Dickory

• Designer: Hanibal Sonderegger, Sean Ross
• Publisher: Playte
• Players: 2
• Age: 14
• Time: 20 mins
• Preorder link: preorder.playte.com
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Be the first to get rid of your cards in this climbing game with shifting ranks! The game is in the vein of Dai Fugō (**Millionaire**) and involves playing cards from your hands in singles, doubles, triples, quads, or 3-card runs (the variants add 2-card and 4-card runs). There are no suits, and ranks can shift by clever manipulation of a “conveyor belt” queue of cards. Whichever rank is in the rightmost position of the conveyor belt is the highest rank, and the ordering of the remaining ranks shifts according to a circular ranking.

Shuffle the deck of 48 cards (4 suits, ranks 1 to 12) and deal 11 cards to each player. Place 6 cards from the deck face up in a line on the table to form the Queue. The rest of the deck is placed to the left of the Queue.  The Queue card furthest from the deck (i.e. the right-most) determines the highest rank for the round.  Use the clock face on the box cover to remind players of this.  The number/hour just clockwise to the pointer is therefore the lowest rank and the ranks roll over from 12 to 1, just like time does on a clock.

The card play is a shedding game.  The lead player plays a valid meld:

• Single card
• Set of 2-4 cards of the same rank
• Run of exactly 3 cards of consecutive ranks; the value is determined by the final number in the sequence.

If the opponent wants to play, they have three options.

•  Play the same meld type as the lead, with the same number of cards but it must be of higher value.
• Draw 1-5 cards from the right end of the Queue. Move the clock hand to the new rightmost card in the Queue. You may never take the final card of the Queue.  Then the player MUST play a meld from their hand which is higher in rank than the previous play
• Pass and refill the Queue. If there is more than 1 card in the Queue, discard the rightmost and reset the clock.  Then refill the Queue to 6 cards.

A trick ends when a player passes and refills the Queue.  The winner clears the cards and leads the next trick. The first player to play all the cards from their hand is the winner.

My thoughts on the game

Dickory is a fascinating 2 player only shedding game.  It was originally published by New Mill – in small quantities – and I’m glad to see this one get a wider exposure through Playte’s new version.   As with most shedding games, the goal is to get your hand set up so that you can get out of the hand.  Normally, this means getting rid of low ranked single cards and keeping “winning” combinations to allow you to continue playing and go out.

Here, that strategy is turned completely on its head due to the revolving rank system.  Keeping an eye on the Queue and knowing how that will affect the strength of the cards in your hand is crucial.  Of course, in order to move the clock hand, you’ll have to take cards from the Queue into your hand – and that needs to be accounted for as well!  

In a sense, the Queue should be considered a part of your hand (and of your opponent’s)!  It should definitely be monitored for both what it could do if the cards are added to a hand as well as how it could affect the ranks of the cards.

I do love the way that Playte has incorporated the clock face into the box lid.  Sure, it makes it hella hard to stack this card box with others, but it’s such an elegant way to remind people of what the current order is.  Yes, I know that you could just look at the Queue and figure it out, but for me, the constant physical rotation of the clock makes sure that it isn’t forgotten or confused.

After a number of duels, I’ll be honest that I’m not sure that I have a successful strategy.  Each game plays out so differently because of the unpredictability of the clock rotation.  For me, it’s try to get myself with a nice lean hand, and then hope that either luck favors me with a timely rotation or with a nice flop of cards when the queue is reset.  Either way, I keep wanting to play more to figure it out – so that’s a surely promising sign.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

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

Amazon affiliate link: preorder.playte.com