Chant
- Board's Eye View
- 1 minute ago
- 2 min read
Designed by Chih-Fan Chen, and published by Homosapiens Lab, Chant is a card drafting, ladder-climbing and shedding game for 2-5 players where, each round, you are seeking to be the first player to get rid of their complete hand of cards.
The game is played with a deck of cards in the range 1-10 in five coloured suits, except that each suit has two numbers missing: so, for example, the blue suit has no #3 or #8. The missing numbers are different in each suit, and they are shown on every card. Players build their hands through drafting; taking two of the cards dealt and passing the others to their neighbouring player. That means you have some control of your hand and you have a partial picture of what cards other players may have. In addition to their drafted cards, each player has two Wild cards - one that can be used to make a pair or three-of-a-kind and one that can be used as part of a run (eg: 5/6/7).
The player who leads determines the number of cards to be played; if they play a singleton then other players can only follow with a singleton - they can't follow with a pair. Matching cards aren't automatically considered higher than runs; so, for example, 4/5 can be played on a pair of 4s. If you can't play cards higher than what's already been played, you have to pass.
The tension in Chant is over when to use those Wild cards. Particularly taking account of the missing cards in each suit, they can be essential to creating a run or multiple so players will be tempted to hold onto them so they are used to best effect. However, you don't want to be caught with Wild cards still in your hand when the round ends because they carry a penalty of 3 points as compared with 1 point for any other cards left in hand. Rounds continue until a player accumulates 20 penalty points, at which point victory goes to the player with the lowest points total.
The card drafting element and potential liability posed by the Wild cards are what set Chant apart from other card shedding games. It makes for an fascinating filler-length card game; most of our plays at Board's Eye View have run to a little over 20 minutes.
