My Thoughts The Game (2015)
Before getting into the rest of the review I want to begin by discussing The Game (2015)’s title. I have played close to a 1,000 different board games and am aware of many more. Of all of these games I honestly don’t think I have ever encountered a game with a worse name than The Game (2015). The name is terrible for a number of reasons. First it doesn’t describe the gameplay at all. Without any other knowledge you would have no idea what it is about. In addition to that the name is so generic that it is hard for people to even know what you are talking about. As the name is so generic I was forced to refer to the game as The Game (2015) for the rest of this review so people knew what I was even talking about. The good news is that even though the name is terrible, The Game (2015)’s gameplay is actually really good.
The goal of The Game (2015) is actually quite simple. The game consists of 98 cards and your goal is to try and play all of them to one of four piles. Two of the piles will increase in value with each subsequent card that is played. The other two piles will decrease with each card. On each player’s turn they are forced to play at least two of their cards. Complicating things further is that each player holds their cards so the other players can’t see them. Players can give hints at what cards they hold in their hand, but they can’t specifically say what numbers they have. With these restrictions in place, players need to try and figure out what cards they should play on their turn in order to keep the piles viable for as long as possible.
Just reading the overview of how The Game (2015) is played many people will probably think that it doesn’t sound all that interesting. It might just seem like you are playing cards to different piles. In a way you are. There is more to the game than that though. Basically the game is built around players working together to figure out the most efficient way to get rid of their cards. The best case scenario would be to play all of the cards in numerical order. This is unlikely to happen though as each player is forced to play two cards on their turn. Therefore you will end up skipping numbers in all four piles. You generally want to play your cards that are closest to the top cards from the piles, but sometimes it is better to leave a pile alone so one of the upcoming players can play a card that works even better. This is why communication is key. Players have to work well together if they want any chance of succeeding.
While you generally want to play your cards that are closest to top cards on the piles, there is one exception that is key to your success in the game. If you ever have a card that is exactly ten in the opposite direction that a pile is moving, you can play the card which helps reset some of the numbers that were passed over in that pile. This is a critical part of the game as you likely won’t succeed without utilizing it. Before you play any cards you need to check to see if you can play one of these cards as they can be really helpful. In fact you could end up playing a card solely so you can then play a card to back up the pile that you just played to. You can actually set up a chain reaction where you reset a pile back 20-30 giving you a lot more flexibility in where you play cards. This might not seem like much at first, but it really helps the game standout.
I will admit that The Game (2015) is not going to be for everyone. If you think the concept behind the game sounds stupid, I don’t really see it changing your mind. I will say though that I really enjoyed playing it. The game might not be the deepest experience, but it is satisfying. I think The Game (2015)’s greatest strength might be that it finds the perfect balance between strategy and simplicity. The game is really simple to the point that it can be taught within a minute or two. There is more strategy to the game than it first appears though. How you decide to play the cards, especially when it comes to taking advantage of playing cards to turn back the piles, really has an impact on the game. The more that you play The Game (2015) the better your group should get at it.
I will say that The Game (2015) is one where the group that you are playing with will likely make or break the game. The main reason I say this is that the rules are kind of open to interpretation when it comes to player communication. Basically the rules only limit players from telling the others exactly what cards they hold in their hand. Otherwise there is a lot of flexibility in what you say. You could easily give players clues that are specific enough that your teammates will have a very good idea of what cards you hold in your hand.
This could be a contentious aspect of the game as players may have differing opinions on what should and shouldn’t count. Some players may think that you can say anything as long as you don’t say the exact numbers that you have. Based on how the rules are written this is likely allowed. In a way though this kind of feels like cheating. You could say things that basically tell the other players the exact cards that you have. Some players will likely think this ruins the game as there isn’t much skill to the game if everyone pretty much knows what everyone else holds. These players will think that communication should be limited. The problem with this is that I think the game would be kind of dull, and it will be really hard if the players don’t really communicate. Because of this the players have to come to an agreement before playing the game about which information can be shared and what can’t. If the players can come to an agreement it should eliminate most of the issues that could pop up later.
