Zombie Cats Daring Contest

The Game

Okay I know the name sounds weird. I'm fully responsible for that. I came up with this English name in order to upload this game to the BGG database. Zombie Cats Daring Contest is a family game from Taiwan. It is a push-your-luck game. You are constantly risking your earnings so far to gain even more. If you fail, you lose what you have just earned. 

The metal box is pretty

This is a card game. On your turn you flip over cards from the deck. You must keep flipping until the card values add up to at least 7. As long as the total is between 7 and 10, you can earn victory points. If it exceeds 10, you go bust and leave empty-handed. This is very much like Black Jack. When you do reach 7, this is when things get interesting. You can decide to play it safe and end your turn there and then, claiming the cards you have flipped over so far as victory points. However you can keep drawing and hoping to earn more points, at the risk of going bust. 

Once you get to 7, it's time to make decisions

If you manage to reach 10 exactly, in addition to claiming cards worth 10 victory points, you also get to claim a trophy worth 10VP. That's a total of 20VP. There are only three such trophies in the game. If all have been claimed and you need to get one, you steal it from another player. You are not only gaining 10VP, you are also forcing an opponent to lose 10VP. 

When you get to 7, there is another option. You may discard your cards to roll a die. There is a one third chance that something bad will happen (you lose cards). There is a two thirds chance that you'll gain something. You may win a trophy, or you may steal cards from an opponent. 

The game ends when the deck runs out. You add up your points on your cards and trophies, and the highest scorer wins. 

The Play

This is a very simple game with a large dose of luck. If you draw cards until you get to 6, and then next draw a 5 to go bust, there is nothing you can do. It's just bad luck. To get to exactly 10 points certainly needs some good luck. Still, throughout the game you will come to decision points. You regularly need to decide whether to gamble and test your luck. You may not have much basis on which to make your decision, but it is an exciting experience. 

Since there is a huge luck element, there is not much to overthink. You can play in a relaxed manner. There is some targeted aggression. You can decide who to steal cards and trophies from. If there is an obvious leader, they may get ganged up on. The draw deck is your countdown. If you want to target the leader, better do it before time runs out. 

There are five mystery box tiles in the game, numbered 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. By default they are face-down. When you draw a mystery box card, you must flip over one of these tiles. The number is then added to your total. Your turn works in the same way, but if you claim the card, it is not worth anything. 

The mystery box card is worth 0 VP

Five cards revealed, and we're not even at 7 yet!

The zombie cats are cute

The Thoughts

Zombie Cats Daring Contest is a simple push-your-luck game. It is a party game which does not require much brain usage. It is easy to learn and will work for casual games who do not want to learn complicated games.