Brian Modreski
United States
Thornton
Colorado
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Gargon is sort of a trick taking game, sort of a bluffing game, and sort of a set collection game, but not entirely any of them. Despite the art and title, it is NOT really a fantasy game – its abstract card play with fantasy creatures to make the cards look nice. Not that that is a problem, but don’t buy it expecting a heavy fantasy theme.
The deck of cards contains six colors of cards, each color with a different creature, with each card having a value from 1 to 15 and showing from 0 to 5 amulets. The lower a card’s value, the more amulets it has. Additionally, there are “Amulets of Power” cards in each suit with a value of 0 on it.
Each turn, one player leads by playing up to 3 cards face down. Each other player must match the pattern of the lead cards, but does not have to match the exact colors. For example, if the lead player played two red cards and 1 yellow card, the next player could play 2 green and 1 blue. After everyone has played, al the cards are turned face up and each color is compared one card at a time. The highest cards from each player are compared first, with the highest card being kept by the person who played it and the rest of the cards being discarded.
For example, if player 1 had a yellow 12 and a yellow 6 out, and player 2 played a yellow 13 and a yellow 4, the 12 and the 13 would be compared first. The 13 wins and player 2 keeps it. Then the 6 and the 4 are compared. The 6 wins and player 1 keeps it.
So, it is the high cards that win, but guess what – it’s the amulets on the low cards that worth the points! To collect those low cards, you’ll need to pick colors carefully to try to make sure no one can compete in that color.
It should be noted that the backs of the cards are color coded, so you can see what color cards other players have – but not the numbers! There are also two different draw piles to choose from, and the piles are fanned so you can see what colors are coming up. So you have a lot of information to make choices on. You get to draw new cards when you lose a contest of cards, or if you choose to pass on playing cards at all, so sometimes you will decide to pass on a chance at playing just to get more cards.
At the end of the game, you score points equal to the number of amulets on cards you took. If you got an “Amulet of Power” in a color, your points for amulets of that color are doubled. Also, the player who took the most of each color gets a 10 point bonus, which is a sizeable amount.
Its challenging to play well. You need to pick your cards carefully to try to get in your high scoring low cards, hopefully without letting other players score too well themselves. You need to pick when you can best use your high cards to stop someone else’s low cards. It’s a quick moving game with lots of interaction and low downtime. The odd mix of trick taking/bluffing works quite well.
Overall, for a light quick card game its quite good. Its got a pretty high strategy element to it. I think I would overall consider Bohnhanza or Rage better for light card games, but Gargon definitely has its good points and offers some differences of play that the other games do not.
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