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nerdzgarage · 4 years

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Skull King by Grandpa Beck’s games drops anchor in a small box that holds a heap of swashbuckling hijinks. Like other Grandpa Beck’s games, this game has cheery artwork and is a clever, clever game. The rulebook is straightforward and witty. It will just take a few playthroughs to grasp all the nuances. However, the play is quick to pick up and well worth the time. It has unquestionably stayed on the game table for weeks since our first play. Players are dealt a hand and bet how many tricks they will win in a round. They only score if they match the exact number of tricks they bid. They lose points if their guess is over or under their bet. The highest score of ten rounds is the Skull King of the High Seas!!!

Hoist the Sails!

Each round, players are dealt cards equal to the number of the round. First-round, one card each, second-round, two cards each and up to the tenth round, of ten cards. Players look at the cards and bet on of their card win the round, which is called a trick. Secretly, they chose the Bid Reminder card that equates the number of tricks the player believes they win this round. The players chant “Yo, Ho, Ho” three times and, on the third time, reveal the number on the Bid Reminder card. At the end of the round score points. If guessed correctly, you gain points, and if not, you subtract points.

Bid Reminder

Score pad

The Trick- the player with the highest value card wins the trick. During a trick, if the first card played is a purple card, the other players must play a purple card if they one. The highest of the suit cards wins that trick. If you do not have a matching color card in your hand, you can play another color card; however, it has zero value. Now, if the Jolly Roger card is played, it will win! If multiple Jolly Roger cards are played, the higher value Jolly Roger wins. The winner of the trick grabs the cards and places the pile in front of them. At the end of the round, the player tallies the tricks they won and compares them to their Bid Reminder card. Scoring a round. If the bid matches the tricks won, you gain 20 points per trick won. If the player bet is higher or lower than the bid, they lose -10 points per trick you were off. If you enjoy high stress and high stakes and bet Zero and manage to pull off zero wins, the player gains the round number multiplied by ten. (Not happened yet, but you just wait- shakes fist at the sky) or if you win a trick (dang) multiply the round by ten and subtract it.

Pirates!

Jolly Roger Cards

Numbered Suits

Bonus points are awarded if you capture a suit card 14 and gain 10 points, and if the Skull King captures it, you earn 20 points. If the Skull King captures a pirate, you gain 30 points.

Special cards are the Pirate Cards, and they beat any numbered card and the Jolly Roger. The Pirates have equal value; therefore, if more than one is played during a trick, the first played wins.

Escape Cards (White Flag) are the lowest valued card. They are useful to avoid a win.

The Tigress Card can be played as a pirate or an escape card and must be announced once played.

The Skull King is the highest-ranked card.

Reshuffle the card after each round. The deal goes clockwise and play to ten rounds.

Legandary Expansion Cards

Card Hierarchy

Once you have mastered the tangles and twists of the original game, there is the Legendary Expansion. Kick the sabotage up a notch with the new cards. Mermaid Cards beat all numbered cards, but those pesky pirates except the infamous Skull King. If the Skull king is captured, there is a bonus of 50 points. Loot cards are an Escape card with a bonus. The player who wins the loot card in a trick is now in alliance with the player who played the Loot card. If both bid correctly that round, they score 20 points. The Kraken does what a Kraken always does, destroys. If a Kraken is played, the trick is ruined, and the pile of cards is out the round.

The Pirate cards have special abilities in the Legendary expansion that you can choose to utilize if you when the trick.

Rosie D’Laney allows you to pick the player to lead the next trick.

Bahij, the Bandit, lets discard two cards and draw two cards from the deck.

Rascal of Roatan lets you wager 10 or 20 points, and if you bid correctly, gain the points and bid incorrectly lose the points.

Juanita Jade lets you look through the cards of the draw deck.

Harry, the Giant, can change his bet plus or minus one.

Mechanics That Worked for Us

Being bold with our bids towards the end can psych out opponent and or makeup points if you have fallen negative.

The Escape cards can sabotage an opponent who is close to their bid. Almost as useful as to utilize for avoiding a win.

The Mermaid cards can be a game-changer with tactical planning.

The added ability on the pirate cards is valuable when you remember to use them. The ability to change your bet was effective.

Bits and Bobs

42 Color cards

14 Jolly Roger cards

5 Escape cards

5 Pirate Cards

2 Mermaid cards

I Tigress card

1 Skull King card

2 Loot cards

25 Bid Reminder cards

1 Notepad

Our Thoughts

Skull King is a shrewd game that combines straightforward mechanics with a perfect amount of strategy and a splash of tomfoolery. It pays to bold on the high seas, and that brings on annoyance and giggles. We are sensing a theme in Grandpa Beck’s games, and we are highly entertained by it.

The special cards add a nice twist in the expansion. The Bid Reminder card reveals are continually comical and louder as we race to round ten. Our pirate accents have grown, or as our son stated, “grown annoying.” Win-win for us!

The scoring is a chore, and we have to roll dice to decide who has that duty, and then I read about a fan, Alex Dahl that created a digital score system! He gets all the booty for that!

Skull King Scorecard

Problem solved, except for the silly pirate accents.

We take games with us when we are on the road, and this small box game is aces for travel.

Nerdz Garage is swinging from the sails recommending Skull King & Legendary Expansion.

Skull King

Published: Grandpa Beck Games

Designer: Brent Beck and Apryl Stott

Players: 2-6

Playtime: 30 Minutes

Play Type: Trick Taking

Grandpa Beck’s Games

Let’s be honest; there is still a bit of drama when we play.

