Designed by: Carlo Bortolini
The game that sounds like a pirate’s autobiography is actually an exceedingly simple undertaking where memory – enemy of mid-life specimens such as GNG – plays a key part.
The games’ several cards – each showing one animal and one background – are laid out in a 5 x 5 grid, face down. The central card gets several Treasure cards and Volcano cards placed on top of it – more on those momentarily.
Each player gets to secretly look at the three cards closest to them, and then Memoarrr! begins with the starting player flipping a single card. From then on, play is simple: on your turn, flip over a card that matches either the previously-flipped cards animal, or its background. If you fail, you’re out of the round and pick up volcano card. The last player standing gets a treasure card, which has a hidden value of between 2-4 points on the back. But you can’t look at it yet!
A new round then begins with all the cards flipped face-down and the Volcano cards returned to the stack. In theory, you’re gaining more and more information – or at least, opportunity to register it – in every round, but it’s surprisingly hard to remember the identity of 24 cards, and one card is of course unavailable for the whole game, hidden beneath the volcano and treasure cards. When the final round is played and the last treasure card is taken, all players reveal their scores and the player with the most points wins.
If that doesn’t sound quite mind-melding enough, you can also play with the special powers: when four of the five animals are (successfully) revealed, they grant you a temporary special power which you must use. Three are helpful, one is more of a curse!
Pelmanism is as old and stuffy as the hills (I just checked, the hills are only about 80, right?), and not something I would usually be interested in in a game. But the twist here, that over subsequent rounds the same layout persists, and players try and outlast one another, works brilliantly. One round you'll make real progress, and the next, convinced you're turning over the right card, you'll be out in seconds. It's fascinating, though for some it will only serve to highlight their failing memory, I suppose. The advanced game, which gives the characters special actions, tips the game into something from a nightmare, and yet I've found myself requesting that too, when playing with friends who've played it a bit already.
None, apart from the failings of your fading mind. Or bad luck if you have to gamble.
Exceedingly low, almost entirely absent while playing. You can of course be knocked out, but then your focus should be on what cards are being revealed and remembering their position.
It's all about memory!
If you want variety, Memoarrr! doesn't get a huge tick because outside of the player power options it's always going to be a very similar experience. But it is a lot of fun.
2-4
Players
6+
Years
15-30
Mins
Sam says
A very simple premise, but a very fun game. Not one to play over and over but considering the modest size, worth breaking out on those family visits when you can't face the inexorable attrition of Monopoly. Or quite fun to play in the pub!