13 Ghosts

The Game

13 Ghosts is a deduction microgame. Every player holds one secret card, and everyone tries to guess one another’s card. Once your card is guessed correctly you are out. The last person standing wins.

The deck has 13 cards, numbered from 1 to 13. Every card has an ability you can use. Everyone starts with a secret card and also one hand card. On your turn you must play your hand card. If you play it face up, you get to use the ability on the card. Sometimes an ability allows you to ask your opponents a specific question about their secret. There are abilities which does other fancy stuff too, like letting you peek cards in the deck. If you play your card face down, you get to attempt to guess your opponents’ numbers. Guessing right eliminates the opponent holding that number. Since there are only 13 cards, the game is quite short.

The Play

The decision whether or not to play a card face up depends not just on whether you want to use the card ability. Whether you want to release information to your our opponents is an important consideration. Your opponents’ action will give you clues. When they guess a number, they probably don’t have that number. But then maybe they are doing it just to mislead you.

Sometimes it comes down to how lucky your guess is. If you sense your opponents already knows your number, on your turn you probably to just guess their number, so that you can eliminate them before they do the same.

The Thoughts

The game is a process of elimination. It’s very short. There is some luck. I found it slightly dull, like work - a short but not very interesting task. This is actually somewhat similar to Love Letter, but Love Letter is one of my favourite games and it doesn't feel dry. On your turn you have two cards to pick from. I like how the card powers interact. In 13 Ghosts you only have one card in hand. However you can still choose whether to play it face-up or face-down. It is still a meaningful decision. I think what was a turn-off for me was that feeling of checking off a list of numbers.