While I was actually kind of surprised by the amount of strategy in The Game (2015), it is hard to deny that it relies on a lot of luck. There are some things that players can do to overcome some bad luck. You will always have some extra room in your hand to hold cards that you can’t play right away. Every card that is played doesn’t have to be perfect either. As long as you aren’t forced to play a card that is far away from the current top cards you can survive. The problem is if you are dealt a bunch of cards that don’t work with the current state of the piles. In a lot of ways your fate could be decided before you even begin playing the game. The initial shuffle of the cards could either make the game really easy or really difficult. Because of this you want to really shuffle the cards before you begin, as playing the game naturally sorts the cards. If you get a lot of cards in numerical order the game will either be really easy or really difficult. There really isn’t anything the game could have done to reduce its reliance on luck, but it kind of sucks when you play a game that you had no chance of winning.
Speaking of winning, The Game (2015) is one of those type of games that you can’t really win. The only way to technically win the game is if you are able to play all 98 cards. This is pretty difficult to do as you need to have quite a bit of experience with the game as well as some luck in order to pull it off. Instead the game basically says that if you can get rid of all but ten or so of the cards your group did a good job. I kind of wish the game had more of a scale that you could compare your score with to see how well you did. I don’t mind these type of games as much as some players though.
The Game (2015) has had quite a bit of success for such a simple game. That was probably helped by the fact that the game was nominated for the Spiel Des Jahres in 2015. Despite its success I was a little surprised to find out that The Game (2015) has actually had a number of spinoffs/sequels made over the years. I mostly thought this because I thought the gameplay was too simple where there really wasn’t much that a spinoff could work off of. After looking at the spinoffs I was kind of intrigued. The spinoffs don’t drastically change the gameplay, but they do add some interesting twists. The spinoffs are as follows:
- The Game: Extreme – The main gameplay is basically the same. The twist is that some of the cards have instructions on them. When these cards are played the players must follow the instructions printed on the cards. Amazon
- The Game: Face to Face – This game only supports two players. This spinoff is interesting as it is actually a competitive game. The players compete to try and get rid of their cards before the other player. The players still have to work together at times though in order to be able to get rid of their own cards. Amazon
- The Game: Quick & Easy – This spinoff reduces the numbers to 1-50 as well as the number of piles to two. The other twist is that all of the cards have a color. You can play a card that matches the color of the current top card even if it violates the direction that the cards for that pile have to follow. Amazon
I have to say that one of the biggest complaints that I had with The Game (2015) was with the components. My copy of the game is the first edition, but a newer version was released in 2018. Of the two I would say that the second edition looks much nicer. The artwork for the first edition is just really dark and doesn’t really fit with the rest of the game. The newer version is much more colorful and actually changes the artwork for each ten cards which makes it easier to identify cards in the same area. Of the two versions I would highly recommend the newer version. Theoretically you don’t really need either version though as it would be easy enough to make your own copy of the game. All you need are cards numbered 2-99. There are a number of other card games that you could use the cards from or you could even create your own cards with index cards. The game is cheap enough though that it probably is easier to just purchase a copy of the game.
Should You Buy The Game (2015)?
The Game (2015) does a good job showing that you can’t judge a game based on its title. The Game (2015) is a horrible title for a card game. Despite this it is actually a good game. The game is built around playing cards in numerical order to different piles as you try to get rid of as many cards as possible. Not surprisingly this leads to a game that is really simple to play where anyone can enjoy it. There is more strategy to the game than you would initially expect though. The players have to work well together or they will fail. Figuring out what cards you should play each round has a pretty big impact in how successful you will be. The players do need to come to an agreement on what communication is allowed though or it could lead to problems later in the game. The Game (2015) does rely on quite a bit of luck as you could have no chance of winning the game solely due to how the cards were shuffled. The components are also pretty average and can be easily replaced with a deck of cards with the numbers 2-99 printed on them.
My recommendation for The Game (2015) is actually pretty simple. Does the concept behind it intrigue you? If the game doesn’t sound all that interesting, I don’t think it will appeal to you. Those that think the game sounds interesting though should really enjoy The Game (2015) and should consider picking it up.
Buy The Game (2015) online: Amazon (2015 edition
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