I’m Out

• Designer: Masato Uesugi
• Publisher: CMYK
• Players: 3-6
• Age: 8+
• Time: 15 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

I’m Out is about emptying your hand before anyone else.  Everyone plays cards into a central row that goes up in ascending order. Matching numbers stack.  You can only play cards to each end of the row, so either the lowest number or below on the left, or the highest number or higher on the right.  To make it trickier, you have to play at least as many cards as the stack at that end of the row.

There is a deck of 62 cards which is shuffled – the distribution is such that there are the most 7s (8 copies) and decreasing values as you move away – ending with two copies each of the 2s and the 13s.  Players are dealt a starting hand (12/11/10/9 cards in a 3/4/5/6 player game).  A player is chosen to start.

The first player in a round can play any rank they like as the row starts empty; they can also choose to play any number of cards of that rank.  Play then moves clockwise and each player has the option of making a legal play.  If they choose not to play (or cannot play), they pass and are out for the rest of this round.  When a player passes, he must take any one card from the row (from any position) and add it to his hand.  If this card is from either of the ends, note that it will change the legal play possibilities for the next player!

A legal play must always be made on the end of the row, either matching the rank of the end card, or going more towards the corresponding extreme. You must also play at least the same number of cards as is currently at the end of the line.  Thus, if there are a pair of 3s on the left side of the line, your legal plays are: two more 3s, two or three 2s, or two 1s.   (These numbers hold true based on the distribution of numbers in the deck).   Note that you cannot play a single 3 on top of the existing pair of 2s as you must play at least the same number of cards as already exist on the end.

When all players but one have passed, the line is discarded and that last active player gets to start a new row. Continue playing until one player is able to empty their hand of all cards.

My thoughts on the game

This is a game that really gives a new take to the shedding idea.  There are some timing strategies that you need to pay attention to – while you’ll often have the most of the central numbers; they are sometimes harder to play as the line might move past those central values.

Also, there are plenty of times when you’ll have a legal play in your hand, but you might feel better off passing because there is a card in the row that you’d rather pick up now to make for a stronger play later.   As you try to end the game, you’ll have to remember that each time that you pass, you’ll have to pick up a new card from the table – so managing the cards in your hand at the end is crucial.

This CMYK version is box #6 in the Magenta line, and it comes in the same magenta slipcase as the five games that came before it.  The inner box has a psychedelic swirling color motif that you will also find on the cards.  I have been mostly in favor of the CMYK palette choices on previous games, and this one is fairly pleasing to my eyes.

I really like the way that the colors ooze across the cards forming nice gradients when played next to each other.  Additionally, each of the varieties of a particular rank have a slightly different pattern to them.  Overall, it’s a very pleasing thing to look at.  One usability feature that I wish they had included were card counts for each rank on the card itself (so you knew what the possible combos were) but I can understand how that might have taken away from the otherwise arty design of the cards.

I’m Out is a clever game which is a little bit more complex than it looks.  The rules governing legal plays as well as the interesting decisions around which card to pick up when you’re out make this an intriguing game that will certainly get repeated play time here.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it! Dale Y
• I like it.
• Neutral.
• Not for me…