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Who's the more foolish? The fool or fool that plays after the fool?
United States
DURHAM
North Carolina
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A game I was recently reintroduced to is the trick-taking game The Bottle Imp, which is also known as Flaschenteufel. It is a notable game for a number of reasons, not least in that it manages the rare feat of being a trick-taking game with a palpable theme, one that is very cleverly intricated within the game mechanics.
The inspiration is the short story by Robert Louis Stevenson, about a man who gets a bottle that seems to grant every wish, but it has the drawback that you can only sell it for less than you paid for it, plus the sting: if you die with it in your possession, you go to Hell. How this is incorporated into the game is via the Imp's number. There are 37 cards that make up the deck (numbered 1 to 37, in 3 colors). The number 19 is never in anyone's hand and shows where the Imp's number begins. The play is standard for trick-taking games like Whist or Bridge: you lead a card in a suit (in this case one of 3 colors) and the other players must follow suit if they are able and may play anything if they no longer have that suit. The cards are 1 to 37 with no repeats, so highest wins. Very simple. However, if your card is below the Imp's number, it is in effect stronger than the nominally high cards and takes the trick, with the winning card becoming the new Imp's number in front of the player that played it. Thus the Imp's number goes down and down (like the price of the bottle in the story) until no one can play below it. That person is then stuck with the bottle and loses points instead, while their fellow players score according to the tricks they won.
The dynamic of the moving Imp's number means that you could be holding the most powerful card at the table for one trick (say you begin with the 18) but as soon as someone wins a trick with a card below it, your all-powerful card suddenly becomes impotent. The dilemma of wanting to win tricks to gain points is set against the real danger of being left with the bottle and actually losing points instead. It is often the case that the person left with the bottle has the largest pile of tricks, but still remains in last place.
The evaluation of your hand is worth talking about here, as it is not a straightforward counting off of power cards. In a 4 player game you will have 9 cards. Before play begins you will pass 3 and receive 2 - one goes to the middle of the table as the "Imp's Trick" which is the "reward" for the player who ends up with the bottle. The other two go to your immediate neighbors. The passing enables you to look at your hand and assess problem areas. For example, if you have a lot of low cards, you are in danger of getting the bottle so you can give those away. Or you can strengthen your hand by voiding a suit. But there is danger as you may then be given back that color - and potentially with a more dangerous value (imagine going void in yellow, then being passed the 1 or the 2). You also have some say in what the Imp will give his victim, as the Imp's trick is given to them as negative points (each card has between 1 and 6 points, with low numbers having generally less points and high number having more, though it is not easily predictable which number scores what points). So you can make the Imp's trick more painful for whoever gets it - with the caveat that that person could be you. Or you can dump a dangerous card, which usually have lower amounts of points.
A lot of the focus people give this game is on avoiding the bottle but the other side of the game - actually scoring points - is worth considering too. If you look purely to avoid the bottle, you will more than likely score poorly (and once in a while even less when you still get the bottle!). The flavor text on one card hints at the strategy: "All you have to do is to use the power of the imp in moderation and then sell it to someone else, as I do to you". But that is easier said than done. Following the flow of the play and knowing when you can grab the trick (and the points) is part of mastering the game. Judging when the Imp's number has fallen too low for someone to risk it and knowing when you should cut your losses and how to pass the bottle on. These are the keys to the game.
I grew up with some of the classic trick-taking games (with the standard deck of cards). But the Imp is trickier than most of them and all the more intriguing because of it. I feel like there is a way to get better at it that I have not quite figured out yet, something beyond counting the highs and the lows and how to finesses away a troublesome low card. It is a mind-bending game that is well worth your time to try and get your mind around.
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The inspiration is the short story by Robert Louis Stevenson, about a man who gets a bottle that seems to grant every wish, but it has the drawback that you can only sell it for less than you paid for it, plus the sting: if you die with it in your possession, you go to Hell. How this is incorporated into the game is via the Imp's number. There are 37 cards that make up the deck (numbered 1 to 37, in 3 colors). The number 19 is never in anyone's hand and shows where the Imp's number begins. The play is standard for trick-taking games like Whist or Bridge: you lead a card in a suit (in this case one of 3 colors) and the other players must follow suit if they are able and may play anything if they no longer have that suit. The cards are 1 to 37 with no repeats, so highest wins. Very simple. However, if your card is below the Imp's number, it is in effect stronger than the nominally high cards and takes the trick, with the winning card becoming the new Imp's number in front of the player that played it. Thus the Imp's number goes down and down (like the price of the bottle in the story) until no one can play below it. That person is then stuck with the bottle and loses points instead, while their fellow players score according to the tricks they won.
