Fives

Designer: Taiki Shinzawa 

Publisher: CMYK

Players: 3-4

Age: 8+

Time: 30 minutes

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4hXER5p

Played with review copy provided by publisher

Fives is a smart and tense trick taking game from Taiki Shinzawa. Fives is a modern twist on classic trick-taking games like Hearts and Spades. Instead of playing a card face up, you can play it face down as a 5! You’re trying to get all your winning cards to add up to 25: can you play your cards right without busting?

Fives is part of the new Magenta line of games from CMYK – per their press release… CMYK is thrilled to announce the launch of Magenta: a striking new collection of card games. In a world of increasing digital distractions, Magenta is set to revive a classic way we gather and play – making face-to-face connections through card game nights with family, friends, and new faces around the table. “The idea behind Magenta is simple: to bring people together through the world’s best card games,” says Alex Hague, founder of CMYK. “To do that, we’ve created a line of games that are both fun to play and beautifully designed.”

The deck of cards has four suits, three of them are numbered 1 to 13, and the magenta suit is numbered from 0 to 13, but missing the 5.  Why is it missing the five?  Because the back of EVERY card in the game has the Magenta 5 on it…  The deck is constructed for player count and then dealt out fully to the players.  The player that is dealt the Magenta 0 is the start player for the round.  Be sure to give each player 5 point chips at the start of the game.

The game is a must-follow trick taking game, with an interesting twist.  The hand is played out in a number of tricks, and in each of these, each player will play a single card.  The current lead player chooses any card in their hand and plays it to the table.  Play then goes clockwise around the table, and each player must follow the suit of the card which was led (i.e. match the color) if possible.  If a player does not have any cards matching the color which was lead, they may play any card they like.  It is important to note that the silver suit is always trump; that is – when a silver card is played, it will automatically win over cards of the other three suits.

So far, it sounds pretty standard (well, that is if you are familiar with trick taking card games).  But here’s where it gets a bit wacky.  Remember how I told you that all the cards have the Magenta 5 on the back?  Well, any player can choose to play a card face down and have it be a Magenta 5 instead of the number on the other side.    There are still a few restrictions… you still have to follow suit if possible, so you can’t play a card as a Magenta 5 if you still have a card of the lead color in your hand.  On the other hand, if you only have a single card of the lead color in your hand, you can play that card as a Magenta 5 as your hand will pass the check at the conclusion of the trick (namely that you do not have any cards of the suit which was led).  It should also be remembered that only one Magenta 5 can be in a trick, so if someone else has already played one, then you can’t do the same.

After each player has played a card to this trick, it is resolved. The winner of the trick is the player who played the highest trump card.  If no trump was played, then the highest card of the suit which was led wins the trick.  That player collects all the cards from the trick, putting the card which they played to win the trick on the top of the stack.  This trick, and any others won during the hand, constitute that player’s scoring area.  The value of each trick is equal to the number of the card on the top, i.e. the card which that particular player had played to the trick that he won.  The scores for each player are open knowledge during the hand.

Once all the tricks are played (i.e. all the players have played all the cards they were dealt), you score the hand.

• The player(s) who were closest to 25 in their scoring area score 3 points.  If their total is exactly 25, they get an additional 1 point bonus
• The second closest player to 25 gets 1 point.  
• Any players who have busted, that is have more than 25 in their scoring area, must give a chip to the player who scored closest to 25.  If there are multiple people, these penalty points are instead placed on the table to be awarded to the winner of the next hand.

Now, collect all the cards, making sure to turn the magenta 5’s back over to their other side and another hand is dealt.  Play four hands total, and the player with the most points wins.

My thoughts on the game

Fives is a game which caught my attention back in 2022, when it was known as The Green Fivura.  A copy of it wandered into the Gaming Basement via some Japanese game convention.  The game has this juicy tension as you try to get closest to 25 in your scoring area.  It’s always best to have a plan from the start – as in, I always try to plan ahead to determine which cards from my initial hand will be winners – and how do I get those to total 25…   As things often happen in card games, plans often break down, especially when you win a trick you weren’t expecting – and then you have to quickly pivot to avoid busting. 

Counting cards is a valuable skill in trick taking games, but the rules of Fives makes this a bit more challenging.  Each time someone plays a Magenta 5, only the person who played that card knows what the real identity of that card is.   This uncertainty leads to plenty of occasions where players will win tricks they were not expecting to win!

The ability to flip a card over to play as a Magenta 5 is a really neat idea, and one I haven’t seen used before.  It is a great way to get rid of a high valued card that you don’t want to win a trick with.  It’s also great to confuse the other players as they won’t know what you have played.  After a number of games, I’ve found that I often want to play a Magenta 5 if I can – if nothing else to prevent someone else from being able to do so.

The art direction for the entire line is colorful and distinctive.  I’ve found that people either love it or not.  The bright magenta boxes are most definitely eye-catching.  It’s hard not to notice them on your table or gameshelf.  I do like the way that the game comes with a bright slip cover and then has a nicely patterned inner box that opens like a book..  The entire set of Magenta games looks great together with the interior box patterns peeking out of the cutouts in the outer sleeves.   The colors on the cards are similarly bright, and the designs on the cards are just so gorgeous.  There are also nice little touches in the box, including a little folder pocket on the inside cover to hold the rules.

Of all the Magenta games, this is the one I’m most interested to see how it does in the market.  Trick taking games are not necessarily the easiest sell to the mass market, and this one really offers a big twist with the Magenta 5 rule.  My local game group loves it, and I hope that this one paves the way for more games like this in the wider world of normies.

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Jonathan: I like that the cards are easily sorted so they are all face down, but wish the magenta fives looked more like the other numbers in the magenta suit so that players don’t think the magenta five is a white suit due to its white background.  Cards of the same suit rarely look so different. Excellent game.

Larry:  I’ve played this as The Green Fivura and really fell in love with it.  The fact that any card can be played as a Magenta 5 is what grabs your attention first.  It adds a great deal of subtlety to the play of the hand and mastering the different uses of this is a genuine challenge.  But it’s the victory conditions that make this game great:  you keep track of the card you used to win each trick and add their values together at the end of the game; the player closest to 25 without going over, wins.  This gives the game a wonderful “Turn 0” phase, in which you try to plan which cards you’ll win tricks with in order to get to 25.  Naturally, things rarely go as planned, so you’re often scrambling to make things work out.  I thought the game played pretty well with 3, but it’s much better with 4.  Of all the terrific new trick-takers that have come out of Japan recently, this may be my favorite.

Simon W: I’ve only played this once so far (playing several rounds)  but I thought it was a memorable fun experience precisely because of the scoring twist. 

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!  Dale Y, Jim, Dan B., Larry,
• I like it.  John P, Jonathan F., Simon W
• Neutral.
• Not for me…

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