Looking good is hard work, especially when you can’t even check yourself out in the mirror! Luckily when you live forever, you learn a fashion trick or two. Keeping on trend with a good ol’ vampire fashion show is the way to go! Let’s take a turn on the batwalk, and see if we can beat out all the other trendsetters!

What Is It?

A trick-taking game where players are trying to score points by having the lead card at the end of each trick. The twist is, they only know what suits are in their hands, and not the value of the cards; players can never look at their own hand, but can see the hands of all other players. Players can also earn points by stealing the show, which is playing a card with the same value as the lead suit, but a different suit.

Like any trick-taking game, there is hand management, but players also have to do some deduction to figure out which cards they might have, so that they are hopefully playing the right card at the right time. There are some special suits as well – stars which always take the lead unless a garlic was played, and garlic, which are the lowest value card of each suit, but become the lead if a star is played to the same trick.

At the end of 3 rounds, the player with the most points wins! Or, if someone hits 10 points, they win immediately!

Who Is It For?

  • 2 to 6 Players – Scales well for all counts
  • Ages 10+
  • Fans of / players familiar with trick-taking
  • Possibly players who have experience with hidden hands of cards

Variants

2-Player Variant – I’m someone who’s very picky about 2-player variants, especially if a “dummy” player is involved, but I’m glad to say that this one works. It really hones in on the deduction element because the third “player” only needs 5 points to win, so you have to be extra careful about what card you choose to play, and really try to hedge your bets so you don’t give them too many points. It’s also interesting always knowing that that player will play next, and trying to plan for that.

PROS

  • Aesthetics – Gorgeous color scheme, nice art and graphic design, and the batwalk is a fun way to do the scoreboard
  • Components – Nice quality cards and standees
  • Box – Components fit in the box nicely, and it’s fun that it transforms into the scoreboard
  • Turns are pretty quick
  • Scales well for all player counts
  • It might be the first trick-taking game I’ve played where you don’t have to follow suit if you can, which I think is neat and can allow for slightly more strategic decisions
  • Though you may not always know exactly what is in your hand, you always know what everyone else has, and how many cards aren’t used in the round, so you can try to get a good idea of what you have

CONS

  • I thought it was a little tricky to explain the rules the first time through, especially because of the special suits
  • It can, of course, be difficult to not look at your hand and not know for sure what card you are playing; if that frustrates you, you may not enjoy this one
  • Fair amount of shuffling to do game to game. With that, it can be frustrating if you don’t shuffle well enough and one suit gets completely dealt out while another is barely shown in players’ hands

Final Thoughts

My first reaction to this game was that it looks great! Not only is the art great, but the standees “walking” on the batwalk as you score, is such a great touch. I’m obsessed with the look of it completely.

Trick-taking can be so hit and miss for me. It’s something I want to like more, cause I think it’s a neat mechanism, but sometimes it just doesn’t hit the mark for me. For this one, I thought that there were a few too many ‘odd’ rules, different from other trick-taking games I’ve played (i.e. not following suit, special suits) that it didn’t feel super accessible to more casual groups, which was disappointing given it’s approachable look.

I think if you like trick-taking, and are familiar with it, it won’t be as tough to ease into, so it’ll make a great filler/quicker game for your group.

My Final Rating:
6/10
Designer – Jon Simantov
Artist – Michael Rankin
Publisher – Jellyfish Game Studios
MSRP – $19.99 (Retail); $29.99 (Kickstarter)
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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