Trumped!
Well, it's official -- Doppelkopf fever is sweeping the nation. Okay, maybe not the nation...but my small world, which counts as an odd sort of nation to me. A very odd one indeed.
Doppelkopf is this fantastic card game that I've been playing with friends for a few years, and it hasn't really gotten old. It's a four-player trick-taking game, and what makes it particularly exciting and fun is the way that partners are determined each round: by (in most cases) the cards they hold in their hands. You can read through wikipedia's rules/summary for details, but what this means is when you start playing each round, you don't know who your partner is yet -- and you have to figure it out based on clues/calls/cards as the game progresses. If you are reading the rules page, we play Doppelkopf with all of these variants: Dullen, Foxes, Charlie, and...Doppelkopf! We also include a variant (apparently not listed?) where the aces of diamonds count as special cards -- if one team "captures" an ace of diamonds belonging to the opposing team, it's an extra game point for the former team. Additionally, there are special calls that can be made when a player starts the game with both aces of diamonds (they become the highest trump in that case), and when an additional player then has both nines of diamonds (in which case THEY become the highest trump).
EDIT: Here's an awesome summary of the rules we use in our Doppelkopf games -- thanks goes to Carlos for the detailed and organized webpage.
Anyway, I absolutely love that game. Here are other strategy games I really enjoy, in approximate descending order (the order will change slightly almost weekly). Thanks to the game night crowd for introducing me to most of these!
- Princes of Florence (especially when I get to build the mathematician or bell maker, but not when I have to bid 22oo florens for a stupid forest in the last round!) ;)
- Clue: Master Detective (1 + 1 + 2 + 1...)
- Goa (learning slowly, but already love it! I like spending my game-money on pumpkin pie spices) :)
- Settlers of Catan (plus variants: Cities & Knights and Seafarers)
- Ra (Rah for Ra!)
- St. Petersburg (I like trying to beat certain people at this game...)
- Citadels (I both enjoy and am driven nuts by the psychologial aspect of trying to guess what roles others will choose each round)
- Tigris and Euphrates (I still have no clue what I'm doing in this game, but I like the spatial aspect of it)
- Suicide spades (except when I have a null hand + the ace of spades)
- Traders of Genoa and Caylus (both are very complex and fun, but both are very long)
What are your favorite board or card games?
posted by Katie @ 11:37 AM
12 Comments:
I have posted a draft version of the old web page I had. It's not 100% tuned to my blog yet, but it is there. http://infocynic.opennet.us/doppelkopf/
Thanks! I was actually going to email you to see if you still had that webpage up...I went looking for it a bit this morning. Does that count as stalking you? ;)
I like so many of the games that you like :) Although I learned in a hard way not to go up against you in Princes of Florence... ha
I also like Ticket to Ride (are you suprised ;) and Power Grid.
Hehe...
Wadsworth: The game's up, Scarlet. There are no more bullets left in that gun.
Miss Scarlet: Oh, come on, you don't think I'm gonna fall for that old trick?
Wadsworth: It's not a trick. There was one shot at Mr. Boddy in the Study; two for the chandelier; two at the Lounge door and one for the singing telegram.
Miss Scarlet: That's not six.
Wadsworth: One plus two plus two plus one.
Miss Scarlet: Uh-uh, there was only one shot that got the chandelier. That's one plus two plus *one* plus one.
Wadsworth: Even if you were right, that would be one plus one plus two plus one, not one plus *two* plus one plus one.
Miss Scarlet: Okay, fine. One plus two plus one... Shut up! The point is, there is one bullet left in this gun and guess who's gonna get it!
Oh yeah I like Doppelkopf, Suicide Spades, Up and Down the River, Hearts, Euchre, and Poker for card games.
Favorite board games include Settlers, Ticket, and Shadows. Some of the ones you list I've only played once, so I'm not familiar enough with them to add them to my list yet, but they have potential.
Yi, as I recall, you won the forest in that game. ;)
Linds -- my favorite roommate and I watched Clue yesterday -- heehee. I love that scene (and most of the others too!). :)
YOU RANKED SOMETHING HIGHER THAN SETTLERS?!?!
(I need to learn a few of these games you guys are playing. :) )
not a board game, but I love Taboo!
I enjoy euchre and hearts, though I don't profess to be spectacular at them. I also like Set and Apples to Apples (I guess they would count as "card" games?)
As for board cames I enjoy Settlers, Cranium, Shadows, Cleopatra, Wise and Otherwise.
I'm a big fan of Taboo and Outburst as well. :)
-NC
A family favorite that we've been playing for a few years (similar to Settlers, but better) is Puerto Rico. Check it out.
Hi!
I've played Puerto Rico before, actually. Only once or twice, though -- it's pretty long! My game night group of friends enjoys playing a cousin game to Puerto Rico -- a card game called San Juan. It's made by the same group, and uses the same roles and resources in Puerto Rico...but it's all done as a card game. I'm still trying to learn how to play it. :)
Btw, I like the unnecessary quotation marks blog. :)
I've played Puerto Rico too. I didn't like it better than Settlers, but I only played it once or twice so maybe it is one of those games that grows on you.
BTW Katie, I played Rah last game night and it can go on my list now. I liked it. :-)
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