Biberbande

I've had a good writing mood going on. Latest result is a review of Biberbande.

Biberbande is another Amigo five euro card game. Their selection is amazing, the production quality of the games is top-notch and often the price is dirt cheap. In this case, the price is about right, because Biberbande offers considerably less meat than some of their other games.

Despite that, it's a fun little game. Players have four cards, which are kept face down in front of them. In the beginning of the game, players can take a look at two of them, but after that, there's no peeking. The goal is to get as low total score as possible.

On each turn, player can turn over the topmost card in the deck or use the card left by the previous player. If the card looks nice, they can swap it with a card in their set. Of course, that could be an even better card, if it's one of the unknown cards - that's why taking the card left by the previous player might be a smart move. Cards range from zero to nine, with some special cards. Best of those is the swap, which allows you to swap cards with another player. Now if you only could remember where she had that zero...

The round ends when someone decides so. That player announces his intent to quit the round and everyone else gets a turn. After that it's revealing time and scores are tallied. Game is played over several rounds (I think the rules call for six rounds, but that's too much in my opinion - three or four is often enough) and the lowest total wins.

Biberbande is so light it's almost pointless. However, despite it being so silly, it can be surprisingly entertaining. It's fast to play, because there are really no decisions to make. It's almost a complete luckfest. Biberbande is probably best as a family game, played with small children. The fact that players don't have to keep their cards in hand makes the game even easier to play for small children. Therefore Biberbande is a keeper, in case I ever have children (I hope so).

Would I recommend Biberbande to an adult gamer with no kids? If you're ordering games from Germany, five euros isn't much. I personally wouldn't pay the 12 euros these Amigo games cost in Finland (in cheapest places). But with five euros you get a fun little filler game that definitely doesn't tax the old grey matter too much. If you like silly little games, Biberbande is a good choice. For many it'll be too silly.