Players: 3-4
Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: 2 (of 10)
The Components
The Hollywood! Card Game comes with 64 cards and a set of 16 "movie reel counters".
The Cards: The cards are all full color, printed on medium-light cardstock. (I wish it was a little sturdier.) There are eight studio cards, twelve star cards, thirty-nine film cards, and five blockbuster cards, for a total of sixty four.
The studio cards are given out to the players. They come in the four player colors (blue, green, yellow, and red) and each either depict a clapboard or a set of two reels. They're used for special actions in the game, and it's easy to remember what they do.
The other cards eventually make up the Hollywood Area from which cards are drafted. The 12 star cards each depict a person (a parody actor or directory) and one to three stars, while the 5 blockbuster cards just depict two dollar bills, to remind you they're worth two points. They each feature fair artwork, but nothing exciting.
Finally, the 39 film cards each depict a genre symbol (romantic comedy, action, or horror). These feature artwork by Szucs Gregory that's absolutely gorgeous. As you can probably make out from my picture above each of the genres had one long painting made for it that was then cut up on the cards. They're done in a very beautiful slightly abstract style. Each individual card has a nice central focus, but they also connect up to form bigger stories. They're entirely stunning.
Movie Reels: 16 thick cardboard discs which each depict a movie reel in one of the four player colors.
You're probably going to want to keep the little cardboard frame that these come in, to put the discs back in after you play, so that they don't get lost. A tiny plastic bag might work too.
Box: A small, flimsy double tuckbox. There's no divider, so the cards are going to go all over, and you need to contain your movie reels in some way so that they don't get lost (as mentioned above).
At best the quality of the components in The Hollywood! Card Game is average, but they're an entirely fair return for the extremely low price point of this game. However I think the artwork on the film cards, which are most of what you're staring at during the game, is so nice that it considerably brings up the Style of the game, so I've given it a "4" out of "5".
The Game Play
You're trying to make the most successful movies in Hollywood, by collecting large sets of film cards, then linking them up to the best stars in the business.
Setup: Each player selects a color and takes the two studio cards for that color (a clapboard card and a double reel card) as well as 3 or 4 movie reel counters (depending on the number of players). The 12 star cards are put into a Star Deck, then shuffled. The 39 film cards and 5 blockbuster cards are put into a Movie Deck, then shuffled.
Starting a Round of Play: Each round of play begins with 3 cards being taken from the Star Deck and 11 cards being taken from the Movie Deck. They're shuffled together then laid out on the table in 4 columns--two columns of four cards and two columns of three cards. This forms the "Hollywood Area" which will be the basis of play for that round.
Taking a Turn: On a turn a player may either play a movie reel counter of else play a studio card.
Playing a Movie Reel Counter. A movie reel counter is played to the bottom card of one of the four Hollywood columns. It moves all the counters in that column up one space, so that each counter is always on its own card. Once a column is filled, no further counters can be placed to that column. At the end of the round a player is going to get those cards which his counters are on.
Playing a Studio Card. A player can play his clapboard to skip a turn. Or he can play his double reel card to play two counters on his turn. These can each be used to good strategic advantage to get a later chance to play a reel counter, or else to quickly close out a column. However, once a studio card has been used, it's discarded; each can only be used once per game.
Ending a Round of Play: A round of play ends when all the players have played all their counters--for a total of 12 counters. This means that there will always be two unmarked cards. At this point players start claiming their cards one at a time, beginning at the top of the leftmost column, continuing down through the column, then onto the next.
Blockbuster cards are just set to the side: they're worth +2 points each at the end of the game.
Film cards are added to your current set of that genre type (action, horror, or romantic comedy). This is a project, and you'll often have three projects out at any time: one per genre.
Star cards must be used to complete a project. When you receive a star you put it on top of one of your projects, then set that project to the side: it'll be scored at the end of the game. You can then start a new set of the same genre once you get a new film card of that type.
Ending the Game: After the end of 3-4 rounds of play (with each player being forced to start once), the game ends. Players now score all those projects. Each project is worth the number of genre cards in that project times the star value of the star associated with it (1-3). So, for example, a horror film with 3 horror cards and Tom Strong (3 stars) would be worth 3x3=9 points.
In addition, each player may score their largest unfinished project, at one point per card.
The player with the highest score wins.
Relationships to Other Games
The Hollywood! Card Game is the third game that Michael Scacht and Bruno Faidutti have designed together, the other two being Draco & Co. and Fist of Dragonstones (2002). I've never played Draco, but I've been told that it, much like Fist of Dragonstones, felt very much like a Bruno Faidutti design: colorful, fun, and somewhat chaotic. This new design, conversely, feels like a Michael Schacht game--a bit more staid and analytical.
To be more specific, Hollywood! reminds me a lot of Scacht's Coloretto (2003). They're both Set Collection card games with unique, somewhat chaotic, card drafting methods where you're balancing personal gain against benefits to your opponents on an open table. I think you have more control in Coloretto, and it's thus a more strategic game, but I've also played Coloretto a fair amount more, and so I may just understand its strategy better by this point.
Without a doubt Hollywood! does require careful thought and considered play, like its predecessor, and despite some similarities, it's also an entirely different game that's worthwhile to play in its own right.
Beyond that, Hollywood! is fundamentally a filler card game. It's gone straight into my pile of short yet strategic fillers along with the aforementioned Coloretto as well as King's Breakfast and For Sale.
The Game Design
The Hollywood! Card Game is a quick and enjoyable, yet strategic filler. It contains a number of interesting tactical choices, as you try and figure out where to place your markers, and when to use your one-use cards, measured against what all the other players are doing.
The card game is simple enough that there's little more to say about its core design, other than the fact that it works.
Hollywood! is clearly being pitched toward a more mass market with its popular theming and its very low price point. I'd love to see a game like this get out to the masses though I have some suspicions that the slightly unusual layout and gameplay might scare them away, but only time will tell there.
The Hollywood! Car d Game is an interesting filler that I suspect will get a fair amount of play because of its good balance of strategy and speed, and I've thus awarded it a "4" out of "4" for Substance.
Conclusion
The Hollywood! Card Game is a new card game by Bruno Faidutti and Michael Schacht. Though it isn't quite another Coloretto it's a well-designed and fast, yet strategic, set-collection game that I'm very happy to add to my collection. Especially considering its very cheap price I'd suggest it to anyone who enjoys an occasional game of Coloretto or King's Breakfast, two similarly weighted set-collection games.
