The holiday season is here once again. It is a time for celebrating and spending time with loved ones. For many, it is also a time to give and receive gifts alongside the other festivities. This year Small Furry Games has given us not one, but 13 gifts all wrapped and ready to go in a box that can just as easily be placed in a stocking, under the tree, or any other place you set presents before exchanging them. We here at The Cardboard Cantina peeled back a bit of that wrapping and took a peek inside, thus earning our place on the naughty list so that you don’t have to.
“On the first day of Christmas…” We’ve all heard the song, and some of us even remember the words. In Bah! Humbug! from Small Furry Games, the title game of this collection, players will be the ones mailing gifts to their beloved instead of being the recipient! After setting up the game, players will take turns counting down from 12 to 1 and playing a card face down from their hand in correspondence to their place in the countdown. Players are trying to either match the day with the same number on a card or bluff their way past the other players with any other number. If suspicions are aroused, then another player may shout Bah! Humbug! and call another player’s bluff. This game has a really interesting way of counting back the plays to check their validity as well as the fact that if anyone played the mailman as their card he will take away all the so-far unrevealed cards with him to the bottom of the deck and leave more mystery than answers as the mail is sent out for delivery.
In addition to Bah! Humbug! there are twelve other games included in the box. These games all have their own mechanics that use the contents of the game box in different ways and each has a unique feel to it. Out of all of the additional games included in the box, we had the chance to preview Felix Falk’s The Christmas Parade and David Waldman’s Dress The Mantel.
The Christmas Parade is a two-sided competition as each side attempts to create the better lineup for the upcoming holiday parade. They will shift, swap, and trade participants on each of their turns in order to lock in the best order of frogs, rabbits, ladybugs, and more. Each card is scored based on what follows behind it, but one thing we loved about this game was that each card is scored ultimately on its own against the other side’s card in the same position. A participant can have a lot of clout but is ultimately only worth one point, and this helps to keep the scores close and each position relevant. To be fair, though, we aren’t 100% sure we had scoring correct based on the description in the rulebook, but we did have an agreed-upon system that we felt was right and, regardless, this was one of our favorite games to play.
Dress The Mantel, on the other hand, really took the fruit cake for Krista this season. It is a quick and entertaining set collection game for two or four players with a bit of tile/card laying mechanics thrown in as well. Each team begins with a card showing several collectibles, and each of those in the game scores slightly differently. Players must draw two cards on their turn and choose one they will try to keep for themselves while showing the other to all players. The opposing side will choose to either take the faceup card for themselves or call the active player’s bluff and take their unrevealed card. Each team then plays the card in their possession to one side or the other of their row of already-played cards. Scoring occurs when all cards have been played and will have totals added up based not only on what symbols are showing but also depending on their order and grouping. Dress the Mantle plays relatively quickly, was easy to learn, and has just enough strategy to keep you coming back for a few quick rounds.
Though we were only provided with a small peek at the total selection of the games included in Bah Humbug & The 12 Games of Christmas, we’re absolutely floored by the creativity found within this small, unassuming prototype! Emily Willix is a designer we’ve been following for a while now and what she and her fellow designers have put together in this holiday collection is a gift that keeps on giving. The use and reuse of a small set of components to create thirteen games with varying player counts and mechanics is not only clever but ensures that there will be something for everyone to enjoy – making it great for gatherings during the holiday season and proving that great things can come in small packages! If you’re looking to pick up a copy for yourself this holiday, there is still time as the crowdfunding campaign is live at the time of this review and offers a downloadable gift announcement card to give to the recipient upon pledging for a physical reward.
All photos of the prototype provided by Small Furry Games were taken and edited by Krista. Other photos/images are credited to their creators.