17: Diciassette

The Game

17 is a game design from Japan, originally called Diciassette which means seventeen in Italian. What attracted me to try this game is the similarity to my own game Pinocchio, and also to some extent Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves too. I want to see how others do it. The common mechanism between these games is how cards will be drawn or played, and something bad happens when the sum of the card values reach or exceed a certain number. This is what happens in Black Jack. The number is 12 in Ali Baba, 21 in Pinocchio, and of course 17 in 17. 

In 17, you have a hand of three cards. You take turns playing cards to a row at the centre of the table. You can play your card face up or face down. At any time if you think the total has reached 17, you may call for the round to end. Face down cards are revealed. If you are right, you get a point token, and the last player to have played a card gets a penalty token. If you are wrong, you get the penalty token instead, and the last player gets a point token. You play multiple rounds until a player wins by having three point tokens. 

One interesting aspect of the game is some cards show their values on their backs. So everyone knows what they are even if you play them face down. Some cards have special abilities, e.g. reversing the order of play, or removing other cards from the row. There is a trap card which penalises whoever calls for the round to end. 

The Play

I did a 2-player game. The game supports 2 to 6. The 2-player game wasn’t interesting for me. I think the game will work better for a larger group. You have three cards in hand, but you don’t always have many options. If you have exposed cards (cards with values on their backs too), and the total will hit 17 when you play them, then they are not valid options. You might get caught in a situation when you’ll go bust openly no matter what you play. So you probably want to consider playing those exposed cards much earlier before you have too many of them. There is a bit of hand management in this game. You can save good cards for the right moments. 

The feeling of playing this game is everyone taking turns to be the vulnerable one who might get penalised. Wherever you decide to play a card to the row, you are taking a risk that the total might hit 17 and someone might call for the round to end. Based on player count and turn order, you can manipulate who will be more vulnerable. Which card you choose to play, and whether you play it face up or face down influence this. Let's use an example. If you can play a 5 to make the apparent total go to 16, and you want to put the next player in a difficult position, you would choose to play the 5 face up, so that everyone knows the end is near. The next player will have a dilemma, unless they have the special power card which removes other cards from the row. 

The Thoughts

I need to play this with more players. I feel this should be a minimum 3-player game. It works differently from both of my games, delivering a different experience. This is a light game so non-gamers can easily learn to play and can quickly enjoy the game. There is bluffing and hand management, so even for experienced gamers there are interesting tactics to consider. This is a clever game with some original ideas.