Designed by: Chris Anderson
In Vino Morte poses a simple decision – to drink, or not to drink?
There is a deck of cards – nine are wine, nine are poison. At the start of the game, one player chooses what to give to whom: everyone receives a face-down card. The starting player knows who has what, but nobody else knows anything. Starting on the dealer’s left and proceeding clockwise, players then make a simple choice: drink, or swap. If they drink, they reveal their card – if it’s wine, they are safe. If it’s poison, they’re dead – and out of the game!
If instead you choose to swap – because you suspect you have poison – you can swap your card with any still-hidden card around the table, including the dealer. When everyone but the dealer has drunk or swapped, all still-hidden cards are revealed: anyone with poison ‘dies’ and anyone with wine survives to play the next round – with the last risk-taking sommelier the winner!
It's the scene from The Princess Bride (you know the one), in a brilliantly simple micro game.
Plenty. Everyone is actively trying to poison each other.
Low
None on the rules. Maybe a little on figuring out whether someone is bluffing, double-bluffing, triple-bluffing - or maybe just clean forgot.
Ironically, it's not a game that offers much variety at all. But it normally plays in five minutes and it's one of those that will hit the mark for gamers who like a bit of table-talk and bluster.
3-8
Players
8+
Years
5-15
Mins
Sam says
It's so ludicrously simple it has the same why didn't I think of that? flavour as games like The Mind and Can't Stop. Simple, yet more-ish and boisterous fun for the right crowd. No puzzling or optimization here; no resource-gathering or engine-building. Just silly take-that bluff and guesswork in 18 cards and what nonsense the players themselves bring to the table.