Schotten Totten

 

Schotten Totten by Reiner Knizia is the perfect example of why good things can most certainly come in small packages. A teeny tiny card game, Schotten was originally published in 1999. I am now very grateful to have recently come across the 2004 reprint because I have been obsessed with this gem ever since.

 

 

 

 

Games of Schotten Totten are brief but head-scratchingly gripping affairs. A line of nine stones line up between your clan’s territory and that of your opponent. You aim to be the first to capture five stones (or just three stones if they are all directly adjacent). To do this, all you need to do is play a card from your hand in front of a stone, attempting to make a winning three-card hand there, and then draw a new one to end your turn. Easy, right?

 

 

 

 

 

Wrong! First up, with only one copy of each card in the deck, the cards you play clue your opponent in on the strategies available to them. They might win you a stone here, but the knowledge your opponent just gained will impact their next few turns. Secondly, where do you focus your winning hands?! Are you greedy enough to aim for these adjacent stones while leaving more open to your opponent? Or are you playing defensively, desperately trying
to shore up the strength of your stones against the enemy?

 

 

The genius of Schotten lies in how easy it is to learn (even with the inclusion of the fancy Tactics cards) and how interesting your decisions are every turn. The rules even allow a player to claim a stone for themselves even if their opponent hasn’t played out a full hand there but only IF you can prove from the cards on the board that your hand can’t be beaten. But this is only with cards ON THE BOARD, and so many times you will be tearing your hair out as the cards you need to secure a win sit obnoxiously in your hand!! ARGH!!

 

The fact that the game is so portable and has such fantastic art is simply icing on the… haggis? If you’re after a game to keep two people happily occupied for more hours than they probably have to spare, Schotten Totten is enormously good value. Get those kilts ready!