While I was at Wyntercon (after to be precise, at the survivors party),
I was introduced to a card game that I haven’t had the pleasure of before.
Lecardo
It’s a card game produced by Leo Marshall Designs and one presumes that’s
where the name derives from, and while Leo and I don’t always (read: usually
never) see eye to eye, I have to say that I’ve been enjoying this and credit
where credit is due, this game is really quite interesting. The premise is a simple one, you start with a
single card in the middle of the table and a hand of seven cards.
Then you try and find words from the cards in your hand that can be
added to the pile to make new words, each new combination of words scoring you
the points on the card to add to your score.
You get to play as many cards as you can from your hand, and when you
can play no more, you reload your hand to seven card and then play passes to
the next player.
So after a while the board starts to look like this...
Then this...
And finally this...
I have to say that while it’s a simple concept, it’s a game that is
really interesting if you have a genuine interest in words. For those thinking that's like saying that yahtzee is
interesting for those who have a genuine interest in dice, the difference is that when I’ve been
playing this game, the main thing I’ve noticed is that when the game really
gets going, all the players end up chiming in and trying to help everyone else.
This may seem like it defeats the point of the game in the first place,
but it’s like the Arabian Nights game I reviewed some time ago because while
ostensibly it’s competitive, the spirit of finding words and combinations that
are real takes over the scoring of the points and that for me is the thing I
like most about it. No time at all to learn,
and the game can be played in less than five minutes when you’ve got a group of
people who use words all the time (I’ve got a few writers groups), and less
than twenty when people are really getting involved and you’re down to your
last few cards and are trying to place them in the hive of cards that have
sprung up on the table.
Lecardo is available on Amazon at around £7 and as a five minute game
between larger games, it’s brilliant, well recommended...
