The Game Chest Review

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The Game Chest Review

The Cardboard-Based Characteristics

A chest……. of games!

I play a lot of 2-player games. From my partner to colleagues and from my children to friends, I have many opportunities to grab a quick head-to-head game. I love the one-on-one nature of games like this and revel in the chance to pit your wits against another player. One-on-one games are normally quick with a vast decision space, which I really appreciate. Recently I was sent a small collection of 18-card games to review. 3 games, 2 players, 1 chest, Welcome to The Game Chest review!

The Game Chest is a small card chest that folds out to reveal 3 small cards games. Lucha Mania, Showdown and Heraldry. What they all have in common is a small deck of cards, quick simple rules and a short play time. I had many thoughts about this collection and its games contained within. I will take it game by game and let you know what’s what.

Lucha Mania – Wrestle Poker

This wrestling-based game was the first we tried. After dealing each player 4 cards and setting the rest into 2 equal draw piles, each player must play poker-like hands to best their opponent. You know the sort, pairs, triples and straights. There are three suits: red, blue, and green, and each card has a value between 1 and 3. Before picking your set of 3 cards, you can sneak a peek at the next card you draw, giving you a little bit of planning manoeuvrability for the next round.

The loser of each round picks one of their cards to discard and one of the winners cards they must keep as a point. Giving them a little more control for the next round. Both players then pick up the other 2 cards and along with the one in their hand and a newly drawn card, have another 4 cards for the next round. You rinse and repeat this until a player gets to 4 points. Then, the winner of 2 games wins the bout.

Lucha Mania was an average game. While not being amazing, I would never turn down a quick bout. It’s easy to play and simple to understand. It suffers a bit I think with card draw, you either have a good hand or not. There is a bit of meat on the bone though in choosing which cards to keep, which of your opponents to discard and trying to win more hands than your opponent. Not bad at all.

Showdown – Fancy Rock, Paper, Scissors

Grab a pistol, aim your shotgun, it’s time for a traditional one-on-one showdown! After giving both players a health tracker and giving them 6 cards, it’s time to duel. The other 4 cards make up a reserve of sorts. Showdown is like a fancy game of rock-paper-scissors, both players pick a card and then resolve them at the same time. There are attacking cards, defensive cards and a few specials to use. Each card beats or defends another, kind of like rock-paper-scissors and the specials attack or defend against multiple targets. There’s also a card that will allow you to swap it with one of the reserve cards.

Showdown is a game of predicting what your opponent will play and trying to outwit them. As cards are being played, they are left face-up, giving players an ever-increasing amount of information about future cards as the round progresses. Saving your special cards for the right time is paramount, as is deducing what is yet to come.

While I don’t find card draw anywhere near as prominent as the first, in Showdown you have the tools to combat it. I quite like this one, it’s probably my 2nd favourite in the chest. It’s quick, fun and does have a bit of game there to wrangle with.

Heraldry – The Best of the Bunch

This little game was definitely my favourite in the set. It’s a game about strengthening your royale family and weakening your opponents. It’s another simple one that rewards careful card play and strategy. Both players have identical cards, a set of numbers cards 1 to 9. When a player is out of cards, both players tot up the points and the lowest wins the round. The first to win 3 rounds, wins the game. Easy peasy.

After both players split their decks, the highest-numbered card starts. With both players having identical decks so there is zero luck in this game, it’s pure tactical card-play. The first player picks a card and plays it to the ‘row’ in the middle of the table. The next player has a choice, either play a higher card, a card thats 1 lower or a combination of two cards that add up total the previously played card. This last option banishes the card to the owner and counts as points equal to its value.

Picking what card to play when and cornering your opponent into bad plays is what makes this one shine. You know every card and as they are played can force your opponent into certain plays. When a player is out of cards all the cards left in hand added to the banished cards make up your score, with the lowest winning the round. There are also two cards in each player’s decks that allow you to play another card straight away. Which does add a little bit of spice to the proceedings.

Due to the zero luck, full visible information and tactical nuance, this was the most fun I had with the Game Chest. I would play Heraldry any time and really enjoyed it. Top banana!

A Portable Little Collection of Head-to-Head Games

While I found the games in the Game Chest quite variable, I would not turn down a game of any of them. For its cheap price, you get quite a bit of content in a lovely little package. The fold-out box really is a joy. In order of how much I liked the games, it’s definitely Heraldry first, Showdown then Lucha Mania.

All the games are simple to learn, quick and all-in-all, good 2-player games. If you have a significant other or need a nice little travel set then The Game Chest may be for you. Just beware, some of the games are certainly better than others.

Rapid Reviews Rating

4.5 out of 5

4.5

The Game Chest can be purchased from the Pocket Fox website here.