The Garden of the Blind

This evening, I was looking for a game to play, and ended up with Quiddler. It’s a game I got for Christmas, and had only played once. The game consists of a deck of cards, each bearing one or more letters (common letter combinations like QU, ER, and CH are put on cards). The object is to use all of your cards to form valid words of 2 or more letters. It plays very much like rummy in that respect (or like Phase 10, for those who don’t know where we got that game). Christmas morning, my brother and I sat down for a game, and quickly discovered that, while the game has a wonderful concept, it doesn’t work well in practice. It turns out that it’s far too easy to form words with all your cards. For example, a random dealing of 10 cards gives U, B, F, Z, O, V, A, L, A, and W. For my turn, I draw a Y, and then form the words OVA, FLAW, and BUY. I discard the Z, and my turn (and the round) is over. It’s disappointing to see a great idea not work out, but it turns out that it’s just way too easy to play. Of course, there is scoring involved, and that adds a (small) element of challenge and skill to the mix. The game is made by the creators of Set, which is a wonderfully simple and yet complex game. Maybe I'll get it next year.