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Bucket King by Steffan Dorra

THE BUCKET KING (German: 'Alles im Eimer') by Stefan Dorra art Susanne Reichardt publish Kosmos/Rio Grande Players: 3-6 Duration: 20 mins. PACE: Quick. COMPLEXITY: Light. Player play between 1 to 3 cards in one color each turn. Some tactics, but simple enough for kids to learn. LUCK: High. Players build their pyramid, but then are subjected to random card draw which could deny them the cards they need to have made their pyramid planning effective. TENSION: Medium. Hoping that a certain color trick won't make it back to you, or forcing ties (with variant rule) make this game fairly tense for such a light card game. VICIOUS: Medium. This game can be vicious, but it depends on the players and what cards you have in your hand. You might want to be vicious, but can do nothing except keep a trick going. Mind you, You can bid absurdly high to try to sink the next player. SOCIAL: High. Light card game. Groaning, laughing, threatening, even a bit of bluffing if players want to. VISUALS: Medium. I don't like the "Far Side"-esque art, but everyone else I have played with likes it fine. Thick cardboard bukcet tiles were a nice idea, though they drove the price up on this game. THEME: Low. Animals knocking over buckets is a funny idea for a setting, but has little to do with game. GAMER APPEAL: Low. A lot of luck, but good filler because of potential for viciousness. Fun to see others pyramids topple, especially if you were trying to knocj out a certain color. NON-GAMER APPEAL: High. Easy to pick up and play, good for all ages. Pleasant art. 2 PLAYERS: No. REPLAY: Good. Fun filler. I've played 30+ times. Good with 3-6 players. Best with 4-6 players.

Other games by Steffan Dorra For Sale Medina Pick Picknic

Quick summary | Gameplay is simple: Each player is given 15 buckets, 3 in 5 different colors, and they construct a pyramid (5 buckets on the bottom, 4 on top of that, etc.) based on the strength of different cards in their hands. Then they play cards to try and knock each others buckets down. Cards are in 5 colors and numbered between 1 and 8. A player may between one and three cards on his turn. So 'A' starts off by playing Blue 5. Now all players must keep playing Blue and beating the previous number. 'B' plays a Blue '4' and '3' for a total of 7. 'C' plays Blue 8. Now 'A' plays another blue 5 which is added to the Blue 5 he had before for a total of 10. 'B' can't beat that so 'B' now loses a Blue bucket and all the buckets that are on top of it! The reason the game is so tense is that of a player loses two of his blue buckets at the top, and his last one is in the bottom center of his pyramid, if he loses another blue bucket, almost the whole pyramid will come crashing down! The game play is ultra-quick and has room for some simple tactical play, but really is just a lot of goofy fun. Lots of dumb luck in this one though. For example, a player may start with a lot of blue cards and so put their blue buckets near the bottom. However, if they keep drawing cards that aren't blue, but have to keep spending blue, they could fund themselves knocked out quick quickly. Nevertheless, this game is great filler and fun for families. A bit overpriced, but a good game. VARIANT RULE: If a player chooses to, he may tie the last bid made, in which case the bid returns to the person who was just tied. Also, the player who starts a trick chooses whether it goes clockwise or counter-clockwise (though it can be reversed if tied.) This variant reduces the luck a little, and it forces players to plan their plays a bit mroe carefully.

This page by Yirmeyahu Avery