Falling

It will take you longer to read this review than it would to play a game of Falling, the first effort from James Ernest Games (JEG). Ernest has designed many other games ranging from CCGs (Xxxenophile) to over a dozen microgames published under his Cheapass Games label. He created the JEG label for games with mass appeal for which the Cheapass moniker would be too limiting.

And Falling could well have mass appeal. It comes in a familiar-sized playing card box just large enough for the 54 cards and a rule sheet. The conceit behind the game is that all the players are falling and want to be the last one to hit the ground. Brian Snoddy's amusing artwork suggests that players didn't jump from a plane or drop off a building, but that it was just a perfectly normal day until they found themselves plummeting splatward.

To convey this sense of frantic urgency, Falling is played in real time. There are no turns; everyone plays at once, with timing regulated by the dealer. His job (the reward for winning the previous round) is to deal to each player in turn, circling around the table repeatedly until only one player remains and the game ends. By default, the dealer deals a single card to each player on every circuit. But while the dealer is doing his thing, the players are doing theirs.

Cards dealt to a player form a stack from which only the current top card is playable. There are only eight types of cards. The three basic ones-- Hit, Skip, and Split-- are called riders. Riders are played in front of any player's stack, and each player can have only one rider in front of them at a time. Riders get resolved and discarded by the dealer on his next pass. Hits get dealt an extra card, Skips get none at all, and Splits start a new stack in addition to the player's previous one(s). Riders apply to all of a player's stacks, so a Hit on a player with two stacks yields a total of four cards, two per stack.

A Push sends an unwanted rider away to another player, while a Grab works in reverse to steal a rider from in front of someone else. An Extra card can be added to a played rider, doubling its effect. Stops have two functions: they can cancel any rider, and they can stop a single Ground card. All the Grounds are at the bottom of the deck, and when you're dealt one you're out of the game. The last survivor becomes the dealer for the next game.

The speed of play in Falling can be somewhat regulated by the speed of the dealer, but it's most entertaining when played quickly. In the early game players want to play Hits and Splits on themselves to accumulate more cards (Splits are particularly useful, since more stacks mean a player has a choice of cards to play, but can be a liability in the endgame). As the deck diminishes and the Grounds get closer, Skips and Stops become the cards of choice. The trick is in getting rid of the other cards to make the Skips and Stops available for play.

As you might expect, the luck of the draw plays a large factor in Falling. The amount of strategy available is limited, but not altogether absent. Judging when to switch from accumulating to avoiding cards is vital. The "only one rider per player" rule is a killer in the endgame as players drop Hits and Splits on each other to clear off their own stacks and prevent opponents from using Skips. A skilled player will win more often than an unskilled one, but someone playing mindlessly can also win.

But all this talk about strategy is really beside the point. Falling isn't supposed to be deep, it's supposed to be fun. And it's a hoot. It quickly became a favorite filler and closer in our group. Falling is a Lay's potato chip of a game-you can't play just one. And with a game lasting as little as two minutes, there's always room for Falling.