King's Cribbage

Designer:

Players: 2-4

Age: 8+

Game time:30-45 minutes

Game Objective: "Outscore your opponent by making or extending Crib Hands with the tiles."

Board Game Contains:

-Rotating gameboard

- 104 wooden tiles

- 4 wooden tile holders

-cloth tile bag

-color instructions

Game Summary:

King's Cribbage is a of the card version of Cribbage. The same basic rules apply for this game with the addition of a few "Bonus" points to be earned throughout the game. Players first draw a letter from a bag to see who draws (and goes) first. Unlike Scrabble, however, players only draw 5 tiles rather than 7. The first player tries to find the best Cribbage hand within his 5 tiles and then places them in a line (in any order) anywhere on the board. The first play must be between 2 and 5 tiles, but all subsequent plays can be anwhere from 1 to 5 tiles. Instead of the very first player doubling his or her score, in King's Cribbage, the first player to go gets an extra 10 points. Points are tallied based on the rules of Cribbage. He then restocks his tiles and the play continues to the next person. The next player must then find his best hand (using his tiles and the tiles already on the board) and places it next to the tiles on the board. The game continues until one player has used up all his/her tiles. Extra 10 points are given to a player who played all 5 tiles in one round. Another 10 points are given to a player who manages to create a 5 tiled hand composing of all the same colours (all white or all brown).

Game Review:

King's Cribbage is the product of the famous word game "Scrabble" and the classic card game "Cribbage." If you're a board game player, you know just how valuable math skills are. In this game, quick adding will not only help you count scores better but it will also help you decide which set of tiles can help you get the best score. Cribbage was first taught to me by my boyfriend's mother. The woman could count Crib Hands so fast I forgot I even knew how to add. I did get better over time.

King's Cribbage, in my opinion, is a FUNtastic board game for any 4 players willing to challenge their mental math. Unlike Scrabble, this tiled game doesn't tap into your spelling skills or your vocabulary range. Unlike Cribbage, this tiled game allows you to keep all of your tiles and the fate of your "end turn" isn't in the hands of pegs but in the final draw of the last tile.

I really enjoy this version of Cribbage because it allows you to find different angles to score better points whereas in Card Crib it's in my opinion just a game of luck. One of the biggest appeals for this game for me was that it can draw card players into board games. This game doesn't take much time to set up. If your players already know how to play either Crib or Scrabble, this is pretty easy for them to pick up. My mother loves scrabble but doesn't understand Crib. When I explained this game to her, she enjoyed it very much she immediately bought her own set the next day!

If you want this game to go longer and be more competetive, then it's perfect just for 2 players to play. However, if you like a challenge in a shorter period of time, I recommend playing this game with 4 players. With so many more spaces being taken up by other places, it makes it harder for you to get "bonus" points.