another reason why The Game is amazing.
It’s Frustrating In A Fun Way
Since you can never show or tell other players what you have in your hand, the most you can do is hint that you might have a good card for one of the rows. Even if you do though, that doesn’t mean one of the other players isn’t forced to play a card that messes up everyone’s plans.
Sometimes that’s how The Game goes. Sometimes you just can’t play anything good. You know it’s going to mess up The Game, that The Game wants you to mess it up, but you have to do it anyway.
But that’s the fun of The Game. You know these situations are going to happen and all you can do is laugh about them because The Game makes you feel like you’re letting everyone down, but since there’s nothing you can really do about it, everyone, including you, gets to laugh. If you can’t, then you’re playing the game the wrong way.
It Has Luck But Not Too Much Luck
So, yes, The Game does have luck, but not too much luck! I like a little bit of luck in my games (I’m always grateful to whatever forces that be that I have any luck in the games I play or life in general), but what’s great about The Game is that you always have enough cards in your hand and rows to play those cards in that you have at least some options.
Most of the time.
And you are already prepared for those situations where you can’t play anything good (or anything at all sometimes) because you can understand how The Game is played right away. So, you know sometimes you’re going to end up in a bad spot you can’t do too much about.
The good news is it rarely happens, and you’re not alone.
It’s Cooperative
Not every game needs to be cooperative. Many of my favorite games aren’t, but The Game is, and that works really well for The Game.
Dealing with the hilarious frustration and brain-burning strategy of The Game alone would be tough. I know The Game can be played solo, but I haven’t yet, and I prefer to play games with other people. If you do play games solo, I fully support you, but that way of playing just isn’t for me right now.
But it’s fun to work out The Game with your friends. It’s also fun to see it all go up in smoke with them too, but again, that’s just how The Game goes sometimes.
You’ll Want To Play It Again, And It’s Easy To Do So
The first time I played The Game, I played it three times. Even that wasn’t enough. I’m not even sure if I beat The Game that I’ll want to stop.
That’s just how much fun The Game is. And playing The Game over and over is easy because it plays so fast and is so easy to set up for another round. That’s what makes it such a great filler game.
You Can Play With Anyone
The Game is the sort of game anyone can understand and play. I don’t think little kids would truly get it or have fun with it, but I think The Game is right when it says kids eight and up can play it.
But playing with anyone is about more than just age. It’s about whether or not you can play with families (you can). It’s about whether or not you can play with your parents when you’re older (you can).
Basically, when I say The Game can be played with anyone, I mean anyone.
It’s Just Plain Fun
The Game is just fun. You have a good time while playing it even when you’re losing horribly. The art looks good, the cards feel good, it encourages you to talk and work with your friends and family, you can play it fast and put it away or break it out for another round, and so on and so on. The Game is the game and the game is fun.
Did You Know?
(Each time you refresh the page you will get a new “Did You Know” fact!)
Did you know that the biggest board game convention in the world is in Germany? It’s called Internationale Spieltage SPIEL but is usually called Essen Game Fair. It takes place in Essen, Germany, and features over 1,000 exhibitors from lots of countries. It has also regularly had over 100,000, or sometimes over 200,000 people attend.
By comparison, Gen Con, which takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana has only recently climbed over 60,000 and has only neared the 70,000 mark once so far.
Conclusion: Why The Game Should Be In Everyone’s Library
I love The Game, and I hope you do too after this article. The good thing is if you give The Game a chance and you’re not a fan, you won’t be out much money. But I don’t think that will happen.
Give The Game a shot, and let me know what you think about it in the comments below.
And, as always, keep on gaming, fellow board gamers.
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