Flush
- Board's Eye View
- 6 hours ago
- 3 min read
Published by Millie's Games, Flush proved to be a hit card game at UK Games Expo. It's a card shedding game for 2-6 players where you have to play one or more cards that are equal to or lower than the last card played. It's a ladder descending rather than ladder climbing game then, but there is more to it than that...
This small-box card game is played with a deck of 90 cards: eight of each value 1-10 and ten 'flush' cards'. In addition to their play value, cards also have a score value which will be the penalty taken by players holding those cards when another player gets rid of all their cards. Some cards also have a special effect; forcing the next player to skip their turn, for example.
In each of five rounds, players are dealt a hand of 14 cards. Three of these are laid on the table unseen as blind cards. A face-up card is placed on top of each of the blind cards. Players can then pick up and look at their remaining eight cards. On your turn you can play face-up cards from those on the table as well as from your hand. A blind card can be played when there is no face-up card on top of it but you won't know the value of the card until you play it. As with a higher card played from your hand, if the blind card turns out to be a card that is higher than the last card played then you'll have to pick up that pile and add all the cards to your hand; your higher card then becomes the starting card for a new pile.
The game is called Flush because there are cards and combos that flush the playing pile, discarding the cards from play, and allowing the player to start a new pile - giving them an extra turn. Obviously 'flush' cards do this but so does any consecutive group of cards of the same value. To pull off a combo you don't need to play four of a kind yourself, the card(s) you play can make a flush when combined with those cards played previously: if I play two 5's then you can flush the pile by playing two more 5's. At the start of each game a card value is randomly chosen as a 'mimic' (wild), so it can be treated as if it is any other value of card - invaluable to putting together flush combos.
Flush has proven to be an addictive card game. All your cards have to be shed in order to go out. That means there's inevitably a push-your-luck element in relation to the blind cards but canny players can mitigate their risk by choosing to play a blind card when the playing pile is small even if they had a card in hand that they could play. Also, given that cards are played in combos (you can play any number of cards of the same value) it isn't always a disaster to pick up a pile and it can sometimes be to your advantage if it gives you combos you can play on a later turn. There's obviously more scope for planning your plays a turn or two ahead in a tactical two-player tussle than at higher player counts, but Flush is still enjoyable at all player counts.
