Jackpot: Set the Reel is a new deck builder from Dranda Games, with a few neat little twists on the genre which I’ve not seen before. If you’re not familiar with deck building games, they started with games like Dominion and Clank!, and some of my favourites like Great Western Trail, Dune Imperium and Lost Ruins of Arnak feature deck building as a core feature. In these games, you start off with a core deck of cards (normally most players have the same starting cards) and on your turn you will play cards for their effects, and often purchase or gain new cards to improve your deck the next time you shuffle and draw cards. History lesson over, does this new deck building game about slot machines hit the jackpot, or fail to win a prize?
Setup and how to play
The game is quite simple and quick to set up. Firstly, give each player a token and starter hand of cards with their chosen token in the bottom corner of the card (bells, watermelon, cherries or grapes). Lay out the market cards and scoring cards depending on the number of players, and the score track with all players tokens on zero. The game will end the round in which one player has hit 30 points, and then the winner will be the player with the most points at the end of the round. Everyone ensures their starting cards are the right war round (they are double sided), shuffled their deck to create a hand and you’re ready to play! Note that unlike almost all other deck builders I’ve played, you only shuffle your hand of 10 cards before the first turn and never again during the game!
On your turn you will play three cards in a row from you hand, and these cards must be taken from next to each other and in the order they appear. You will then gain nothing, coins, bonus markers (which give you one of game changing effects) or big points depending on how many symbols appear and what colour they are. You can upgrade your cards to be wild, or change type, or purchase new cards from the market with the aim of getting a row of three cards the same for big points. Once you have played out your three rows of three cards, you pass the card you haven’t played to your neighbour clockwise, and place the one you’ve been given to one of your columns before gaining coins for the new round. Now, which is the novel part, you will pick up the columns in any order you choose to form your hand for the next round! Rinse and repeat until one player hits the 30 point threshold.
Does it hit the three bells?
I’ve really, really enjoyed my plays of Jackpot: Set the Reel so far, it’s a great ‘gateway’ deck building game, akin to Fliptoons, in that it’s relatively easy to teach and grasp, and doesn’t take too long to play. Despite its ease of play, there is real depth to the game, knowing when to upgrade your cards, picking up the right bonus markers, and knowing what to pass on to your neighbour all have an impact, as does knowing which order to pick up your columns for the upcoming round. Each scoring type (bells, grapes etc.) reduces each time the jackpot is hit, so knowing when to pivot into one of the less played cards is also key to success.
It really is a nice package, with colourful art, a fun theme which most people can relate to, or have knowledge of, and it plays at a quick pace. The picking up of columns can perhaps confuse some, and not re-arranging or shuffling your hand can be a bit counter-intuitive when you first start but easy once you get going.
Hitting 3 7s in a row will always score you 7 points, and is definitely one of the strongest strategies, and can be a bit repetitive after a few plays, but thankfully the small box expansion offers a range of different options to swap out for this to add to the variability of the game.
Overall Impressions
I can’t really think of much to say negatively about this game, it’s a nice and easy game to teach and set up, quick to play, and offers a nice amount of depth for a small package. It scales well due to the amount of scoring cards available based on player count, although obviously runs longer with 4 players but without overstaying its welcome. Everyone I’ve introduced it to has really enjoyed the game, and I’m excited to dive more into the expansion. I’ve played it a couple of times solo, and this is probably where the game is weakest, and I’m unlikely to revisit this mode. Overall, this is a lovely deck builder, with a low price and small box, and enough uniqueness to keep me coming back for more plays.
