A long, long time ago, my grandmother taught me the game of “WAR”. The concept was easy enough…each player gets half a deck of shuffled, regular playing cards and you both flip your top cards one at a time. The player with the higher value placed both cards into their own personal discard pile. Ties were handled a bit differently…draw another face down and another faceup…the card that was facedown determined who won (the faceup card was simply spoils of war). This continued until one player got all the cards and was declared winner. “Twisted Game of War” goes a step beyond that and introduces its own quirky way of playing. Special thanks to the folks at Mental Eclipse for sending me a copy for review purposes. I’m required by FTC regulations to note that I was paid to cover this game, but any and all opinions are my own.
“Twisted Game of War” is a card game for 2-5 players for ages 7+. Average play time will vary but shouldn’t take more than an hour. The game itself includes 65 Game Cards, 5 Chart Cards, 1 Instruction Card, and 1 Social Card.
Setup
Shuffle the deck of game cards and deal an equal amount to each player (or just keep dealing until you run out of cards). These cards are kept facedown in a stack. Each player also gets a reference card.
Gameplay
Like in the aforementioned game of “WAR”, all players will flip the top card from their personal deck. The player with the highest card wins the round. In case of a tie, players continue flipping until someone wins.
The reward for winning varies depending on the included chart. Players will compare the winner’s card symbol to the loser’s card symbol and look up the coordinate block on the chart. If the winner’s card has a shield and the loser’s card has a chest plate/armor, the winner gets to draw one random card from the loser’s deck. Some winner results my task the loser with counting through their deck a certain number of cards and giving the correct card to the winner. In the case of matching symbols, both cards go back to their owner’s decks. Won cards go on the bottom of the winner’s deck…there is no “discard pile”.
Play continues until one person earns all of the cards. They are then declared the winner.
The above doesn’t cover all of the rules found in the manual, but should give you an idea as to how the game is played.
Review
“Twisted Game of War” is an interesting take on the classic that could stand to improve in a few areas…the chart for one. It is possible to draw a number with a bow that is higher than a number with a shield, yet the chart simply says N/A without explanation. My best guess is that despite the higher number, the winner would receive no rewards. Something should indicate that to avoid any confusion. The rule card also leaves out what to do with the original cards…for clarity purposes the wording should be changed so that there is no confusion.
It’s also odd that one wouldn’t use a discard pile for won cards. I can see where they were going with it however, as the winner typically take from the loser’s deck and will sometimes need to count many cards in to grab the one (or more) they need. The problem I have is that these rewards will slow down play time, what with the constant deck maintenance required. On the plus side, the cards are of great quality and the art is well done.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the variety of these rewards. One problem I have with the original “WAR” was that it was a slog. Depending on RNG (Random Number Generation, a term used in video games), it’s possible for a game of “WAR” to drag on if the losing side kept drawing well. Getting an opponent’s Ace card, for example, was typically only possible as a spoil from a “WAR” (tie). “Twisted Game of War” fixes this somewhat as some of the rewards allow the winner to take more than one card from the loser’s deck. High cards can still be tough to take however and games can drag on, but the quirky nature of this game makes the journey a bit more palatable.
What we have here is a game that retains the luck of the draw but tries to break up the monotony with some crazy ways to earn cards. For the most part, it does so well. Personally, I’m not a fan of luck-based games. It’s possible for a shuffled deck to be completely one-sided in that one person gets all the good cards right from the beginning. I expected a game like this to at least come up with a more balanced approach…perhaps the starting decks can be made to be as equal as possible through manual seeding.
I wouldn’t have minded some “special abilities”, perhaps allowing a won card to be put off to the side, faceup, to be used to counter a symbol when comparing for rewards. If my opponent drew a bow for example and won, my previously won & faceup shield card could jump in and save the day (but be shuffled back in to your deck). Persons could be limited to 1 faceup reserve card at a time. What I’m trying to say is that this game has potential to grow, but fails to capitalize on said potential. As it stands, “Twisted Game of War” is simply a casual variant of a classic. It’s not bad and I’m sure it’ll appeal to the casual gamer group or family, but it needs to do more to appeal to the strategists. That rule card also needs a bit of work. Despite its flaws, this is still a fun, interesting take on the classic card game of “War”.
Final Verdict: 6/10 (Above Average)
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