[Board Games] Haggis - A Scottish-themed Card Game

I had an opportunity to play a card game that was new to me last night called Haggis. I've read generally favorable reviews on Board Game Geek, so I was looking forward to giving it a shot.

The card come in 5 suits, and are numbered 2-10, with odd numbered cards being worth 1 point, denoted by a 1 on the left side of the card.

Each player also gets 3 wild cards which can be used as any number or suit to help you. These wild cards also have point values associated with them. I did not get a picture of these cards, but you can see them in the example photo near the end of this post.

The game is essentially a trick taking game, with one player leading a certain configuration of cards (for example, 2 of a kind, or a run of 4 in the same suit), and then successive players trying to play a combination of the same type, but higher values to win the trick. The winner of the trick gets the cards involved in the trick, along with any points associated with those cards. There are a lot of different card combinations, but the game comes with a handy player aid that spells out the ranking of the different combinations. It's a lot to take in initially.

The other side of the player aid outlines the play of the game. This was a very handy resource for getting started after an initial read-through of the rules.

Adding to the complexity is the concept of betting. Each player is given a betting token, with one side being a 15 point bet, and the other being 30 points.

After seeing your hand, but before playing any cards, you have the option of betting on how likely it is that you will be the first to get rid of your hand. If you are the first out, you get the amount of points that you've bet. If you are not, other players get the points you've bet. The player who goes out first gets 5 points for each card left in the other players' hands. This is where most of the points were earned in the game I played last night.

You can see from the example picture below, that I bet 30, then led with a Sequence of 4 cards in the same suit, using one of my wild cards to stand in for the 5. The player to my left then played a higher ranking Sequence of 4, then the next player also outdid him with an even higher Sequence of 4, taking the trick, and all of the cards involved in all 3 Sequences of 4. If I had had a higher set of 4 to play, I could have done so and taken the trick, but alas, I didn't have the cards for it.

Overall, it was a fun game, but I'm not convinced that it's as great as others seem to think. The betting mechanic is certainly interesting, but the amount of points you get for going out first feels a bit too heavily weighted. However, this could definitely be due to my group's inexperience as players. Having played only one game of this, we're still definitely figuring out our best strategies for Haggis.