|
From:Rio Grande Games
Cost: $10
Players: 3-5
Playing Time: 20-30 minutes
Type of game: Card
Skill level: 9
Complexity: 2
Reviewed by: Peter Sarrett, Issue 6.1 (21), Summer 1999
|
There’s no denying this game is overrated. How it could be nominated for Spiel des Jahres when Knizia’s far superior Ra is overlooked simply boggles the mind. Money is good for what it is- a light card game landing squarely in the filler category- but SdJ? Hardly.
The cards depict seven different currencies, each ranging in value from twenty to sixty with the 20s and 30s tripled for a total of nine cards per suit. There are also six krugerands in the deck at 10 apiece. The cards appear to be faithful reproductions of various world currencies (Euros, dollars, yen, etc)- nice for the verisimilitude, but somewhat problematic in the usability department. Players start with six cards to parlay into more valuable sets.
The whole game revolves around a single trading mechanism, and it’s a rather good one. Two sets of four cards each are dealt up from the deck, and players bid for them using cards from their own hands. Each player shows his bid simultaneously. Each currency is equivalent and is worth its face value. The highest bidder earns first pick of any of the sets showing on the table, including the bids of other players. The next highest bid chooses from the remainder, and so forth down the line. In each case the bidder trades his bid for the set of his choice. This means that if the high bidder opts to take your bid, you get his. Since you now have the highest bid remaining on the table, you get the next pick regardless of what your initial bid was. Each card has a unique serial number, the lowest of which breaks ties in the bidding. A simple if rather unsatisfactory solution. Cards are rarely if ever chosen for their serial numbers, making the tiebreaker effectively random. But I certainly don’t have a better idea to offer in its place.
When trading finishes the two sets left on the table are filled back up to four cards and the process repeats until the deck is exhausted and hands are scored. Any currency totaling at least 200 points in your hand is worth its face value. Anything between 100 and 200 points is worth its value less 100. And anything under 100 is worthless. Well, not necessarily. If you manage to collect all three 20s or 30s of a currency, you get a hundred point bonus for that triplet. The much-maligned lowly krugerands are always worth their face value. Lather, rinse, and repeat for three hands to determine a winner.
The game works for a number of reasons. Each set has items of interest to different players, guaranteeing that cards get flushed out of people’s hands for use in bidding. You might not be collecting Euros, but a 50 or 60 Euro is still worth taking for use as bidding material later on.
Increasing your hand size in early rounds by winning four-card sets is crucial, as this provides more options for both bidding and collecting. Without cards to use in bidding you’re hamstrung. For this reason it’s often advantageous to break up sets early on if it will get you more cards. Near the end of the hand it’s tempting to spend your loose 20s and 30s for cards in your long suit, but it can be more prudent to hold them and frustrate an opponent seeking to collect a 100 point triplet bonus.
On first play Money struck me as being just the right length for what it is. But then, we only played one hand. After three hands the system starts to wear out its welcome. I quite like the trading mechanism used here, but perhaps it would be best utilized as a subsystem of a larger game. And since we’re talking about Knizia here, a master at reworking mechanisms from all angles, there’s a pretty good chance it will. Dry and mechanical, it’s hard to imagine anyone loving Money. More likely it will join the ranks of other fillers, the gaming sorbets which clear the palate between meatier main courses.