High Society (Allplay)

• Designer: Reiner Knizia 
• Publisher: Allplay
• Players: 3-5
• Age: 10+
• Time: 15-30 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4fiAgfr
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

In Reiner Knizia’s High Society, players bid against each other to acquire the various trappings of wealth (positive-number and multiplier cards) while avoiding its pitfalls (negative number and divisor cards). While bidding, though, keep an eye on your remaining cash – at the end of the game, even though all those positive-number cards might add up to a win, the player with the least money isn’t even considered for victory. 

High Society is one of Dr. Knizia’s evergreen designs, having been released by multiple publishers over the years.  It has just been re-released by Allplay with brand new art and three new cards added to the game… 

Players bid on status cards,  one revealed per round. Status card values range from 1 – 10, with several special cards. There are also three ‘X2’ cards, which, if acquired, double the value of a player’s cards they have acquired. However, there are a few nasty cards, too. One halves the value of a player’s acquired cards, another subtracts 5 from the overall total, while a third forces the player to discard one of his acquired cards.

As a status card is revealed, players bid on the card. Bidding continues until all players have passed. The high bidder takes the card and discards his money. All other players retrieve the money they bid. If a ‘bad’ card is revealed, then the LOW bidder gets stuck with the card. In this case, the LOW bidder gets to take his money back while all other players lose their money bid.

There are four specially marked status cards, easily noted by their darker background. When the fourth of these is revealed, the game ends immediately. Thus, no one knows exactly when the game will end and which cards will be revealed during the course of play.

The game has two challenging money-managing features. First, when the game ends, all players total the amount of CASH left in their hands. The player with the LEAST amount of cash in their hands is eliminated, regardless of the value of his acquired status cards. Thus, one is forced to manage his money carefully to insure that he has enough money left in his hand at the end of the game to keep himself in contention. 

The second money-managing feature is that change cannot be made during the game. Each player gets an identical set of cash cards.  As the bidding progresses and a player lays a cash bid on the table, he must increase it from there without retrieving the previously laid bill. Without being able to make change, this forces one to carefully keep an eye on what he has remaining in his hand. Otherwise, you may be forced to drastically overbid if you find yourself having already used all your low value bills. This system also sometimes causes you to make a larger bid than you would have liked in order to preserve your low value cash cards (or maybe you have no option as you’ve already spent all the smalls!)

This version of the game also includes three new status cards, all light in background – there were designed by Dr. Knizia himself for addition in this new version. The Gambling card doubles your end game money.  The Yacht Club triggers a simultaneous/blind bid, single highest takes the 5 points, all bid cards are lost, ties are thrown out Raj-style.  The third one is the Excursion, which is worth 12 points – but all other players get to retrieve their highest value money card from their discard pile and return it to their hands.  These can be added in whole or piecemeal as you like to the deck.  

Each of these cards can have a huge effect on how the game plays out, and we’ve definitely enjoyed the twists that each provides.  After a few games, I think the consensus here is to have all three included in all of our games.

In High Society, one must make tough decisions in regards to how much to bid on the cards, keeping in mind to hold enough cash to be able to bid appropriately so as not to get stuck with the ‘nasty’ cards as they are revealed nor to be the poorest at the end of the game.   This is now the third (!) version of High Society that I have in my collection, and the beautiful new art as well as the three new cards make this one a keeper and the most likely to come out to the table.  

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Larry:  I’ve only played the original version of High Society, not this new one.  It’s a fun, super-fast filler, but it’s almost too short, with one unfortunately timed card being enough to spoil your position.  Maybe the addition of the three new cards will increase my appreciation of this evergreen, so I’ll have to make a point of checking it out.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!  Dale Y, Erik Arneson
• I like it.  Larry
• Neutral.
• Not for me…

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