Hab & Gut

Whilst the name Hab & Gut may not have the instant appeal of a title like The Adventurers, for older children and adults its simple rules and clever mechanics will appeal.

The board shows the market value of a bunch of stocks such as coffee and sugar. On each player’s turn they can choose to either buy or sell whatever shares they own – and naturally you want to buy low and sell high. But after everybody has had a turn in any given round, there is an additional round of market manipulation, where players play two cards that can either increase or decrease a stock’s value. These cards are always even numbers and vary from -6 to +6, and one card must be played at half-power (ie, a -4 card would become -2 and so on).

These market manipulation cards are on racks set between players in such a way that each player can only see the rack either side of them, and the rest of the cards are hidden from view. So each player only has a certina amount of knowledge about what cards available at any time – there’s an element of gambling in this regard.

Finally after each turn players have the option of contributing money to society by donating to their own church: a small board in front of them. At the end of the game the player who has contributed least to their church finishes last, no matter how much money they have made! – So as well as managing stock you also have to manage your church contributions – too little, and you’re looking at last place. Too much, and you may have diddled yourself out of a win.

One play of Hab and Gut and the at-first curious layout and mechanics will make sense and the next play will whizz by, and the rather dry-looking game will reveal itself as a lot of fun.