Its not exactly a board game, but has anyone here played Gaslands? Its a miniatures combat game that uses toy cars (hot wheels, matchbox, etc). Looks really cool and has gotten a lot of positive buzz recently. I ordered the rulebook and deluxe tokens, but they haven’t arrived yet.
I did! I had to go back to the rulebook 3 times to figure out exactly how happiness worked when you had to calculate it manually instead of the app handling it.
I just played a couple of round of Bargain Quest. Seems really neat. Has anyone else tried it?
So what are your favorite games that are just a deck of cards? I don’t mean like 52 playing cards, just where the whole game is nothing more than cards?
I’m looking for recommendations that can handle a few people, not just solitaire games (I’ve already got Onirim, what more do I need?), and I definitely don’t want “collectible card games”.
I’ve got Sushi Go, that’s a fun, light, party game, and I’ve got Star Realms, which was my introduction to “deck builders” and a lot of fun.
One of Seiji Kanai’s Lost Legacy games – I think they come in packs of two – or Lovecraft Letter:
-Tom
Ok, Race for the Galaxy is a good one that scales to larger player counts. The only non card items are score tokens.
Ditto Ascension, however the iOS app basically completely outdated the physical game.
Citadels, Codenames, Seven Wonders are all also card driving with very minimal other components (mostly score tokens, or coin tokens)
Love Letter is 100% cards
Edit: @tomchick beat me to Love Letter ;)
Oh, duh, how did I forget Citadels? I have that one already too, as well as Codenames, but I couldn’t decide if I should count Codenames as a card game. But this was a pretty arbitrary question in the first place, so sure, we’ll count Codenames.
For the first time, I actually sat down to play (and teach!) a physical copy of Through the Ages, something I’ve played over 50 games of on the app.
It was even worse and more painful than I could ever imagine…
I have it on good authority that Tom is a closet Citadels fan…
I’d recommend checking out Small Box Games - most of their stuff is 2 player, but there’s at least one four player game from them. The Warhammer Quest Adventure Card Game is no longer in print due to the end of the Games Workshop/Fantasy Flight licensing deal but if you can find a copy at a reasonable price (and I don’t think it’s skyrocketed yet) it’s pretty solid.
There’s also a couple options from Level 99 if the goal is more “the game is card-based” and less “this is the size of a deck of cards”, including BattleCON, an awesome card-based fighting game (mainly for 2 player but there are variants), and Millenium Blades, which simulates the entire collectible card gaming hobby without actually being a collectible card game. That’s piles and piles and PILES of cards…
Do you think so? Is it because it makes all the add-on content more manageable than dealing with multiple boxes for the physical version?
I’ve got the base game and the first two expansions, but I wouldn’t want to get rid of them. A mostly simple game like Ascension really benefits from the physicality of the cards and the larger artwork. Of course, it’s been years since I’ve touched a physical version of Ascension, so you’re probably right.
-Tom
I highly recommend Fuji Flush if you’d like a game that’s easy to teach, can accommodate 3 to 8 players equally well and is a quote a bit of fun.
Don’t get put off by the simple artwork. The rules seem strange when you first read them but it’s a really cool little design.
I’d also consider Fugitive if a 2 player game is ok. It pits one player as The Marshall Vs a Fugitive trying to escape. The while game is a cool mind game where both players try to get into the other’s head. My teenage kids have been been asking to play it regularly and it even had seen play with colleagues at work where we never play games otherwise. It also comes in a really neat package.
I ordered mine directly from the designer’s website and it arrived very quickly. Unfortunately, it seems to be out of stock there for a while (until summer).
7th Continent, though it’s a fair bit bigger than a deck of 52… ;)
Ok, so it has a standee to represent each player, and a couple dice but they just act as durability trackers on the cards.
Omen Reign of War is an excellent card game for two though can be hard to obtain. It seems to be reprinted every year or two.
Wyatt Earp and the Mystery Rummy series are very good. Wyatt Earp is my family’s favorite and plays four. Diamonds is a great card game using a special deck designed by Mike Fitzgerald who is creator of the Mystery Rummy series (and partnered on Wyatt Earp). This is a great game for family and friends. Mike was heavily involved with Pokeman IIRC.
Among the Stars is a game made of cards too.
The old game Illuminati by Steve Jackson also cards. We used to play that a lot in my younger days. Not sure if it holds up though.
Well if you decide you don’t want it I will buy dynasty from from you for it’s cost plus shipping.
For those skeptics that TI4 isn’t better than TI3.
I played a 5 player game with 4 new players in 5 hours and had time to play a 4 player game of Rising Sun with 2 new players. Not a bad bit of gaming on Sunday. It’s not enough you can say your starter game was Twilight Imperium!
Because we all should forget it. It truly is one of the worst games ever designed.
I’d suggest both Mundus Novus and Abyss, both co-designed by Bruno Cathala. Mundus is a kind of eurogame folded into a punchy, gin rummy-esque set collection system with one of the best trading mechanisms I’ve ever seen in a game. Abyss has gorgeous artwork and theme laid over a solid, deep, thoughtful-but-not-overly-taxing card game. It gets better every time you play too, as you begin to understand the interplay between the various systems.
Just got notice that my 7th Continent shipped. Woo! Anyone played it already and have tips for my first game?