In Canada, we have a long weekend in May to celebrate Victoria Day and this past one I spent out on the shores of Lake Huron at my wonderful in-law's cottage, drinking some delicious micro-brews from Toronto's great
Mill St. Brewery and learning a new juggling trick, the
2-Hand Weave (which you can see me doing
here). When I wasn't outdoors, I was inside glued to the kitchen table playing solitaire. Yes, solitaire. But not any kind of solitaire - I was playing Friedemann Friese's brilliant and challenging
Friday. Over and over and over and over.....
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| Final two pirates to battle |
Now I feel like I could thoroughly describe the mechanics of this fun little 1-player deck-building card game but I think it would sound rather confusing. The game isn't complicated but it does take a few rounds to get the hang of the rules and then a few more rounds to actually learn how to not die almost immediately.
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| Hazards which flip to fighting cards |
At a high-level, you are fighting a bunch of hazards of ever increasing difficulty and every time you defeat one, you add the defeated card to your deck. However, when you lose to a hazard you lose life points but you also get the opportunity to remove cards from your deck. And you start with a lot of bad cards. And unfortunately, every time you reshuffle your deck you add another REALLY bad card. So basically you're struggling to prune your deck and build it up at the same time, all the while not losing all your life, only to face two monster pirate battles right at the end. If you survive till then.
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| Hazard battle in action |
I've won the game only once in the near 20 times I've played it on the easiest possible level (yes, you can amp up the difficulty to insane levels) but I've seen a continuous improvement in my skill. I've gotten a feel for the cards and the hazards and started planning ahead I'm now choosy about which battles to fight to balance my deck as certain cards give you very distinct skills. In short, I've gotten smarter and more strategic and I feel like I have control over whether I win or lose the game. And I almost always lose. Yet I keep playing.
I think that's the sign of a great addicting little card game.
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| The final pirate battle in the only game I've won! |
