Guillotine: Decapitation for Fun and Profit
A few weeks ago I blogged about Lunch Money, a favorite card game of mine and one of the single-deck games that weaned me from my Magic: the Gathering addiction. Today I’d like to introduce another of those single-deck games that’s easier to play and only slightly less morbid: Guillotine.
Guillotine was originally released by Magic wranglers Wizards of the Coast in 1998 (on Bastille Day, no less), and is back in print after a few years of unavailability. Guillotine is a score-counting game: the object of the game is to behead French nobles and collect the most points by the end of the third day. Despite its macabre subject, Guillotine is much more lighthearted than Lunch Money, with colorful cartoony artwork depicting the characters and actions. Gameplay is simple, making the game easy to pick up. At the start of each game, players are dealt five cards, and a group of 14 nobles form a line in the middle of the table. On a player’s turn, he or she can play a card and then collect the noble at the front of the line. Once all the nobles are collected, a new line is formed for Day 2. At the end of the third day players count their scores (each noble is assigned a set of points, with some nobles worth negative points) and the player with the highest number of points wins.
You never find out if the pot the Piss Boy is carrying is empty or not…
Sounds easy? It is, which makes Guillotine a great fun little game to introduce to your gaming group. I find the game works best in groups of more casual gamers. There is some strategy involved (you can play bonus cards to give extra points to nobles of a certain rank for instance), but the strategy doesn’t overwhelm the game or require players to memorize too many rules. Besides the basic draw-a-card-play-a-card rule, all rules are printed on the cards. When you play a card or collect a noble, you do what the card says. The cardboard guillotine that comes with new editions of the game adds a nice decorative touch, too.
tl;drs
Blank is a blanker version of blank: Guillotine is a more lighthearted version of Lunch Money
Credits over/under: Under. The cards have a beautiful, uniform look to them.
Recommended if you like: quick and easy card games you can teach to your friends in 5 minutes or less.
Better than I expected: I hadn’t played Guillotine for a few years before I bought a new card set and was impressed at how much my friends enjoyed the game and asked after playing it.
Worse than I hoped: Robespierre is still a noble no one wants.
Verdict: Good addition to anyone’s game collection.
