10 to Leave

This game will probably always be called the mosquito game. This is a game from Taiwan, and players play the role of mosquito families trying to attack a sleeping guy and then escape without getting squashed. I certainly have not played any other game with this premise. 

Everyone starts with the same set of cards with exactly the same distribution. The only difference is the card colour. Cards represent mosquitoes. You will be playing cards to sting the sleeping guy. He will be waken up several times during the night and he will try to kill some of you mosquitoes, either with his bare hands or using something nearby he can grab. Some mosquitoes might get killed. Some will make a lucky escape. You play until everyone has played all their cards. You don't score points for the mosquitoes that managed to escape. Instead, you score negative points for those that are killed. The player with the least negative points wins. 

This poor guy is going to get very upset and won't be getting much sleep.

Cards are valued 1 to 6, and when a mosquito is killed, you lose points based on the card value. It is very painful to have your 6 killed. Notice that the 3's, 4's, and one of the 5's have a dot below the number. These cards are marked on the back. When you play one of these cards, your opponents know it is between 3 to 5. 

Some cards have icons on the back

A round of play is set up by placing a random weapon next to the sleeping guy. Let's call him Sam. Depending on how Sam is waken up, he might use the weapon to kill you. The weapon specifies the positions of the mosquitoes which will be killed. In this photo above, you can see the positions are I and III. In one of these rows, if your card is in positions I or III, it is at risk of getting killed. 

You will be playing cards into rows next to Sam, almost like queuing up. You will be able to manipulate the rows too. 

What you do on your turn is simple. Refer to the bottom half of this reference sheet above. You will definitely have to play a card, but there is one other action you can take. You may peek at another card, which can be done before or after you play a card. You can also move the first card in a queue to the back. This too can be done before or after you play a card. The third option is to wake Sam up. That means he's going to try to kill some mosquitoes. You can do this only if all the queues have at least 2 cards, and you can only do this before you play a card. 

When Sam wakes up, there are three possible outcomes for each of the queues. Refer to the top half of the reference sheet. You resolve the queues one at a time, revealing the cards one by one until the total reaches or exceeds 10, or until all the cards are revealed. If the total is less than 10, Sam kills the biggest mosquito or mosquitoes by hand, and the rest escape. If the total is exactly 10, the mosquitoes get lucky and they all escape. If the total exceeds 10, Sam uses his weapon and kills according to the weapon. Lucky mosquitoes are removed. Dead mosquitoes are placed before the owners so that you can keep track of your negative points. Sometimes there are unrevealed mosquitoes. These are now shifted to the front of the queues. 

This mosquito game is actually a queuing game! Almost like a guillotine game, because Sam is probably going to kill some mosquitoes. When you play this game you will feel like telling all your mosquito family members, "Survive! Survive!" Playing your 6 is always nerve-wracking. Should you play it early to get it out of the way? I think many people will be tempted to do that. You can collaborate with others to make those perfect 10's. You can talk about your numbers. But can you trust your opponents? Afterall, they are still your opponents. Also even if you line up a few cards to make a perfect 10, you can't stop some other uninvolved fella from moving the first card in the queue, messing everything up. 

10 to Leave teeters between giving you control and putting you at the mercy of other players. You have limited information because you don't know what cards your opponents have played. However you know the marked cards are 3 to 5. Also as the game progresses, you can card count. You get to peek at cards, and that's important information. This helps in making those perfect 10's. Yet you never know when someone else will move a card and spoil your plans. There are two ways Sam wakes up. A player can wake him up, or he wakes up when all queues have four cards. You try your best to position your cards well in anticipation for all queues getting full. However there is always a possibility of a player waking Sam before that. There are several tactics in the game. I like that balance between giving you control and subjecting you to the whims of others. There are skills to this. Also I believe the game experience can vary depending on the group you play with. Some groups may share more information and try to collaborate. Some may be secretive. Some may choose to lie about their cards. That creates a different dynamic. Overall this is still a simple and short game. I hear this game is doing well in Taiwan, and I can certainly see why.