I recently dug out a couple of old marvel top trumps sets in our home that are way over 20 years in age since I picked them out. The kids loved it and so I picked up a couple more sets so they could have their own (typical dad and game collector here) and I am a little bit stunned at the enjoyment they are having from the game. They are having a great time playing the game and enjoying some of their favourite characters along the way. This set was an easy win when the kids are enjoying the recent films.
Rules
There is a great simplicity to Top Trumps and there is minimal difference between the sets, short of an aesthetic difference, but you know where you stand with the game. The decks typically are made up of 30 cards, classically played by 2 people but you could add in a couple more players if you wanted as it still works.
I recently dug out a couple of old marvel top trumps sets in our home that are way over 20 years in age since I picked them out. The kids loved it and so I picked up a couple more sets so they could have their own (typical dad and game collector here) and I am a little bit stunned at the enjoyment they are having from the game. They are having a great time playing the game and enjoying some of their favourite characters along the way. This set was an easy win when the kids are enjoying the recent films.
Rules
There is a great simplicity to Top Trumps and there is minimal difference between the sets, short of an aesthetic difference, but you know where you stand with the game. The decks typically are made up of 30 cards, classically played by 2 people but you could add in a couple more players if you wanted as it still works.
Deal the cards out equally. Each card has a series of categories (typically 5 or 6) and a numerical value attached to the category. This set has 5 categories on the cards. The first player chooses a category and calls out the number associated with it. If they are higher than the other players, they win the card ( or cards in a 3 plus player game) they take them and put all to the bottom of their deck. They then draw a new card as the winner and make a new call.
If the opponent has a higher value they win the cards and the advantage of deciding the category now goes to them. In the event of a draw, all cards in the middle draw new cards and the caller makes a new call playing for these cards and the cards in the middle.
The winner is the player that wins all the cards in the deck, or as we have had to do on a couple of occasions, introduce a timer and most cards win.
Slow-poke
It has been a very funny game to watch how animated the children are getting when they win and lose a card. There is no getting away from the fact that in top trumps there is a significant need for memory and working out the scales of the values of the characters, and where each character's strengths and weaknesses are so you as the player can make the best choice.
In a game like Sonic, you will quickly know that Sonic is fast and Knuckles is strong. So there are key indicators there straight away that a player can use to an advantage. Then it doesn’t
take many hands to work out the rest. I was impressed with how quick the children picked up on this as then it also becomes a memory test of trying to remember the cards and the orders they went back in. So even though the game is so simple and arguably a guessing game, there are some key gaming skills being practiced very quickly with the memory, the card checking and what are the strong values and strengths of each character so that you gain an advantage.
“I hate that hedgehog”
As is also the way with Top Trumps you have some seriously strong cards and other cards that you feel will be a loss no matter what category you go for. Sadly this set has a couple of those which you can be highly critical of. You might be on a run picking up plenty of wins off of your opponent and then one of these characters turns over and you know your chance is slim of winning the next call, you make it and lose handing advantage back to your opponent as they get to make the calls from there.
However this is certainly not the worst set for this and games can be completed reasonably quickly with a lot of back and forth which is exactly what you want in a Top Trumps game. If it goes on too long or is one sided then it is not so satisfying. Arguably this set has been well balanced for my children, with the eldest taking a particular shine to it.
Super Sonic
My highlight from this game is how visually great the cards look. The artwork is right on point with bold and bright colours bringing the game to life in the minds of the players. Or taking me as an adult back to my childhood and sitting on my mega drive navigating Sonic around a classic platform video game. There is plenty here for all.
Final Thoughts
If you're a fan of Sonic, looking for a simple game that travels well, you cannot go wrong with this Top Trump set.
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