The Necrohamster is a charming, occult themed card game from Jackdaw Co Games, a small team of 2 based in Manchester, UK. The small company raised a staggering £66,304 on Kickstarter with 2338 backers in total.
The Necrohamster card game is perfect for lovers of short, competitive and quirky games, and a beautiful addition to any gamers collection.
Please note the ‘Looting Hell’ expansion is not included in this guide
Side note, my box is incredibly dented because I take this game everywhere with me!
What’s in the box?
- 84 creature cards
- 8 title cards, a creature card breakdown card and symbol breakdown card
- 2 artifact cards, a promo card explaining when to use them and an artifact breakdown card
- 1 starting player card
- 1 FAQ card
- 4 rule summary and set up cards
- 3 double sided rules cards
- Game terminology card
Game Setup:
Step 1 – Each player is dealt 5 cards from the deck of creature cards (the black cards with the hourglass of cats on the back)
Deal each player 5 random cards from the communal deck of creature cards.
Step 2 – Set up the communal area
Here shuffle and place the deck of remaining creature cards, shuffled the title cards and deal 3 face up remove the rest from the game, lay out the artifact cards. Finally leave a space next to the creature card deck for the discard pile, as cards are discarded they will be placed here face up.
Step 3 – Set up the player area
Simply put, make sure each player has enough space in front of them to lay out any cards that they have played or collected.
Step 4– Artifact cards
There are 2 artifact cards, ‘Devil’s Trident’ & ‘Devil’s Shield’, it is recommended to only include the Devil’s Trident/Devil Cat cards if you have 3+ players and only include the Devil’s Shield/Devil Turtle with 4+ players.
As you can see there are multiple cards that draw 1 of the 2 artifact cards, this means that if a player has an artifact card in their possession another player can then steal it by playing either the ‘Devil Turtle’ or ‘Devil Cat’ card.
If someone has an artifact in their personal summons area, another player can take it using the corresponding creature card, this can happen multiple times.
Step 5 – Title cards!
In the box there are 8 unique title cards, these cards all have a point value assigned to them and each has its own requirements on the card for a player to be able to claim it.
If 2 or more players meet the requirement on a title card during the same summon phase, the player closest in order to the starting player takes the card.
Choose a player to become the ‘Starting Player’ you can do this however you like, why not make it fun?
Now you are ready to battle it out to become the ultimate Necrohamster !
How to Play:
For each turn there are 3 phases, the ‘Draw Phase’, the ‘Summon Phase’ and the ‘Ability Phase’ the only exception to this is the first turn, because players have a full hand already, there is no Draw Phase
The Draw Phase
During this phase (from turn 2 onwards) each player draws 2 cards from the communal deck. This is because players will discard multiple cards during the next phase.
The Summon Phase
During this phase (from turn 1 onwards) each player selects a single card from their hand to summon. To summon a card you must discard an amount of cards equal to the summon value on the top left of the creature card.
Each player must select their card before any are revealed, once everyone has chosen players reveal their cards together and places them into their personal summon area.
The Ability Phase
Now starting from your starting player and moving clockwise each player resolves the effects on their summoned card.
If a creature card has a lightning bolt at the bottom it means that ability is used instantly and can only be used once. If a creature card has an infinity symbol on it, the ability is used each round.
If a card contains the dagger symbol above the lightning bolt it is an ‘Attack Card’ and affects all players minus the player summoning it.
The next turn will now begin, with the draw phase.
How to win?
The game will end during the round when any player summons their 8th creature card, you will complete this round as normal.
Each player now adds up the points on their summoned and collected cards, the player with the highest number of points wins the game and becomes “the greatest Necrohamster in all the lands!”
The Necrohamster is a game for people who love quick, competitive card games filled to the brim with charm and personality. I personally love this game and have taken it on multiple trips, the artwork is beautiful, the gameplay is simple and the length is pretty short meaning that I can play it without having to commit hours of my day.
Thank you for reading, I hope you love this game as much as I do!
