Category: Games

I am a big fan of the designer Sean Ross because of his awesome “Recommended/Best for Two” Geeklists and his active participation on BGG, so I will readily admit that if I did not enjoy Haggis I would have just kept my mouth shut.

And I had planned on really disliking this game. As a fan of climbing games, particularly Tien Len, I am a little protective of this mechanic, so I get skeptical when the designer adds an extra suit, faceup wild cards, funky bombs, and awkward scoring. Furthermore I tried playing it 2 player with my girlfriend who was half asleep and we both came away with a very lackluster impression.

But yesterday, I got a chance to play Haggis with a couple every experienced gamers and I was very impressed. It is not a perfect game (I don’t believe Tichu is either), but it is definitely a fun game, especially for gamers.

I won’t go too deep into gameplay, but here’s a quick intro. The game is played with a custom five-suited deck of good looking, well designed cards printed on fairly nice stock, (a step below casino quality but fine for heavy use). As a climbing game, the primary goal is to shed all your cards.  However you have a secondary goal of picking up point cards during the play. A 3 player game will involve all five suits of cards (each ranked 2 through 10) with each player is given a JQK which are wild cards kept face up on the table (2P games involve only four suits). There are a variety of bombs, and each player actually starts with at least one available (using the JQK). For scoring, the 3,5,7 and 9 are worth 1pt each while Jack is worth 2pts, Queen worth 3pts, and King worth 5pts. When you shed of your last card you immediately score 5X points for every card in your opponent’s hand (in a 3P game whoever has more cards) and the last place player also gives his cards in hand to player who went out first. Each player keeps and scores the cards they captured during play. There is also bonus scoring if someone declares a bet that they’ll go out first. The game ends once someone suprasses 350 points.

So what did I think of the game? Well let’s start with the criticisms. I still haven’t got over my initial lackluster 2 player experience and even though I like the 3 player game, I am very disappointed that the 2 player game involves taking out one of the suits – which diminishes one of the more distinctive aspects of the game, the ease of mixed 3579 bombs and the mind twister of having to keep track of that fifth suit. Furthermore, I still find the scoring more awkward than it should be. I’m not sure how to I’d fix it but  that there must be a better way because we just kept finding ourselves digging around for missing point cards.

However, the primary reason I don’t plan on buying the game is because I feel that Haggis, like Tichu, are great gamers’ games but I don’t think either game is particularly suited for casual play. Just as I still prefer Tien Len to Tichu, I prefer Dou Dizhu as a lighter 3 player climbing card game on a standard deck that doesn’t involve nearly as much explanation. I fear that non-gamers will not get past the rough initial plays of Haggis to get to the zone where this design starts to shine.

So why do I think it’s a great gamers’ game? First, there is a huge tension between getting rid of cards as quickly as possible while keeping the big boppers in hand so you can go out smoothly. Having cut my teeth on Tien Len, I have very strong instincts to hold back during play, letting the other players deplete their hands and then slamming them right before they can go out. Unfortunately with this strategy, if you misjudge your opponents in this game, they can pick up a ton of points when they go out.  Even if you win, you won’t capture many bonus points with such a strategy.  So this game makes me play more dangerously than I prefer, which makes it an exciting brain tickler – I almost never end my hand with a weak set in normal climbing games, but I found myself regularly stuck with a crap in Haggis.  Also, the plethora of wild cards and bombs in the game adds a nicely balanced wildness to the gameplay – you can’t just chart a path and roll the opponents when you get a great hand. Because the game does not have the partnership and passing of Tichu, Haggis produces its gamery complexity by giving each player three wild cards and the ability to make bombs with those cards.  In a 3 player game with 5 suits, the mixed 3579 combo is fairly common, but it’s not nearly as strong as one would wish since it’s weaker than the face card bombs. I really enjoy how the fifth suit forces you to think differently in keeping track of cards. And finally, because two players can try to sit on a player and keep him from that magic 350 threshold, there are some interesting temporary partnership dynamics that come and go in a course of a 3 player game.

I really enjoy the multiple dilemmas that Sean has embedded in the game.

The dilemma that if you use your wilds you’ll break up your bombs, and if you use bombs you’re burning crucial wildcards for the sets you just earned the right to play.

The dilemma that you can see what wild cards/bombs your opponents have…and they can see yours too.

The dilemma that the awesome hidden bomb in your hand often breaks up some sweet sets you’d otherwise be able to play.

The dilemma that keeping your cards can let you unleash some awesome combos, but because everyone starts with wilds and bombs, an opponent can often suddenly dump their last few cards before you’ve made your move.

