The Inside Scoop on Gaming

When I first heard about a card game to tell fairy tales, I felt unimpressed. Recent trends in CCGs have given me a lukewarm feel for card games, and despite doing my fair share of writing, I felt ambivalent at best towards telling fairy stories.

Foolish me. Once Upon a Time (OUT for short) really takes the cake as a different kind of storytelling game. The object is to tell a story, have fun, and play all of your Story cards and your "Happily ever after" card (finishing the tale) before the other players, not necesarily in that order. Players take turns adding elements to the tale, working in subplots and new characters, winding up loose ends, even interrupting each other to add new angles.

The mechanics are simple, and can easily be grasped and passed on in the finest tradition of folklore gaming inside of five minutes. The game has two kinds of cards- Story Element cards and Happily Ever After (or 'ending')cards. Each player gets one ending card, and a number of story cards. Each time you mention one of the elements depicted on your card, you lay it down- one per sentence. If one of the other players has a card depicting an element you just mentioned, they get to play it, Interrupt, and continue telling the story- adding their own spin on things, of course.

The Story cards have five 'suits': Characters (Old Woman, Wolf), Items (Sword, Ring), Places (Forest, Island), Aspects (Poisoned, Wise), and Events (Escape, Transformation). Some Story cards are special 'Interrupt' cards that allow players to take the position of Storyteller. The game designers have benevolently provided each set with a few blanks of each type, so players can add write-ins of their own choice. 'Happily Ever After' cards each have a different ending for players to tell, each reminiscent of other well-known tales: "And for all I know, they may be dancing still," "So the riddle was finally answered," "True love had broken the enchantment."

The game plays fast and loose, allowing for 2-6 or more players. The cards themselves are beautifully done, well-crafted in Belgium (!), allow for a great leeway in interpretation, and contain extremely good artwork. Game time varies, depending on the size of the group and relative amounts of creativity and energy- a requirement. Age makes no difference- You can play this game with your kids, your parents, your spouse, your friends from work- anyone with a good imagination or flair with words can have fun.

I already have gotten hours of fun out of this game in the first week of owning it, so its price of US$15.95 is a good investment. Also, I have heard of other groups using it for different genres- Sci-fi, adventure, horror (read: Grimm tales), even hard-boiled gangster and crime tales. It just keeps getting better and better! One might concievably use them as a meta-game tool for any system, a la the old Whimsy cards from Ars Magica, 1st edition.

I really should learn to expect nothing less from Atlas Games. Buy this game. If you have doubts, play it first- but make sure that they have an extra copy for you to take home.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Once Upon a Time, 2nd ed.
Author: Richard Lambert, Andrew Rilstone, & James Wallis Category: Card game Company/Publisher: Atlas Games Reviewed by Mischa Krilov on 07/04/97. Genre tags: none	When I first heard about a card game to tell fairy tales, I felt unimpressed. Recent trends in CCGs have given me a lukewarm feel for card games, and despite doing my fair share of writing, I felt ambivalent at best towards telling fairy stories. Foolish me. Once Upon a Time (OUT for short) really takes the cake as a different kind of storytelling game. The object is to tell a story, have fun, and play all of your Story cards and your "Happily ever after" card (finishing the tale) before the other players, not necesarily in that order. Players take turns adding elements to the tale, working in subplots and new characters, winding up loose ends, even interrupting each other to add new angles. The mechanics are simple, and can easily be grasped and passed on in the finest tradition of folklore gaming inside of five minutes. The game has two kinds of cards- Story Element cards and Happily Ever After (or 'ending')cards. Each player gets one ending card, and a number of story cards. Each time you mention one of the elements depicted on your card, you lay it down- one per sentence. If one of the other players has a card depicting an element you just mentioned, they get to play it, Interrupt, and continue telling the story- adding their own spin on things, of course. The Story cards have five 'suits': Characters (Old Woman, Wolf), Items (Sword, Ring), Places (Forest, Island), Aspects (Poisoned, Wise), and Events (Escape, Transformation). Some Story cards are special 'Interrupt' cards that allow players to take the position of Storyteller. The game designers have benevolently provided each set with a few blanks of each type, so players can add write-ins of their own choice. 'Happily Ever After' cards each have a different ending for players to tell, each reminiscent of other well-known tales: "And for all I know, they may be dancing still," "So the riddle was finally answered," "True love had broken the enchantment." The game plays fast and loose, allowing for 2-6 or more players. The cards themselves are beautifully done, well-crafted in Belgium (!), allow for a great leeway in interpretation, and contain extremely good artwork. Game time varies, depending on the size of the group and relative amounts of creativity and energy- a requirement. Age makes no difference- You can play this game with your kids, your parents, your spouse, your friends from work- anyone with a good imagination or flair with words can have fun. I already have gotten hours of fun out of this game in the first week of owning it, so its price of US$15.95 is a good investment. Also, I have heard of other groups using it for different genres- Sci-fi, adventure, horror (read: Grimm tales), even hard-boiled gangster and crime tales. It just keeps getting better and better! One might concievably use them as a meta-game tool for any system, a la the old Whimsy cards from Ars Magica, 1st edition. I really should learn to expect nothing less from Atlas Games. Buy this game. If you have doubts, play it first- but make sure that they have an extra copy for you to take home. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Once Upon a Time, 2nd ed.