2 – 4 players and 15 mins.
The four of you stare at the card placed at the centre of the table: number 27. Each of you only has a handful of cards dealt from a deck of 100, and you hold number 29 – surely the next highest card the group has been dealt. Your teammates exchange silent glances, and you find yourself holding the gaze of the player opposite you, who also looks confident – but it’s still unlikely their card is a closer match.
You’ve made your decision – with bated breath, you quickly reach out and place the card face up on top of the pile at the centre of the table.
Your teammate shakes their head. They slowly reveal the number 28 from their hand – game over.
How do you win?
Each member of the team is dealt a hand of cards. The team must lay all the cards in ascending order to complete the current level. Complete the final level to win the game.
How do you play?
The game deck contains cards numbered 1 to 100 and a separate deck of levels between 1 and 12. In this cooperative game, you and your teammates must lay your numbered cards in ascending order, but there’s a catch – you’re not allowed to communicate in any form. Sounds odd – but it does work, believe us!
The game begins at level 1, with each player receiving one card. Players signal they are ready by placing a hand at the centre of the table. Once everyone has given the signal, the fun can begin! In silence, players can place a card face up at the centre of the table at any moment they wish. They must place one card at a time, starting with the lowest number and ending with the highest. If all cards are placed in the correct order, then the level has been completed successfully – move on to the next level, shuffle all the numbered cards and deal out the same number as your new level.
At any point, a player may shout ‘Stop!’ to suspend play, which only resumes when all players have once again placed a hand at the centre of the table. This can allow players to gather their thoughts and regain some control if their teammates get caught up in a hectic moment of play!
As tough as this game sounds, there is some help at hand. The team has some ‘life’ cards to protect them. If a card is placed in the wrong order, the game is halted and the team lose a life card. Any cards lower than the incorrectly placed card are removed from the game, then play continues. A special ‘throwing star’ card can be played at any time, but only if all players agree to do so by raising a hand. When played, the card allows each player to discard the lowest card in their hand. More of these cards can be earned as a reward as your team makes their way through the levels.
Once the final level in the stack is completed, you have won the game! Alternatively, losing your final life ends in failure.
Why play it?
At first glance, this simple game seems absolutely barmy and quite impossible to win. After a first playthrough, we can guarantee that things will seem as barmy as you expected, with a lot of laughter and confusion in store. The no communication rule includes any sort of speaking, hand signals or writing – you’ll just have to trust the judgements of the group and people’s instincts!
Each time the group plays a round, you’ll be amazed that somehow you’re able to progress through the numbers with fewer and fewer mistakes, as you discover the mysteries of the game for yourselves – we won’t spill any secrets here though!
Verdict?
It’s a short and unique game that is a lot of fun to work out as you play with friends and best played with the largest team possible, which is four players.
Cards on the Table 