The dilemma that you’re buddies with one guy now, and those points you let him take might just let him sneak past both of you.

With all these dilemmas, Haggis becomes a dynamic game. While I really think that the game could use a little polishing at the edges, its 99% of the way there.  If you’re a fan of traditional card games, especially if you like them a little meatier, you won’t regret trying it out.

Bonus: I came up with a scoring variant that I think could be pretty elegant. It’s very simple. Instead of scoring 5X points for cards, you score 1 point for each card in the (largest) remaining opponent’s hand. Also you score 1 point for each face card you capture. When you win a set with a 3579 bomb, the player you give the captures to sets it aside and scores 2 points for a mixed set and 3 points for a suited set. And instead of playing to 350, play to 70 points. That’s it….now lets see if I get a chance to playtest it!

As y’all may know, I have been on a big game kick lately and so I looked up one of my old favorites. Unfortunately, apparently the folks at Board Game Geek and Pagat.com (one of the best links for boardgame rules anywhere) haven’t heard of this version. If you can get four guys sitting around the table with a deck of cards, whether at the lunch room or in a train or really anywhere with a squarish table, this is the version of Big-2 I’d play. We used to play this in junior college and I’ve always tried to teach it to anyone I could. But when you get three other opponents who know what they are doing, it’s an amazing time! I learned the game from the Vietnamese kids at the college so the are the rules I prefer, and definitely much more than the ones that involve Poker hands.

SETUP
Deal out (a pack of 52 standard cards) evenly to each player (for 3 players, deal out 17 to each, the person with the 3-spades can exchange the remaining card).

Winner of the previous throws out the first set. If there was no “previous round” then the player with the 3-spades may start by throwing out a set with the 3-spade or pass (play would pass to the next player).

GOAL
Get rid of your cards (first).

The game ends when all but the last player has gotten rid of all their cards. When someone plays his last set, the next player continues to play, beating the set if she chooses to. If all the remaining players pass on that set, the next player just starts a new set (as if she had one the previous set).

Etiquette has always dictated that you reveal the number of cards in your hand if asked.

CARD RANKING
3 (lowest) 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A & 2(highest) Aces are always “14” never “1” Note: runs end at Ace high (2’s may not be used in runs).
The suit order is Spades, Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts. Hearts are the highest.

In cases where there is a number tie the set containing the higher suit wins (ie a pair of 4-clubs&4-diamonds would lose to a pair of 4-spades&4-hearts)

SETS
Single Card
Pair
Three of a Kind
Four of a Kind*
Run of three or more consecutive cards (suit does not matter except for largest card, aces high, runs cannot include 2’s)
Run of Three or more consecutive pairs (ie 44,55,66)*
*these are sets are also called Two-Bombs

TYPICAL ROUND
Each player may play cards to beat the initial initial set or pass. As mentioned previously, the only card that matters is the highest card in a set. Note there is no “rank” between sets – if someone leads with a pair, the round ends with a pair – you can not beat a set with a differnt type of set. So if someone leads with a pair-3 and all you’ve got a J-Q-K in your hand, you get to sit helplessly by until the round ends.

You may also chose to pass. However, if you pass, you must sit out the remainder of the round and may not jump back into this round.

The round ends when three players pass (or have passed in previous turns). At that point, the winner of the set may “pile on” and play additional higher sets of that round (since the other players have passed, they can’t contest his higher sets). For example, the other three players had passed at pair-10, the winner may stack a pair-Jacks, pair-Kings, and pair-Aces before officially ending the round.

The winner of the previous round then begins the next round by playing another set of his choosing. He may choose to play a different kind of set, or play the same type.

TWO-BOMBS
There is only one exception to the rules of “Follow Set Types” and “Sit out of a Round after Passing” and that is the “Two-Bomb”. There are two types of two bombs – a four of a kind and/or a consecutive run of three pairs. Of course a “Two-bomb” set could always be used to start a round, but they can also be played when someone lays a single 2. When that happens, a player (even if she had passed a previous turn in the round), may jump in and drop a two bomb to defeat the 2.

Following players may then defeat the “Two-Bomb”. They must defeat the “Two-Bomb” with the same type of set as the first “Two-Bomb.” In other words, the singles set has now been hijacked by this “Two-Bomb” set and the following players must follow the initial bomb’s set.

Since there are only four of the same number in a deck which limits four of a kinds to bombing a single 2, but one may have more than three consecutive pairs. As such, a run of four pairs would beat a pair-2, and a run of five pairs beat a three-2’s, and presumably a run of six pairs would beat a four-2’s though I imagine the odds are next to impossible for that to happen.

