Most people remember a round of pitch as an argument around the kitchen table about scores and whose card was trump. How does one keep score? Pitch balances between chaotic family fun and structure of contract bridge. The bidding feels serious for thirty seconds until someone forget whether they bid three or four. And by … Read more

By the end of Red Rising, it doesn’t feel much like a board game at all. It’s more like taking an accounting test in a firefight. Hours have passed as you’ve shuffled ships around, brokered deals with politicians, and secured contract. And now everybody sits down for the hard part. Scoring in this game is … Read more

On the last hole of a round of Golf card game (and we do mean Golf), a particular kind of panic sets in. There are two decks, six friends, and a mental math problem that would more aptly appear on a calculus test. Who knocked? Did someone knock back? And what about those penalties and … Read more

When you’re playing Phase 10, you’ll get to the later stages of the game where somebody has gone out and laid down their hand for all to see. Now it’s time to sift through what’s left in your hands, slap on some penalty points, recalculate your score and not make eye contact with whoever just … Read more

Unlike most card games that end in the blink of an eye with a quick point deduction or flip of some chips, Hand and Foot end with an audit. With six pile of cards each for every person plus two decks, there’s plenty of mathematical chaos to make a spreadsheet shed tears. The score sheet … Read more

When somebody yells that they’re going out, it’s over. For a split second, nobody budges. Then, well … chaos follows. Hands is slapped onto the table. Cards are neatly stacked in piles. Everybody debates who has what, their voices getting louder with every argument or victory. Suddenly, 500 Rummy is no longer about luck and … Read more

The problem is that most board game evenings end with a mad dash to count your points accurately. Hey, there are only five minutes left. There goes the park deck. Oh no, I forgot about those 10 points in my back pocket. What should of be a climactic moment of strategy becomes instead a bureaucratic … Read more