{"id":10417,"date":"2024-10-07T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=10417"},"modified":"2024-10-06T21:03:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T01:03:32","slug":"seers-catalog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2024\/10\/07\/seers-catalog\/","title":{"rendered":"Seers Catalog."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Seers Catalog<\/a> is yet another trick-taking game, this time a game where you\u2019re trying to get rid of most of your cards, but not all of them. It has a lot in common with SCOUT<\/a> until you get to the scoring, where it has a novel way of awarding points \u2013 or taking them away \u2013 that makes this game so fun and so very hard to play well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A remake of a self-published game called Of What\u2019s Left, Seers Catalog has a deck of cards numbered 2 through 13 in five suits, although you\u2019ll cut that down based on player count so that each player will start with a hand of twelve of those cards plus one wild and two \u2018artifact\u2019 cards. Those artifact cards have various special powers but nearly all of them have values of 0 for scoring at the end of the round, so you want to use them rather than holding on to them. Some work in tandem with another card you play, such as changing its suit or adding or subtracting 1 (or \u00bd!) to its value, while others you play on their own, like a card that automatically is the highest one on the table, or the Go First card that, as you might infer, means that player goes first (but doesn\u2019t have to play that card immediately).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The player who starts a trick must play a \u2018meld\u2019 from their hand: a set of cards of the same value with different suits, a run of cards of the same suit with consecutive values, or a single card. All players may follow by playing the same type and size of meld \u2013 so if I play a run of 3-4-5, you must play a run of exactly three cards \u2013 but must have a higher card value than the last trick played, so in that example, you would have to play at least a 4-5-6. Players may pass; whoever wins the trick opens the next one. When any player has fewer than six cards in their hand, they go in the Bonus, flipping the indicator token in front of them. From that point on, they may not pass: if they have a legal play, they must make it.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A round ends when any player is out of cards. They will score zero points for the round, as will any players not yet in the Bonus. All other players in the Bonus score as follows: Take a number of points equal to the value of the lowest card in your hand, then subtract the number of cards in your hand. So if you have two cards remaining, a 6 and an 8, you would get 4 points (6 for the card minus 2 for your two cards in hand). Wild and artifact cards are (mostly) value 0, so if you have one, you get 0 points minus the number of cards in your hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be obvious that the goal is to end up with one high-value card at the end of a round, or at worst just a couple of high-value cards. Because you\u2019re required to play once you\u2019re in the bonus, however, that\u2019s really hard to do. Later in the round, players are more likely to make smaller plays \u2013 a single card or a run\/set of two \u2013 and it\u2019s similarly likely that you\u2019ll have a legal play. And if you have the misfortune to win a late trick like that, you may end up having to lead the next trick and end up playing your last card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I haven\u2019t mentioned the theme here, because beyond the wonderful title \u2013 which, I\u2019ve discovered, you probably have to be at least 45 or so to get \u2013 the theme is irrelevant. There\u2019s flavor text on the cards, but I never read them; I played this once without my glasses, so I couldn\u2019t have read it if I\u2019d wanted to, and it didn\u2019t affect my ability to play the game at all. I can say that the game plays well with two players, which is unusual for a trick-taking game. It\u2019s different, since it\u2019s easier to guess what the other player might or might not have, but it still works really well. I prefer SCOUT, but if you love SCOUT and want something in a similar vein that\u2019s offers a few new twists, you should put Seers Catalog on your order form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seers Catalog is yet another trick-taking game, this time a game where you\u2019re trying to get rid of most of your cards, but not all of them. It has a lot in common with SCOUT until you get to the scoring, where it has a novel way of awarding points \u2013 or taking them away […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[60,408,161,1118],"class_list":["post-10417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-boardgames","tag-card-games","tag-highly-recommended","tag-trick-taking-games","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10418,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10417\/revisions\/10418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}