VARIANTS
If playing several rounds consecutively, we usually play that the worst loser has to give up their seat if there is a fifth player waiting.

If people aren’t being shuffled in and out, we usually play that the worst loser has to give their highest card to the winner of the previous round (and the winner gives the loser a card of her choosing).

There are times where we have played with 5 or more players using a combined deck. Generally we’ll deal out thirteen and 5 of a kind can bomb a pair-2.

This game really shines with 4 players – and while I have not tried it yet myself, I’d suggest checking out Dou Di Zhu (Big 3) for three players. For some reason, Big 2 with 17 cards (in a 3 player game) just doesn’t feel right. If anyone has a good climbing Big-2 type game for two people, I’d love to hear about it!

And finally, there are various ways to keep score, but our group never kept track. I heard of some of the guys playing for a 25cents a game, but I don’t gamble so I never played that way.

LAST THOUGHTS

What makes this game strong – and I admit that maybe this works best with me and my playing partners due to extreme familiarity – is that this game is light and fast. It is not a hard game, and you really don’t need to keep track of more cards other than the 2s and the red Aces which are not too many cards. Even so, the game provides situations where you have to make a “hard” decisions. And while individual decisions aren’t particularly hard (I’ve never played this game for money) there are plenty of times when you end up regretting a play because you’ll have to break up a good set to make a decent set.

For example, if you have 4 10 J J Q K A(spade) in your hand and someone plays a pair – do you play the pair-J (which are relatively weak) or do you hang on and wait for someone to play a run? If you don’t jump in at some point you may never get to play a run. And even if you do win with a pair-J, you still have a 4 10 and a QKA(spade) run. If you play the run, there is a good chance that the run will be still be beaten since you have a low ace – if that happens you’ll be sitting there with a medium and really low card. If you play the 4 there’s a good chance that you can get rid of a couple cards, but you’ll most likely still be stuck with a single Q or 10 and watching the table mop up their hands with combo sets. And of course, your opponents are making similar types of choices at the same time. Of course, occasionally you’ll draw a hand that is pretty obvious and plays itself – but even then, there is a thrill of making sure you don’t screw it up.

Unlike big-2 games with poker hands, you never get to just “dump trash” as part of a play – so you often get a great draw that will have just a couple crap cards that will end up forcing how you play your hand. Furthermore, the Two-Bombs create a constant level of uncertainty and surprise that can keep things interesting even if one player is running ahead. Being able to jump in and drop half your hand in one move is a nifty play – but even so, odds are that you had to screw up a couple sets to play the Two-Bomb.

Once you get a group who knows what they are doing – and knows to play fast (and loud!) – you have the perfect recipe for a fun game that is stimulating in that sweet spot of being neither brainless nor brain burning. And I think that’s the definition of a great filler game.

As I noted in my review, this game is an awesome simulation of listening to a baseball game.  You don’t have any control over the events in the game.  You are there to have it unfold in front of you!

I loved this play, but I don’t think we’ll be playing it again anytime soon because my girlfriend felt it was too luck driven. Which is a reasonable criticism if one thought this was a baseball simulation. This is a game of your favorite baseball announcer calling an baseball game. Without the dulcet tones of Jon Miller in your mind’s year, Harry’s might seem capricious and dull.

With that intro, here is a session report of the game we played.

My girlfriend was the visiting team and I was the home team. It started a little slowly with a ton of outs played by each side, but I did score first with a single and a triple. The game was pretty even at the 7th inning stretch. But my girlfriend’s team broke down at the bottom of the 8th inning with a couple errors and so I was up 6-4 heading into the 9th inning.

She led off the inning with a walk. Like any modern manager (and also realizing that she hated the game and most likely wouldn’t ever play with me again) I went to my Closer (relief pitcher card). Double! Then she dropped a single. 6-5, with men on first and third, no outs. Well it’s not his day, so let’s see what the next relief pitcher card had. Single! 6-6, first and second, no out. Then she drops a triple and its 8-6! Finally, my boys get their act together and the inning ends with a groundout, walk, and double play.

Unfortunately my batters, who had been hitting well all game (a couple triples and a home run), just went quiet on me. She started with a strikeout. The next hitter saw a wild pitch (but no one was on base) and then grounded out. The last guy (going for a home run I presume) flied out on my card. A rough end for the home team.

I love how this game simulates the ebb and flow of a baseball game, rolling in and out of your consciousness like a good game on the radio. However, if you aren’t in a lackadaisical mood, like my girlfriend by the end of the game, you won’t be able to enjoy the narrative.

I had great fun but you need to love (listening to) baseball first.