In Front of the Elevators

The Game

In Front of the Elevators is a game from Japan, by Saachi, who has designed quite a few quirky and clever games. It is a light card game, about queuing up for elevators. Not the kind of setting you'd normally expect right?  Every player controls a family, and you want your family members to be able to get onto the elevators. If they do you score points. You have to queue when you approach an elevator. However the characters in the game have abilities which may let them cut queue. There are also other ways of manipulating the queues. You play this elevator waiting game for 3 rounds, and then the highest scorer wins. 

This above is a game in progress. You have three elevators on the left, and a queue next to each elevator. The elevator cards specify how many people they can fit, and how many points each person who manages to get in scores. Normally the first to go in scores the fewest points, and that last person to barely squeeze in scores the most. This is highly thematic. If you are the last to make your way in, naturally you feel luckiest. I find this funny and relatable. 

When you set up a round, every player randomly draws two cards belonging to his family (i.e. colour). The rest of the cards are shuffled and divided into three draw decks. The card backs in the game have different colours, representing the families. So when you draw a card, you know whether you are getting your own family member or someone else's. When you look at your opponents' hand cards, you know which families their cards are from. On your turn, you must play a card, i.e. send one of the characters in your hand to queue at one of the elevators, and then you draw a card from one of the draw decks. Everyone takes turns doing this, until the draw decks are exhausted and everyone has one card left unplayed. The then round ends. The characters at the head of the queues get to board the elevator, and they score points. 

A family has 7 members - Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Mom, Son, Daughter, and a Lost Child. Whenever you play a card, you may be able to use its special power. For example when you send Daughter to queue, if in the same queue there is a Son (her brother), the Son (regardless of which family he is from) will let the Daughter cut queue in front of him. He takes good care of his sister. In the same way, Dad always lets Mom cut queue, Grandpa always spoils Grandma, Mom spoils Son, and so on. When the Lost Child comes to queue, one member in the same family will leave the queue and go to her, standing behind her, to accompany her. All the card powers are related to different ways they may manipulate the queue. When you draw cards, you can draw cards from your own family or from other families. That means you can play cards from other families. 

The three elevators specify how certain characters score double if they manage to board. For example for one of the elevators Mom and Grandma would score double. When sending family members to elevators, this is an important consideration. 

If three similar characters join the same queue, they get distracted. They meet old friends so they leave the queue to have a chat at the lobby. In game terms, this translates to the three cards going out of play. They score 1 point for the player who played the third character. When you play your own family member to an elevator where he or she can potentially score double, it can be risky because others may do the same, resulting in three similar characters being in the same queue. Everybody loses. Well, unless someone plays the fourth character, because by then the first three would have already left, and the fourth character would be the only character of the type in the queue now. 

The Play

Procedure-wise, this is a straight-forward game. The rules aren't complicated either. However it gives your brain a healthy jog. You may think that it should be good to queue early, so that you have a better chance to win a spot. However if you are there early, there is a higher risk of getting disrupted by a subsequent card play. E.g. the Lost Child might come looking for help, or the second and third card of the same character luring your card away. Now you think maybe you should go later. However if you are late to the party, you may be too far down the line to get onto the elevator. This is the kind of dilemma you will face. 

Even drawing a card is not exactly simple. There are three decks to choose from. Do you draw your own colour or an opponent's colour? If you draw your own, it means you have control over where to send your family member. You can hold on to your card and wait for the right moment. However if you draw an opponent's card, it means you can intentionally send it somewhere unproductive. In our game, we were more offensive than defensive, so we tended to grab other people's cards so that we could stick them somewhere useless. What nasty people we were. 

Your hand size is 2. Every turn you must play a card and then draw a card. What this effectively means is you can keep a card on hand and never play it, or you can save it until the best possible opportunity comes about. You may hold on to your own card to play it at the right moment. You may keep an opponent's card and play only when you are sure it won't score. 

It is easy to count cards. There are only seven characters in each colour. You can easily tell which characters are in play and which are still out there. In the early game, most characters are not out yet so there is much uncertainty. As the round progresses, the situation gets clearer. You gain more information, and this helps you make better decisions. In the early round your decisions are more luck-based, but as the round goes on, you will be making better informed decisions. This is quite an interesting experience. You feel you have more and more control, and you get to see whether your earlier bets pan out. 

 

Dad and Mom

The Lost Child. Card powers are shown at the top. 

There are two Daughters at the centre elevator. If anyone plays the third Daughter, all three Daughters will be removed from the queue, and the characters who will get on the elevator will be the two Grandpas and the Son. 

The Thoughts

In Front of the Elevators is very much a Japanese style game. Not many components, compact rules, and it brings to the table something unique and unusual. The fact that it is about queuing for elevators already make people go "what?"  I like that the game is able to create a refreshing experience by using just a handful of simple game mechanisms. It is a short game, but a fulfilling one. I enjoy the art style too.