Played a new game this evening called Xactika. It's another bidding/ trick-taking game, similar to Oh Hell!, from the same people who brought you SET®, Quiddler, and Five Crowns. Xactika is ostensibly for 2-10 players (we were playing a 3-handed game), but our guess is that it would be more interesting (or less random) with 5+ players. The deck consists of 81 cards. Each card has a number value between 4 and 12, and each card has 4 "suits" on it (spheres, cubes, cones, and stars). Everyone is dealt 8 cards and must then bid the number of tricks that s/he expects to take. You must hit your bid exactly—if you go under or over you lose points (the difference between your bid and the number of tricks that you actually took). Repeat until you've played 8 hands, and whoever is in the lead after 8 hands, wins. None of us could seem to get the hang of it. At one point, Chris was winning with -1 points. I thought the game was fun but certainly don't feel like I have any clue of what strategy to use next time. But I'd play again.
Posted by rv at November 5, 2003 12:44 AM to game