Doctor Who Clue

Doctor Who Clue is similar to the other newer versions of clue with the game rules and play with the theme variation. I have notice that the newer clue games differ from the older style games. The major difference I have noticed is that the newer versions of clue you have question mark cards that have different powers and perks which the older games did not have. These are helpful in some cases where you get to transport yourself to whatever room you would like or if someone starts a Rumor you get to be in on who did not do it. To start each person chooses a character and starts in the middle of the game board with the TARDIS and highest roller goes first. In the older version of clue Miss Scarlet was always the first to go then player went clock wise around the board from their starting positions. There are three types of cards that are dealt out to the players equally: Weapon, Suspect, and Place.

One of each of these cards are set aside and put into the center envelope for everyone to try to figure out. From the center you can move any direction you would like except for diagonal and there are Question mark spaces on the board. As mention before the question mark spaces come with different powers for example on my turn I drew a card that allowed me to start a Rumor without being in a room. Typically to start a Rumor or guess who committed the murder and how you have to be in that room that you suspected it happen in and you also move that character there as well as the weapon you think they did it with. When you start a Rumor the player to your left is the first to try to prove your guess wrong. They prove you wrong by showing you one of their cards that are part of your Rumor proving that your Rumor is not possible or at least part of it. Each player receives a sheet that has all the weapons, suspects, and places on it so they can keep track of what is not a possibility. The Pocket watches can be drawn on the question mark spaces as well once eight pocket watches are draw the game is over. I think they added this part into the newer games to cut down on the time it takes to play the game over all. The game consists of many rounds of players moving between rooms and trying to guess the cards in the envelope. When we play board games with our friend Brian we try to stay away from clue because he tends to always win. If the first player to your left can not prove you wrong then the next player has the chance to and so on until no one can prove you wrong. When no one can prove you wrong then it is time to open the secret case file from the middle. If you are correct you are the winner if not your out and the game can continue.

Doctor Who Monoply

The last time I played Doctor Who Monopoly was at Christmas; my sister-in-law Erin received the game as a present from my parents. Last month she passed away unexpectedly so this post is in tribute to her because she loved reading my blog updates every week and was a huge Doctor Who fan. Doctor Who Monopoly plays similar to regular monopoly just with the theme variations such as space ships instead of railroads and key villains for the properties. Most of the game is fuzzy in my memory but I do remember that I was banker as I always am when we play monopoly. My parents who have never watched Doctor Who thought the game was strange. I believe that Erin was River Song's Diary or the TARDIS, I believe I chose the Pandorica if not the TARDIS, and mom was confused by the gas mask so decided she would be that piece. My brother Eric tends to lose focus on long games and was the first out but had a second chance when mom got up to finish dinner. When we played at Christmas time I do not believe we finished that game because dinner was ready but I think I remember my dad sitting on a pretty good size of cash. Sadly we will never get to finish the game or have another game night with her she will be truly missed.

Cheat

Cheat is the censored name for a popular card game of catching people in a lie. With this game the whole deck of cards is dealt and the person to the left of the dealer is the first to play. The round game beings with the first person playing aces if they have them and the next lays twos and so on till you get to kings and start over. If you do not have a certain card when it is your turn you still must lay but you will be lying about the cards you play. In this hand it is my turn to lay threes but I do not have any. What I am going to do is lay two cards I do not think that I will need and call them threes in this case I have plenty of twos and fives.The goal of the game is to be the first person to run out of cards. However if you get caught in a lie you have to pick up the discard pile in the middle. If you call cheat on someone else and are wrong then you will be the one picking up the pile not them. When I lay down the "threes" I will also hope that no one else has three or more threes in their hand. With my hand if anyone else lays down two or more fives but hasn’t picked up the pile I know they are lying and can make them pick up the discard pile. This game can last hours if you are daring enough to risk picking up the whole deck. On the other hand if you are playing with sly or shy people it can end quickly.

Kemps

Kemps is another quick card game that I played quite often in high school. This is typically a four player game where you try to signal to your partner when you have four of a kind. Each player is dealt four cards and the dealer has the draw pile. The dealer picks up and passes cards until they find one they want to add to their hand and then discard to only keep four cards in their hand. The challenge with this game is finding a way to signal to your partner that you have four of a kind without alerting the other team. The other team can call Kemps if they believe you have four of a kind. If they are correct then they score and the round is over, however if they are incorrect then the game continues.   

Hand gestures or code words are used with code words you have to watch out for repetitiveness or obvious give aways. With gesture you have to watch out for how noticeable they can be but some examples are touching your nose or tapping the table. On gesture that we found useful was collapsing your hand but if this is an unconscious gesture when you are searching for just one card it can be your down fall if your partner calls Kemps and you do not have it.

Spoons

Spoons was a favorite card game while I was in high school that we played during down time. We played the game with pencils because you do not typical carry spoons to class with you. The game play is fairly basic starting with everyone being dealt four cards. There are spoons in the center enough for everyone minus one. The dealer starts to draw form the draw pile and can either keep the card or pass it. They pass it to the person on their left and that person has the option to keep it or pass but if the person keeps the card they must also discard one as well and pass it.

 If someone gets four of a kind then they can grab a spoon and if you see someone else grab a spoon then you can do so. This results in a scramble between the last ones to notice a spoon is gone not wanting to be out the next round. Game play continues like this till the game is down to two people and you have a winner. With spoons the violence is fairly minimal but when you get competitive people in the game it can become extremely fast paced and risky for your fingers.