Designed by: Katja Stremmel
Krass Kariert (- Checkered Combos in German) is a kind-of trick-taking card game where you just need to avoid finishing last. The deck is made up of cards numbered from 1-12 (with four of each number).
Each player is given three life tokens and dealt a number of cards (the number varies on player count) into their hand, plus two reserve cards that are face-up in front of them. Play begins with starting player playing any number of cards from their hand to the table, and, unlike many trick-taking games, each subsequent player must play a stronger card – or cards. The hierarchy is not dissimilar to poker hands – a ‘run’ of two cards beats a single card, a pair beats a run of two, a run of three beats a pair, and three-of-a-kind beats everything. Within that framework, higher numbers beat lower numbers!
The catch is that when your cards are dealt you cannot rearrange your hand – instead you must try and be rid of all your cards by playing singles, runs or sets – but taking cards from your hand that must be adjacent!
If a player runs out of cards they are safe (for this round!), while the others keep playing. If you can’t (or don’t want to) take a turn, you can add a reserve card into your hand (choosing where to put it) but if you’re out of reserve cards and still can’t go, you’re bust. You’re also bust if you’re the only player left with cards – in either scenario, you lose one of your life tokens, and a new round begins.
There’s also some rogue cards too that add a bit more unpredictability: a Stop card that you can play to instantly win the current hand (helpful because the winner of a hand starts the next hand) a Re-draw card you can play to force the winner of a hand to pick up more cards, and an X card that functions as a joker – it can represent anything you like (but must still follow the adjacency rule when played)
As soon as one player who has no life tokens left loses a round, the game is over and everybody else wins.
I've enjoyed my couple of plays of this - playing different combos of cards is always fun but isn't often a feature of relatively lightweight games like this. I wonder if it was developed without the restriction on moving your cards around, or if that was in there from the start. It's a nice twist, forcing you to manage your hand on the fly; almost a game within the game. Solid.
The only take-that type element is the redraw card, which can harpoon your hopes of getting out.
Slim.
Rules are fairly light, but players do have decisions to make. That said, your decisions are often dictated by circumstance!
A fairly fast-moving game with randomness guaranteed in the dealing. Some may not enjoy the lack of control, but it's a fast-moving half-hour.
3-4
Players
8+
Years
15-30
Mins
Sam says
It's an interesting twist, the non-moving of cards, that reminded me of Bohnanza, where you are also somewhat beholden to the order the cards arrive in your hand. With Krass Kariert however, those restrictions are felt to the nth degree, as your possible run of 10-11-12 is broken up by a lousy 2 that you can't seem to get rid of! An intriguing game, albeit probably not one I'd request over some other excellent trick-takers - see recommended links on the left.