Cucumber Catastrophe

• Designer: Michael Feldkoetter
• Publisher: dv Games
• Players: 3-6
• Age: 8+
• Time: 20 mins
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Players compete over four hands of ten rounds each. A round is a trick where all players, in turn, play one card from their hand. The one who played the highest card (or the lowest, depending on the Rule in play) wins the trick and takes all the cards played that round.
During the game, certain actions can break the Rule, reversing the outcome between highest/lowest trick. At the end of the game, the player who has collected the fewest cucumbers is the winner. The shifting Rule system creates constant surprises, frequent reversals, so that no two games play out the same way.

The deck in Cucumber Catastrophe is 60 cards, numbered 1 to 60. Some cards have cucumbers on them (varying between one and three) and all the cards that end in a 5 have five cucumbers on them!  This deck is shuffled and players are dealt a hand of 10 cards.  The game is played over 4 rounds and each round has 10 tricks in it.  There is a Trick marker; a poker chip that has a Plus sign on one side and a Minus sign on the other.

To start a trick, the leading player plays any card from their hand.  Play then goes clockwise.  The next player can play any card of their choice, but this sets the Rule for the trick.  If the second card is higher, place the Trick Marker on the Plus side – this means that all cards played this round must be HIGHER than the lead card.  Additionally, the highest card played will win the trick.  

If the second card is lower, place the Trick Marker on the Minus side – this means that all cards played this round must be LOWER than the lead card.  Additionally, the lowest card played will win the trick.

Players must abide by the rule if possible.  However, if they cannot, they must then break the rule and play a card opposite to it.  When this happens, flip the Trick Marker over to the opposite side.  All later players can now play any card they like, without restrictions, but the winning condition of the trick is now changed to the newly visible side of the Trick Marker.

Finish the trick so that all players have played one card to it, and then based on the side of the Trick Marker showing, determine the winner.  This player collects all the cards and keeps them in front of them.  Repeat this for all ten tricks in the hand.

At the end of the round, each player tallies the number of cucumbers they have collected on their cards from won tricks.  Repeat this four times, and at the end of four hands, the player with the least collected cucumbers wins.  Ties broken in favor of the single lowest hand score.

My thoughts on the game

So as we were playing this game, it felt awful familiar – though I couldn’t put my finger on it… Afterwards, when I did some online research – it turns out that this was a re-make of Little Devils, a game that apparently I had last played in 2012!  https://opinionatedgamers.com/2013/01/16/dale-yu-looking-back-at-a-years-worth-of-gaming-with-the-local-group/

The premise here is interesting, but my feelings are honestly still the same (and you can probably guess what those feelings are since I haven’t played the game in 14 years).  Here, you try to get rid of your extreme values when you can – whether it’s leading with them because you can never win a trick that you lead OR by falling on your sword and winning a trick with an extreme card when it doesn’t have too many cucumbers as a penalty. Otherwise, a lot of the game just boils down to luck – the hand otherwise often plays itself. 

Unfortunately, this is also one of those games where if you are dealt a bad hand, there honestly isn’t much you can do to mitigate it.  There are very few clever plays that will stop you from winning a bunch of tricks if you’re dealt all-very-low and all-very-high cards.  Sure, you play three rounds to even things out, but that’s not a good compensation strategy IMO.

While this game isn’t for me, it certainly must be for others as it has had multiple reprints since its original version in 2012.  If you’re looking for something lighter which anyone can play, this could be a good choice.  The rules are easy, and as it’s mostly luck based, you can let the hands play themselves out.  And, in this version, you can look at the amusing art involving cats and cucumbers!

Until your next appointment,

The Gaming Doctor