Spelinfo
January 2002
Frank Wils
The Netherlands

Shipwrecked
Publisher: Out of the Box Games, 2001
Language: English
Author: Matthew Kirby & Mark Osterhaus
Players: 2-4
Play Length: about 20 minutes
Ages: 12 years and up
Price: About 15 Euros

Design
Shipwrecked comes in a handy little box about 10 x 15 cm. In the box we find 2 compartments. The first compartment is the place for the 65 small glass stones (the gemstones). The other compartment fits the 24 large resources cards and the 24 bid cards (6 x 4 colors). For each color there are 3 pass cards, 2 stop cards and 1 strike card. The box and the resource cards are again, as customary of OTB games, drawn by John Kovalic who is mostly known through his comic drawings in Dragon Magazine and his own comic Dork Towers.

The Rules
The rules are found in a black and white book about the size of the box. they occupy 8 sides. These you can really read through in about 10 minutes, after that you can simply begin playing. They are very clear and easy to understand. It also contains sufficient examples. Just like in every game by this publisher, there is the latest version of the rules, variations and a FAQ on their website.

The Game Itself
In shipwrecked, the players bid on resource cards. These cards have a value, take care of income (nourishment) and gain you points. Stranded on an Island, without direct help, the players compete for these provisions.

Each player begins the game with 11, 13 or 15 gemstones (with 2, 3 or 4 players respectively). These can be used in order to buy resource cards which are bid on each round. The resource cards are shuffled and set in a face-down pile on the table. Each resource card has 3 attributes: The number of points that the card is worth (10, 20, 30, 40 or 50), the value in gemstones if the card is sold to the bank (this value is the points value of the card, divided by 10; 50=5, 40=4 etc.), and the income that the card brings in (this is inversely proportional to the value; a card worth 5 brings in 0 income, a card worth 4 brings in 1 income etc. . .). There are 4 sets/ colors of resource cards (food, shelter, water and friends).

At the beginning of a round, the player whose turn it is, takes his income. This is the total of the incomes on the resource cards that the player owns. After that, the player chooses which card will be bid on. This can be the top card on the resource pile, or also a card which a player earlier sold back to the bank.

The top card from the pile could also be a "hidden resource." In this instance, the players bid for the first following card, without knowing what card it is.

The bidding occurs with the six bid cards which each player has in his or her hand. These are laid down upside down. If no one yells stop (this is something they may do, but they don't have to, only if they also played the stop card) The hidden bid cards stay laying and the bidding begins again. This can happen up to six times. As soon as someone stops the bidding, or as soon as the 6th bid round is reached, this row is turned over. After that, the played cards determine who won the resource card. A strike wins over stop and pass cards and a stop card wins over a pass card. But, each card that is played more than once in a row doesn't count. 2 strikes and 1 stop is a win for the player who played the stop card. In the situation of a tie, the earlier rows are turned over.

The player who wins pays for the prize of the resource card. This depends on the number of rows that were bid. After 1 row you pay 5 gemstones, and with each row played the number of gemstones lessens by 1. If you don't have enough stones, you can sell a resource card back to the bank. The turn then goes to the next player. The first player to reach 100 points of one color or 150 points of multiple colors of resource cards wins.

Summary

Plus points

• easy to learn
• nice design
• bidding and bluffing
• doesn't last TOO long

Minus points

• Loose theme (Shipwrecked could accommodate many different themes)
• too short for 2 players

Overall Impression
Although the theme had relatively little to do with the game mechanics, it is as a whole, well produced. The design is very orderly, helped, of course, by the funny contributions of illustrator John Kovalic. The bluffing and bidding is always fun for fans and form wherein the income is taken care of to provide sufficient possibilities. Whichever card you play, however many gemstones you have retained for it, and whenever you stop the bidding or gamble that someone else will stop the bidding. The length of the game is good with 3 or 4 players, 15-20 minutes. Longer games tend to drag on. The opposite becomes true with 2 players. With 2 players, the points goals are too easily reached. A logical solution seems to be doubling the points goals.

With simple rules a not-so-simple game is created. With a short play time and an insight that you try to acquire over time in the bidding behavior of your fellow players this balances out strategy and the luck factor from the bidding.

For fans of bid and bluff games, Shipwrecked is an outstanding choice for a spare 15 minutes or as a warm-up on a game night.

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