Igor : The Life of the Party Game

Theme: Igor: The Life of the Party, from newcomers Dug Steen and Nate Beeler, blends a trick-taking game with some of the rules craziness of Frédéric Leygonie and Sylvie Barc’s Elixir.

"The trick-taking element of Igor: The Life of the Party works mostly as you’d expect. Players are dealt a hand of cards, which come in five suits numbered 0-9, and each turn they play one card to the table, following suit if possible. If all the cards played are in suit, the player of the highest numbered card wins; if one or more cards are out of suit, however, then the highest one of those cards wins. The trick’s winner scores three coins, and the player with the most coins at the end of the game, which lasts several hands, wins.

"What makes the game tricky are the rule cards, two of which are in play at the start of the game – make that in play face-down, which means you have to remember what the rules are throughout the hand. Sample rules are 'When you play a card that has an Igor on it, you must say "Yes, Master"' and 'When you laugh, you must follow your laugh with a "Meow."' At the start of each turn, the dealer can add or remove one rule from play, and the player who wins the most tricks in a hand has the same option, so rules are constantly popping in and out of the game."