Fearless
- Board's Eye View
- Apr 7
- 2 min read
Friedemann Friese's Fearless is a relatively straightforward trick-taking game from 2F-Spiele where the 3-5 players get positive or negative points for each trick they win but where they want to end the game as the player with the total that's closet to zero.
The cards are in four different suits and with numbers in the range -6 to +6. There are no trumps but all cards with value zero are deemed to match all four suits. You have to follow suit if you can and the trick is won by the highest card in the suit of the card that led. If you can't follow suit, you can dump out any card. That means a trick can be won by a minus card or a zero if the other minus cards are lower and any positive cards are from other suits.
As each trick is resolved, it's value is the total of all the cards played, including those of other suits. The player who won the trick moves their ghost meeple accordingly on the scoring track. Tho' players all start notionally on zero on the track, the zero is worth 15 points unless a player has won at least one trick. That means you will want to win at least one trick but hopefully with a points value that nets out at close to zero. If you are on track to win a trick - for example, because you've led with a +6 card - you can expect other players to lumber you with cards that are the highest they can play. And if you have a high positive score you'll need to win tricks with net negative values in order to move your ghost back down in the other direction.
Fearless is one of Friedemann Friese's simplest games because it follows very basic trick-taking rules. And for younger players the addition and subtraction demanded for reckoning the value of each trick introduces an educational arithmetic element. You just need to ensure that players all have their heads around the fact that, for example, -4 is higher than -6, and that everyone realises that it's often better to lose a trick than to win it.