Sit Down -Grab a Drink – Join the Game

Suzzan Smith

Nerdz Garage

Hoist the Sails! We Are Battling on the High Seas with Skull King! Skull King by Grandpa Beck’s games drops anchor in a small box that holds a heap of swashbuckling hijinks.

#Game Night #Grandpa Beck&039;s Games #Trick Taking

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nerdzgarage · 4 years

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New game expectations: Fun fun fun– Characters are adorable – Bringing the family together – Giggles and smiles. Our reality: Severely stressed – Stupid MobGoblins – Flipping the game in the air and some entertaining competition.

We felt the full range of these emotions with Cover Your Kingdom by Grandpa Beck’s Games. Unboxing you discover creature cards that are puny and whimsical, kingdoms will make you grin and a little crown!! Additionally, in the box are the petulant Free Creature cards and the smartly calculated rulebook. To be clear, this is not a story of unpleasant gaming experience. We sat down to play an uncomplicated card game and ended up playing a ruthless jubilant game.

At a Glance

Argh! The MobGoblins!!

The game starts with a royal decree proclaiming you a Ruler of your own Magical Kingdom. Yay! Regrettably, your Kingdom is empty and holds zero Magic. Boo.

Chance would have it that a multitude of magical Creatures are wondering searching for a new home. Convenient. The mission is to persuade these creatures to join your Kingdom and live happily ever after… maybe. The other Kingdoms are trying to recruit YOUR Magical creatures to their Kingdom.

Kingdoms

we will call it – this land

You need to be crafty to enticing the Magical Creatures to your Kingdom because they will not join by themselves, only in matching pairs. Once achieved, you can place a newly formed clan to a region in your Kingdom. The creatures live in specific lands; Highlands, Lowlands, and Anyland with correlating space on Kingdom cards. Each time you form a clan in your Kingdom, they will be stacked across a previously placed clan. The exposed clan atop each land is vulnerable to being recruited by the other players. To recruit may challenge with a Wild Creature or a matching creature. You can most certainly defend with the same choices. The last one standing wins the whole pile of creature cards and places in their Kingdom. Keep in mind that this pile of creatures are vulnerable till a new clan is placed atop them.

Get you Puns here!

Recruiting

Creatures in Their lands

Making Clans

Top Clans are vulnerable

When all the Creatures have been played, the Magic is tallied. At the end of this tangled Kingdom soap opera, the Kingdom with most Magic wins the treasured crown and the title The Noblest and Supreme Majesty of Magical Might. * My nickname is Princess for a multitude of reasons and this Princess eternally craves a crown.

My Crown and the Games Crown

Mechanics That Worked for Us

Holding in hand a Wild Creature and a matching creature of one of your top clans in reserve for inevitable attack (recruiting) by another player. I learned early that adding to the top clan to gain more Magic leaves a hefty stack of Creature cards that will be recruited.

These Creatures are Wild or Action Packed

The Free Creature cards that perform an action and not join a clan were held onto till towards the end of the game. The skipping a player turn can be a lifesaver when you have a vulnerable stack, and you can utilize that to get another pair and cover your magic bounty.

The MobGoblins are evil or fantastic, depending on which end of the card you are. The record for a stolen stack is 280 magic. I know! It hurt. Yes, I used the Grumbledalf’s Elves creature card to remove it from the game. Free Creature card’s actions are thoughtfully crafted to heighten the strategy and stress levels.

It can be played with two players; however, we fancied a higher player count.

Kingdom Powers- Don’t Forget Them!!!

The Modification with the Kingdom Powers added a delicious layer of gambit. We found the Modifying cards more useful than the Action Power cards. Forgetting to use these cards usually only happened once.

Bits and Bobs

Eight Kingdoms

Sixty Constellations

Eight Turn Guides/Kingdom Powers

131 Creature Cards

One Blank Creature card

A Crown!!! (The Best Idea!)

Turn Action

You Must take one action each turn. You can take up to two actions. You can repeat an action or choose two different actions.

Form a Clan.

Attempt to recruit a Clan.

Add a Creature to Clan.

Employ a Creature.

Discard then Draw.

Our Thoughts

The cards mingled through all our Syfy favorites with witticism and plucky art. The rule variants added smart layers to the game. The Constellation Prize modification felt like an utterly contrasting game. Finding the pairs turn the Creature Tokens to the night sky. Collecting these accrue additional magic points, and we played the first to collect all the pairs wins the Astronomical Bonus. This version was less sabotage and focused on speed. We all used our Wild Creatures to make the clans instead of holding for defending recruitment.

Constellation Modification

Astronomical Bonus!

We have played more card games in the past two months than… ever. They have been variations of the same theme except Cover Your Kingdom. It is highly interactive with a big dash of sabotage to intensify the gameplay. It is set collecting with a cagey twist. Bad puns, that’s how eye roll.

This was our first Grandpa Beck’s game and we are diving into the next one!

Cover Your Kingdom

Year Published: 2019

Publisher: Grandpa Beck Games

Players: 3-6 Players

Playtime: 30-45 Minutes

Play Type: Set Collection

https://www.grandpabecksgames.com/

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/26030/grandpa-becks-games

Let’s be honest; there is still a bit of drama when we play.

Sit Down -Grab a Drink – Join the Game

Suzzan Smith

The Nerdz Garage/

Get Your Puns On! Cover Your Kingdom New game expectations: Fun fun fun– Characters are adorable – Bringing the family together – Giggles and smiles.

#Game Night #Grandpa Beck&039;s Games #Puny

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