Dragonmaster is out of print and highly sought after. The trick-taking and not-taking mechanism resembles Hearts but is infinitely more satisfying, due to the strategical necessity of choosing the right time to play Staff of Power. And when you're through playing, you can just gaze at the artwork on the cards. Or try some of these Game Variants.
The Crew also features the strategy of taking some tricks and leaving others, but this time it's cooperative. As the crew of a space ship, you are required each mission to make sure certain players take certain cards. It's up to you to see that they do so by throwing point cards away as often as you take them. As long as you throw them to the right crew member. Nerve-wracking fun.
In Sushi Go, you pass all the hands around the table, taking one card from each. To get the right amount of tofu, you might have to pass on the eel or the tempura. Be sure to buy the Party version of the game, as it comes with more entree choices. Maki or sashimi? Decisions, decisions...
There are multiple versions of Boomerang, each representing a different part of the world. I have Boomerang Europe, so that's the version I'm going to talk about. Try to collect every country in Scandanavia before anyone else to score the bonus. Or maybe one card from every geographic area instead. But can you do it while also grabbing up the right transportation cards? You might have to sacrifice one to score the other. And then there's that final card, over which you have no control, which gives you your 'boomerang' for the round. It can make you or break you, depending on the secret card you stashed before the round began.
In 7 Wonders, you need a lot of resources to build your Pyramid, or Hanging Gardens, or one of the other Wonders of the World. Not to mention the smaller cards you build to get points. That Town Hall is so tempting, but you really should have more glass and cloth, or you'll end up buying them from your neighbor, the same guy who's going to pulverise you if you don't build up your army instead.
Don't let the gruesome theme stop you: Guillotine is good family fun. Sure, you're lining up nobles to have their noggins removed, but with cards like, "After You" and "Was That My Name?" to move victims forward or back, you'll laugh your head off.
In Nimalia you lay your cards down to form a grid of animals. Each round has its own rules for scoring, so you place your cards strategically to cover certain animals or place some in pairs or rows. As the rounds progress, it gets harder and harder to score well, especially when you have three rules to follow at the same time. You'll have to make some sacrifices to get the best score.
I couldn't leave out the Totally Insane Card Game. Think Uno on steroids. Alongside the familiar Reverse and Skip cards you'll find the Totally Useless Card, the This Hand Is Dead card, and everybody's favourite, the This Is Not My Card card. Fun, frenzied, and frustrating, play can take hours or, and this really happened, about a minute and a half. And it's only sold on their official website.
In Fantasy Realms, you pick a card, discard a card to collect the most points in your hand. Every card has some point value, but they also have qualifiers. Like, that Mountain card earns an extra 50 points if you also possess a Smoke card. But the Knights are minus 8 unless paired with a Leader. The combinations are infinite and you are continually rethinking your strategy. Is it worth it to keep the Wildfire that just blanked your Rangers? Maybe you should concentrate on Army cards instead...
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