No Thanks by this point has become a modern classic in card games. Not only is it really quick to teach and to understand but it also offers various levels of strategy for such a small package.
The deck contains large cards, numbered one to thirty-five with only one of each number available. You start by removing nine cards from the game so that no player knows exactly which cards are left in play. This will become very important later! Each player also gets a certain number of tokens (to be kept hidden) depending on player count:
● 1 – 5 players get 11 tokens
● 6 players get 9 tokens
● 7 players get 7 tokens
The game is pretty straight forward. Cards are worth the number of points written on them and the player with the most points is going to lose.
The round begins by flipping a card into the centre of the table. The first player must decide whether they want to take that card and therefore placing in front of them, scoring the negative points, or they can place a token on the card stating ‘No Thanks‘. Turn then moves to the next player in clockwise position to do the same. If you ever have no tokens to play then you must take the card, however the option to take it is always available. So why would you take negative points? Not only do you get the card but you also get any tokens that have accrued so far that round. Tokens are not only great for passing on cards but they are also worth one positive point at the end of the game so taking a high numbered card with a stack of tokens may well be a great strategy. Turns continue until all cards are distributed.
The final and most interesting element of No Thanks is card stacking. If you ever have cards that are chronologically linked you can stack them and at the end of the game you only score the lowest number in that stack! So if you have cards 29, 28 and 27, at the end of the game you only get minus 27 points. However, you will not know what nine cards have been removed making it a very risky strategy.
Player Count: On the box it states 3-7 which is right. At two players the push and pull is not very interesting and over seven means that it rarely gets back round to you.
Age Recommendation: On the box it recommends eight years and over however, I have played with younger players who needed a little more help understanding the stacking element but then really enjoyed the game. It’s also great for helping math skills!
