Page 57 - spielbox 03/21 - English

Anansi
or later? How can you use the (initially undetermined) borders of the playing area to your own interest?
Despite all these considerations, Cheese Rescue is not a game for pon- derers, especially since the drawing of additional hand cards becomes a luck factor that shouldn‘t be underestimated. Particularly well-liked are the rare dog cards, since they can completely thwart the other players‘ plans. (sbw)
Title: Designer: Illustration: Publisher: Players: Age: Duration: Price:
Cheese Rescue
David Paput, Eric Plotton Philip Giordano
Djeco
1 – 4
about 8+ years
about 15 minutes
about 10 Euros
Reviewer
Harald Schrapers
Andreas Becker
Playing appeal
7
6
Smart. But the four-player game is uncontrollable.
Marie Poenisch 7
Nice little game with a good dose of tactics.
Christoph Schlewinski 7
Unusual
By CHRISTOPH SCHLEWINSKI what cards are still in the game. When
Title: Designer: Illustration:
Publisher: Players: Age: Duration: Price:
Anansi
Cyril Blondel, Jim Dratwa Dayo Baiyegunhi, Emma- nuel Mdlalose
Heidelbär Games
3 – 5
about 10+ years
about 25 – 30 minutes about 15 Euros
Reviewer
Christoph Schlewinski
Stefan Ducksch
Playing appeal
7
6
Best with four players. The “trickster bonus“ in the third round is very strong. A demanding trick-taking game that is not captivating in the long run. Very strange background story, but nice visual appearance.
Wieland Herold 6
A trick-taking game that needs get- ting used to; it redefines the prediction of tricks.
Marie Poenisch 5
Nicely illustrated trick-taking game. However, it doesn‘t provide many novel aspects, and unfortunately, the numbers are written only in the left corners.
Gerald Rüscher 6
The background story has certainly been created under the influence of LSD.
A it comes to its visual appearance, Anansi
nansi: We want tricks! And we want cards that score good points. Plus, we want exactly as many of these activation cards as we have tricks, since you earn a bonus for this that be- comes bigger and bigger each round. What do you not want? More activation cards than tricks – in this case, you don‘t get any points. So there are quite a few things you want in Anansi. The question
is: Will you get them?
Since Anansi involves a certain
amount of chaos, the luck component is not to be underestimated – but this makes it also kind of appealing. Basical- ly, Anansi is a normal trick-taking game where you have to follow suit. Two things are different, though: If you can‘t follow suit, you must play a trump card. And if you want to have the valuable activation cards for your tricks, you don‘t add your card to the trick but place it horizontally in front of you.
The above-mentioned chaos is caused by these very cards. After the current trick has been resolved, players put any cards lying in front of them in the face-up trump display, and the suit that is represented there with the most cards becomes the trump suit. Of course, low cards generate only a few activation cards or even none, whereas high cards generate many.
Having read this, you might think that there is not much you can control when playing Anansi. But that is only partially true. Trump suits can constantly change, allegedly strong cards can suddenly lose their value – and maybe regain their val- ue later on. But this frustration is part of the game, and you can also frustrate other players, after all. So you are victim as well as offender. All cards are in play; and in a three-player game, the cards that are not dealt to the players are out on open display for everybody to look at; consequently, you can always check
is an eye-catcher. In terms of play, how- ever, this hunt for cards is suited only for those who like unusual and challenging trick-taking games. Even if you believe that you are at the mercy of Lady Luck, you can nevertheless influence quite a few things. Only the instructions make it difficult to get into the game. But other
than that: trump!
(sbw)
spielbox 55