Skull

Lui-même • 2011

Each player has four coasters — three roses and one skull. On your turn, you place a coaster face-down, or you bid: "I can flip X coasters without hitting a skull." If you bid, others can bid higher or pass. The highest bidder has to flip that many coasters, starting with their own stack first. Flip a skull and you lose a coaster permanently. Successfully flip your bid and you earn a point. Two points wins the game. That's it. The whole game. No special powers, no card text, no exceptions. The game is entirely about reading people. Did they place their skull or a rose? Are they bidding to win or to make you crash? Are they baiting you into a high bid so you hit their skull? It's one of the purest bluffing games ever made. The game takes 30 seconds to teach and 15-20 minutes to play. It works at 3-6 players and is equally good at every count. The production is just printed coasters. You can technically play it with beer mats and a marker. Some people buy the boxed version for the art, which is nice, but the game itself is so clean that the components almost don't matter.