| DiceTower.com
Tom Vasel
December 2005
USA
I love a game that has a bluffing factor to it. I
really stink at such games, but they are so much fun
to play that I disregard my shear horrible play. Shipwrecked
(Out of the Box Publishing, 2002 - Matthew Kirby),
promised "Bidding, Bluffing, and Survival",
and I was intrigued. Of course, the simplicity of OOTB
games often leads to some great enjoyment, so I had
high hopes for the game. Featuring great artwork by
John Kovalic, and some other nice components, it promised
to be slightly more advanced than most OOTB games.
And it did not disappoint - Shipwrecked plays quickly, has a great bluffing aspect,
and is simply a lot of fun to play. It's best with four players (immensely so)
and involves a lot of second-guessing that might turn some people off, but all
those I played the game with enjoyed it. It's an interesting game, and it takes
a few moments for some folk to wrap their head around the paper-rock-scissors
mechanics of the bidding; but once the game gets going, it's smooth flowing fun.
Each player takes a set of "bid cards" of their color. These cards
include three "Pass" cards, two "Stop" cards, and one "Strike" card.
Players also get a certain amount of gemstones, according to the number of players,
with the remainder of the stones placed in the "bank". A pile of twenty-four
resource cards is shuffled and placed face down, next to the game board. The
game board is divided into a grid, with six numbered rows and four columns. Each
row (starting with # 1 at the bottom), has a number of gems next to it - with
five next to # 1, four next to # 2, etc. One player is chosen to go first, and
the game is ready to begin!
On a player's turn, they first collect income for every resource card they currently
own (none at the beginning of the game.) Each resource card has an income of
zero to two on them. The player then puts a resource card up for bid, either
any of the resource cards in the bank, or the top card from the resource stack.
This card is put face up in the middle of the table, and all players will compete
in an auction for the card. If the card happens to say "hidden resource"
(there are four of these cards in the deck), then the player turns the next resource
card over, and it is auctioned off without the players knowing what it is.
Each auction takes place the same way. Players choose one of their six bid cards
and place it face down in the # 1 row on the board. If anyone places a "stop" card,
they may (they don't have to) announce that the bid is stopped. If no one does
this, then players play another card in the # 2 row. This continues until one
player decides to stop the bid in any row (if they played a "stop" card.)
The bid is automatically stopped after the sixth row.
Players, once the bid is stopped, turn over the last row of cards to see who
won the bid. The way to determine who won works thusly…
- If one, and only
one person, plays a Strike card, they win the bid.
- If two or more people play Strike cards, they
cancel each other out.
- If one, and only one person,
plays a Stop card, AND no one plays a
Strike card, they win the bid.
- If two or more people
play Stop cards, AND no one plays a Strike
card, then they check for a tie breaker. Each player
involved turns over all other cards that they've
played. The player who has played the most Pass cards
wins the tie. If this still results in a tie, all
players must pay the cost of the card, and bidding
starts completely over for the card.
The winner takes the resource card,
paying the bank the amount of gems shown next to the
row of the final bid. If a player can't pay the cost,
they must sell Resource cards that they've already
won back to the bank for the "value" listed
on the card. (Resource cards have a value of one to
five). If a player still can't win the bid, then all
of their resource cards are given to the bank, and
they are out of the game.
Play then passes to the next person. Each Resource
card is one of four types (Food, shelter, water, and
friends) and is worth ten to fifty points. When one
player has 100 points from one type or 150 points from
any type, they win the game!
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: The cards are all thick, laminated,
with the artwork
of John Kovalic (of Dork Tower fame) and certainly
convey a humorous bent to the idea of landing on an
island. The pictures are cartoonish, but I find that
the theme fits the game well. The Resource cards are
quite large, much larger than normal sized playing
cards, while the bid cards are smaller squares. The
gems are small glass beads, and the board is a fairly
large square board (which I was surprised fit into
the box) which holds all the bids easily. The box is
the small, flat, square one which OOTB puts much of
their games into, and the durable box fits easily onto
most shelves.
2.) Rules: The rulebook is the longest OOTB rulebook
I've ever seen -
clocking in at six large pages. However, that's simply
because two and one half of the pages are dedicated
to an entire full color pictorial depiction on how
bids work. Once players understand how the bidding
works, this may seem over the top, but there is absolutely
no question once you read over these rules. When teaching
the game, I found that a demonstration of the bidding
process speeds up the game.
Instead of taking one minute to explain like most OOTB
games, Shipwrecked takes five. Teenagers and adults
both understood quickly…
3.) Winning the bid: Unlike many auction games, it's
not always good
to win the bid in Shipwrecked. At first, it's probably
always in a player's benefit to win every auction that
they are involved in, if possible. But money gets tight
really quick, and a player can be forced to sell off
some resources to win others (which can get annoying).
If a player plays a "strike" card at the
wrong time, they might accidentally win. This provides
a lot of tension to bidding rounds, especially those
that are later on in games.
4.) Elimination: There is an elimination aspect to
the game, although
I haven't yet had it happen in any of the games in
which I've played.
Some players have come close, but really, there's no
need to worry about this. If a player is eliminated,
it's because they've bid extremely aggressively and
were caught with their pants down. If a player is running
low on money, they just have to pull back with their
bidding and try to win cheaper resource cards.
5.) Bidding: The whole bidding system is one whole "outguess
your opponent" game. In a sense, the game is blind bidding, but players have
a little bit of information, watching what resources a player has already won.
I like the way a player has to gauge when to play their "strike" card,
and when to play the "stop" card. Then, when playing the "stop" card,
when does the player declare that the round has stopped? As the price for each
resource card drops, players basically play a game of "chicken",
waiting to see when they will try to win the card.
Often, this happens at the same time for several players
- sometimes giving an odd player out the card, or causing
the tied players to pay the bank money. Either way,
it's an exciting, tense time.
6.) Fun Factor: As I just said in the last point, the
bidding is what
makes the game fun. Watching as each card comes up,
seeing who might possibly win if they gain the card,
keeps each bidding round interesting. Players who despise
blind-bidding and bluffing may not enjoy the game,
but most people will enjoy the game - it's a lot of
tense fun in a short amount of time.
I really enjoyed
Shipwrecked, as it was a short, fast blind-bidding
game that held my attention the entire game. Games
can swing back and forth quickly, and most last less
than thirty minutes. I think it's a lot of fun, and
offers meaningful decisions. Yes, the game probably
qualifies as "light", but it's more
than just a lark in the park.
There are blind bidding games that I think are heavier
and better, such as Aladdin's Dragons and Fist of Dragonstones;
but when I only have a short time
and want to play a game that's quick yet offers good
choices, then Shipwrecked is my choice.
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