Welcome back to The Cardboard Cantina, and come right this way to your table. The special on the menu today is a wonderful game called Wicked & Wise presented by Weird Giraffe Games. It is as fresh as they come, having its campaign running as we speak on Kickstarter. It serves up well for 2-6 players and takes about 45 to 75 minutes. We recommend sharing this delightful dish as a couple or even shared with others, but we’ll speak more to that in a moment.

Wicked & Wise is a thematic take on trick-based card games designed by Fertessa Allyse, who also designed Book of Villainy; another Kickstarter-funded project from earlier this year. The illustrations for the game are provided by Beth Sobel, who is known for her work on Wingspan, Herbaceous, and Calico. Like much of Sobel’s art, the illustrations for Wicked & Wise have a sense of realism to them as if her subjects were sitting in front of her as she drew them. It is one of many aspects that drew us to the game. Estefania Rodriguez, Jon Merchant, and Jay Bell worked on the graphic design for the game.

Setup is where the game broke down a bit for us, and to be honest, was the hardest part of this review to write. It’s not terribly complicated, but rather different for each player count so that it can be a bit difficult to write out without just repeating the rules. For that reason, we recommend visiting the Kickstarter campaign and reading the setup guide there. We’ll still give a brief synopsis in that, regardless of player count, each person will take on the role of either a dragon, a mouse, or a combination of the two if there is an odd number of players. There are decks for the basic cards as well as treasure, trump, and goal cards that will each need to be shuffled as per the instructions and set within reach of all players. Each player then receives ten basic cards to form their hand and a Talk Card is selected to restrict how teams can communicate amongst themselves for that playthrough. It should be noted that in a two-player game both players will be dragons and a common mouse hand is shared between them. Secret goal cards are also divvied out that can earn teams extra gold if achieved or cause them to lose gold when failed.

Wicked & Wise is reminiscent of more traditional card games like Euchre and Hearts and is fairly quick to teach once you yourself have processed the rules. The game takes place over three rounds with each round consisting of a series of five tricks. Depending on whether you are a dragon or a mouse, your duties towards victory will vary. Dragons will be playing cards following the lead suit with the intent of having the highest value card played that turn in order to take the trick. Mice, on the other hand, will play for the ability printed on their cards and are not concerned with the numerical values. The exception to both of these roles is that there are opportunities to transfer cards from your hand to your partner’s, so a player may hold on to certain cards when planning for the long term. Each dragon will take a turn playing a card that must match the suit of the first dragon’s play if possible. Each mouse then has a chance to play a card before the dragons take another go and the trick is scored. Once scored, the winning team may choose either a treasure card or two coins as their prize. All other teams will receive the unchosen payout. Treasure cards can be used for their ability to manipulate conditions regarding play. Each team can only hold a maximum of three treasure cards at one time and any played treasures are discarded at the end of the trick. Play continues in this manner for the previously mentioned three rounds and the team with the most gold at the finale will be declared the winner.

What about the aforementioned wine you ask? We made that comment earlier because we feel this game is perfect for date night! Whether alone with a loved one at two players or with other couples, Wicked & Wise does not disappoint. Let each couple take turns in their role by switching between rounds and combine that with the friendly combination of competition and coordination that this game provides, and you will have the makings of a wonderful evening set out before you. Rarely have we seen such a gem as this in our roster. It’s almost a shame this didn’t get released closer to Valentine’s Day, but we are excited to have it in our collection and will see it on the table more often than not when we double date our game nights. Thank you Weird Giraffe Games for this release and, as always, we look forward to what you have for us next!

All photos of Weird Giraffe Games product were taken and edited by Krista.