If you’re a fan of the Arabian Nights stories and characters, and have a thing for quick and fun card games, then I’ve got just the game for you. Crazier Eights: One Thousand & One Nights and Crazier Eights: Shahrzad are easy to learn and play card games that take your old school Crazy Eights and add some real meat on its bones! Ready to learn more? Let’s check it out!

What Is It?

A simple, gateway, fantasy card game with various card abilities, plenty of player interaction, and unpredictable turns as well. The decks take classic stories and incorporate the characters and unique art to represent them in the game.

Who Is It For?

The game recommends ages 13+, but I think it’s easy enough for the whole family to enjoy, so even younger kids could play it for sure. If you want to appreciate the theme a bit more, than an older audience would probably be best, but it all depends on what you’re looking to get out of it. I’d also recommend it in general to gamers who like fast-paced card games that can be played a few times in a row, and games that have consistent changes (because assets and events can throw you for a loop throughout the game!).

Quality of Components

The rules are printed nicely. They’re on a small booklet, but the quality is nice and everything is laid out very clearly. The art is also really detailed and nice. The colors and print on the cards are all very clear; overall great.

The cards themselves, however, were less than stellar; I was unfortunately not a fan of them. They seemed to be pretty sturdy stock, but there’s too much friction between them, probably having to do with whatever kind of finish is on them, and it made the decks difficult to shuffle and deal. I highly recommend sleeves to avoid the hassle!

PROS

  • Easy to learn, teach, and play for all!
  • Nice, unique art on all the cards, and they really put you into the stories they’re reference, so great use of theme
  • Nice sized decks which provide variety/replayability. You can also combine decks for more variety!
  • The abilities on asset cards are super cool and you can chain cards for some sick combos to give you an upper hand
  • The game overall adds some strategy to Crazy Eights – more planning, less luck, all cool
  • Just a deck or 2 of cards mean easy to travel with!
  • Shahrzad adds in multicolored cards, making it easier to discard cards, and also adds split cards, giving you more options for playing, and also making it easier to discard. I really like the changes Shahrzad makes and think it’s a worthy second deck to add in

CONS

  • Some card combos when drawn together can seem overpowered and hard to combat, which can be frustrating to be up against, but that all comes down to luck
  • Like I mentioned, the cards themselves were a big con for me, but luckily easily solved with some sleeves

Difficulty

I’d give this one a 2 out of 5 for difficulty. It’s really straightforward to learn and to play, but does have a little bit of strategy in what to play and discard and when to try and combo things to discard more or get a leg up some other way.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I think this is a pretty cool card game and I’d recommend it to families or light gamers looking for something short and sweet. I’d kind of call this game Crazy Eights mixed with Fluxx, which definitely suits the name it’s been given! You want to gain assets in front of you (kinda like Keepers) to modify the rules in some way or to give you some abilities to make it easier to win. It’s an interesting twist on an old classic, and definitely a lot of fun!

Happy Gaming~

Additional Details:
Designer – James Wallace Gray
Publisher – Recoculous

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

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