Thus begins my attempt at posting reviews for games old and new. The main focus will be on games that are print-and-play or at least ones that can be easily made with a few prints and some bits.
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Solitaire games with playing cards are nothing new, with three well-known versions embedded in our PC's and brains, it's almost a challenge to create a new game under this genre. Computer solitaire programs are packed with hundreds of versions of solitaire, so is there room for more?
While some modern games take a thematic approach to their design, one game takes a simple theme and makes it deep: Katharine Turner's The Bogey.
The goal is simple: organize the deck into the least amount of columns possible with a maximum of twelve. This takes place in rounds where you draw up to five cards in your hand, with each you can either play on the table, discard or hold on to. Columns are built downward by suit but can skip values, with aces low.
Once you finish your turn the bogey goes out to play, drawing a card that must be played on the table either as a new column or on top of an existing one. Cards already played can't be moved.
While twelve columns is the maximum, the aim is to place them in as few columns as possible, with a criteria for each. If you can finish with eight, you're pretty epic.
These simple mechanics create a mix of planning and chance, enough strategy to play with and the perfect element of chance to throw things off. What would otherwise be a simple game involving strategy becomes an unpredictable sequence of surprises.
The loose nature of how columns work on the tableau in this game might require some adjustment for people who are used to columns strictly going down by one, but that's the least of their concerns.
If you're up for a challenge and you only have a deck of cards, this might fir your tastes. For a bigger challenge, play with only four cards in hand.
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