During the game, players will try to play sets (cards with the same value) or runs (cards in sequential value, ascending or descending) of greater value than whatever set\/run is currently on the table, playing only cards that are adjacent within their hands. A set beats a run, if the number of cards in each is the same; a set or run of more cards than what\u2019s currently on the table always wins; and if the type and number are the same, you need higher card values to beat the active set\/run. So two 9s beats two 8s, a 5-4-3 run beats a 4-3-2 run, but a 9-8 run doesn\u2019t beat a 2-2 set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you can play something better than what\u2019s on the table, you take the current active set\/run and put them face down in front of you, earning one point per card thus captured at the end of the round. If you can\u2019t or don\u2019t want to beat the active set\/run, you can \u201cscout,\u201d taking one card from either end of the active group (but not the middle) and putting it in your hand, anywhere your like, oriented either way. The player who played that active set\/run then receives a one-point token from the supply. This is the key to the game \u2013 taking the right cards to create new sets or runs in your hand, and doing so in a way that can create further sets or runs when you remove other cards by playing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each player also has one \u201cscout and show\u201d token, usable once per round, where they can do both actions in the same turn \u2013 take one card from the table, then play a new set or run to beat and capture the active one. The round ends when one player has no hand cards remaining, or if all players scout and the turn passes back to the player who originally played the set\/run on the table. Players get one point per captured card, one per token received from other players scouting their cards, and then deduct one point for every card left in their hand (except for the player whose set\/run ended the round). The game continues with one round per player, so everyone gets to be the start player once, after which you add up all your points from all rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SCOUT is incredibly easy to teach, and quick to play, working really well at 4-5 players; I actually haven\u2019t tried it with 2, because there are a bunch of extra rules that I think will make it far less fun and simple. There\u2019s some strategy to when you choose to take cards, and how you integrate them into your hand to create new sets\/runs and perhaps set up further sets\/runs after you\u2019ve played something, while you also have to keep an eye on opponents\u2019 hands to see if anyone is getting close to playing their last card. Full games take a half hour or so once everyone has the hang of things. The list price is $23, but Oink\u2019s second printing of SCOUT sold out almost immediately; I sprinted to their booth on my first day at Gen Con to secure a copy because I was sure this would happen. If you can get a copy somehow, or are willing to wait for the next print run, it\u2019s a definite winner, with bonus points for the easy teach and for its portability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SCOUT was one of the three finalists for this year\u2019s Spiel des Jahres award, losing out on the honor to the great game Cascadia, and just became widely available in the U.S. this summer with a new print run. It\u2019s a small-box game from the Japanese publisher Oink, whose other tiny-box games include Deep Sea […]<\/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":[582,161],"class_list":["post-9535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-board-games","tag-highly-recommended","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9535","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=9535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9536,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9535\/revisions\/9536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/oinkgames.com\/images\/description\/scout\/image04.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n