Rascally Rabbits
- Board's Eye View
- 3 minutes ago
- 2 min read
This new game from Ta-Te Wu and Sunrise Tornado came full of surprises. After a long run of feline themed titles including Cat Rescue, Cleocatra and the Cat Sudoku games, the first surprise was of a game featuring rabbits rather than cats. Then when we heard the name Rascally Rabbits we half expected a game featuring the rhotacistic Elmer Fudd in pursuit of Bugs Bunny. Then we found Rascally Rabbits was a trick-taking game but the biggest surprise of all is that it's a trick-taking game where no-one is playing cards!
The 2-6 players do each have a card but it's essentially a bingo card with 16 numbers in a grid and vegetable shapes at the end of each row and column to give the numbers suits. At the start of each of the three rounds, a tile is flipped at random to designate which of the vegetable crops is to be treated as trump. Players mark the trump suit on their card with a dry-erase pen and they then modify their card by crossing out a crop. They also cross off two numbers and draw a vertical line that becomes the divider for the rows, determining which numbers in each row can be used as referring to the vegetable on the left of the bingo card and which to the crop on the right. Finally players mark off their prediction of the number of tricks they think they'll win.
Play proceeds like a cross between bingo and a trick-taking card game where instead of leading with a card the lead player calls out the number and crop he is crossing off his card. Other players must follow suit if they can, and the trick is won (marked off) by the player who played the highest number in the lead suit. Except... if a player exactly matches the number and suit that was called then they gain a bunny, and the bunnies are potentially worth more than the tricks. Numbers on your card can be played for either of two suits (ie: you can use it as the suit of the crop at the head of the row or its column) so there are decisions to take over how best to play your numbers, especially if you're hoping to pick up points for correctly predicting the number of tricks you'll win.
Rascally Rabbits is a novel game that plays through its three rounds in around 30 minutes. It comes with shields to remind you of the rules, track progress and keep your bingo card from the prying eyes of other players, and its compact box makes it an ideal candidate to pack in a holiday suitcase. Sunrise Tornado are planning to launch the game on Backerkit in July. Click here to find out more and to register your interest.
