FUN IS IN THE CARDS
If you’re looking for something new and fun to do on these summery days at home, we’ve got some card games for you — and we’re not talking Go Fish. These four fab games bring a heady mix of strategy, whimsy and just plain silliness for all ages. Whether you prefer your card games rummy inspired, bear enhanced or accompanied by projectiles, there’s something here for everyone.
THROW THROW BURRITO
It is true that we have flying burritos on the brain. How could we not, given our collective obsession with Robin Sloan’s novella, “The Strange Case of the New Golden Gate,” which put airborne carnitas-stuffed burritos on our front page for 15 straight days? But if the burritos hadn’t sealed the deal, the game description would have done the trick.
It’s a dodgeball card game. Released last year, Throw Throw Burrito hails from the same brilliantly demented minds that created Exploding Kittens, On a Scale of One to T-rex and the new Poetry for Neanderthals. Co-creator Elan Lee’s résumé includes stints at the Bay Area’s Industrial Light and Magic, as well as Xbox, before he moved on to breaking Kickstarter records, exploding felines and throwing said burritos.
Like many classic card games, this one involves collecting sets of cards: a trio of Goth Sloths, perhaps, Meow Cows or Jelly Jellys. But your discard pile is the next player’s draw pile, everyone plays at once and the deck is laced with burrito duel, burrito brawl and burrito war cards that unleash volleys of — you guessed it.
We may be serious, proper adults, but we were breathless with laughter.
Toi LOWHOWN >> Throw Throw Burrito ($25 from Amazon and other retailers) is designed for two to six players, ages 7 and up. It’s fun with two people, but even better with more.
ONI ORI TOINL >> The burrito projectiles are rubbery and soft, so they won’t hurt you even at point-blank range — unlike, say, actual dodgeball — but you’ll want to remove any martini glasses or similar breakables from the game play area.
TACO CAT GOAT CHEESE PIZZA
This game could not be any easier: You deal, you shout, you slap things — yourself, the table, your friends — and when the card demands it, you pound your chest gorilla-style. What’s not to love?
Everyone starts with a small pile of cards marked with cheery illustrations — a taco, a cat, that gorilla — which they take turns briskly placing in the center of the table. The first player says “Taco” and places a card face up. The second player does likewise, but says, “Cat.” Play progresses through proclamations of “Goat,” “Cheese,” “Pizza” and back to “Taco.” Easy. But the moment a card matches the word, everyone dives to slap the card. The last slapper adds the pile of cards to his own, delaying his chances of winning. (And everyone else massages the backs of their freshly slapped hands.)
The wrinkle? It’s tough to say taco when you’re looking at a cat, and the wrong name nets you the loser pile. Plus there are narwhals, gorillas and groundhog cards in the mix — everyone slaps the table with both hands for the latter.
The game is fast, hilarious and very loud. So although its size — it’s just a deck of cards — makes it easy to tote anywhere you go, don’t take it to a restaurant, Zen garden or any other venue where screaming “Taco! No, goat! Ack, gorilla!” while boisterously thumping your chest may disturb other patrons.
THE LOWDOWN >> Made by Dolphin Hat Games, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza ($10 from Amazon and other retailers) is designed for three to eight players, ages 8 and up. (We played with two and it was fine, but more people is more fun.)
ONE MORE THING >> Your hands and chest may sting a bit from the almost entirely self-inflicted whacks. That’s just funny for grown-ups and older kids, but younger players may find the game a mix of hilarity and tears.
FIVE CROWNS
Out of all the games we played last week — and we played a LOT — this awardwinning five-suited riff on rummy is our hands-down favorite. It’s not new by any means, just new to us, and we have since made up for lost time.
Like gin rummy, the goal is to collect sets of cards and fling down a final discard before your partner does. Unlike traditional rummy, this game uses a double deck with a fifth suit: stars. There are no aces or twos. The ethnically diverse royals are a handsome bunch. And there are wild cards out the wazoo.
In the first round, you’re dealt three cards, and threes and jokers are wild. Next round, you’re dealt four cards, with fours and jokers as wild cards. The game doesn’t end until — to quote the game’s tagline — “the kings go wild.”
It’s easy to learn, crazy addictive and mind-bending, with wild cards swapping out every few minutes and declarations of “four threes,” for example, in a hand holding one three, two jokers and a wild four.
THE LOWDOWN >> Set Enterprises’ Five Crowns ($13 from Amazon and other retailers) is best played by two to seven players, ages 8 and up. The instructions include solitaire rules for solo play, too.
ONE MORE THING >> Players with small hands (me) may find it challenging to hold and arrange 12 to 14 cards in the final rounds. The same technique that served us well in childhood — command partner to close eyes and not peek, so you can splay out your cards and rearrange them on the tabletop — works here, too.
THE BEARS AND THE BEES
These hexagonal cards are just so lovely, front and back. You’re constructing a beehive with a queen at its center and a slew of possible build-out cards offering worker bees, drones, flowers and honeycombs — and hungry, honey-loving bears. Match the edges of the cards, dominos style, to build out the hive. Sounds straightforward enough.
But while the drones’ edges are half honey — the equivalent of a wild card — and half colored edges, the worker bees have one wild and five different colors, and the flowers are all one color. And those bears are the end of the line.
It’s a complex, strategic game, introduced in 2018 by Grandpa Beck — Seattlebased Brent and Tauni Beck, who develop their games with a test crew that includes their five children and 17 grandchildren.
THE LOWDOWN >> Grandpa Beck’s card game ($15) is designed for two to five players, ages 8 and up. It’s infinitely replayable and gets better each time.
ONE MORE THING >> If you’re holding a flower card — and especially if you’re holding more than one — strategize from the very first move or you’ll be toast.