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Double or Nothing is a card game of brinkmanship by Reiner Knizia.
Players: 3-5
Time: 15-20 minutes
Difficulty: 1 (of 10)
The Components
Double or Nothing comes with:
- 1 scoreboard
- 6 pawns
- 6 in/out indicators
- 66 cards
- 1 rulebook
Scoreboard: A small, three-panel board which provides a scoring track that runs from 0 to 99. It's printed on linen-textured cardboard and is simple but utilitarian.
Pawns: Wooden pawns in the six player colors (red, orange, purple, blue, black, green).
In/Out Indicators: Circular cardboard markers in the six player colors, all printed on linen-textured cardboard. Each says "in" on one side and "out" on the other. They're great to keep track of who's still in for a round of play. I wish auction games tended to have something like this. They also helpfully remind you of who's playing what color.
Cards: 66 cards printed on overly flimsy but linen-textured cardstock. 59 of the cards show either two, three, or four suit symbols, while the remaining 7 are bonus card with values from 3-7.
Rulebook: A small 8-page full-color rulebook which explains the rules with lots of illustrations and examples.
Overall the quality of the components ranges from below average (the cards) to slightly above average (everything else). They're easy to use but generally simplistic without much beauty. As such the game earns an average "3" out of "5" for Style.
The Gameplay
The object of Double or Nothing is to earn the most points by skillfully figuring out when to optimally cash out of each hand of card.
Setup: Each player chooses a color and takes the in/out chip in that color and the pawn. The pawn is placed on the scoring board at "0".
The bonus cards are temporarily removed from the deck. Everything else is shuffled and 3 cards are dealt to each player. Aftterward the bonus cards are shuffled into the remainder of the deck.
The Cards. Besides the bonus cards there are four types of cards. Each either shows four symbols (club, diamond, spade, heart), three symbols (e.g., club, diamond, spade), two symbols (e.g., club, diamond), or a twin symbol (e.g., diamond, diamond).
Cash or Card: Over a round of play a row of cards will accumulate.
On his turn a player will decide either "cash or card". Card means that he adds a new card to the current row. Cash means he instead takes the row's current value and is OUT of the rest of the round.
Cash. The value of a row is equal to the count of all the unbroken "lines" in a row. An unbroken line is formed if all of the cards in a row show the same symbol. So, for example, if you had two cards in a row, club-diamond-spade-heart (CDSH) and club-diamond-heart (CD-H), you'd have three unbroken rows: club, diamond, and heart. The value of the row is thus six, the count of symbols in the three unbroken rows.
In addition, the value of any bonus card is added to the value of the current unbroken lines.
The player who cashes out increases his score marker by the total value, and then is OUT until the next round of play begins.
Card. Instead a player may flip a card from the draw deck, adding it to the current row.
If the card continues one or more of the unbroken rows, or is the first bonus card for the turn, his turn is over, and play countinues to his left.
If the card continues no rows, the players is automatically OUT for the round. His card is discarded.
if the card is a second bonus card, everyone is OUT; the round immediately ends. All current row and bonus cards are discarded.
Double or Nothing: The last person IN doesn't get the Cash or Card option. Instead he must flip two cards, adding them both to the row. If there's still one or more unbroken rows (and not two bonus cards!), he scores double the value of the unbroken rows plus the value of any bonus.
All row and bonus cards are now discarded and a new round of play begins.
Playing Cards: Rather than flipping a card, a player may instead play a card from his hand as a "card" action. In the Double or Nothing phase, this may only be done for one of the two cards, so there's always some risk.
However, players don't get to refresh their initial three cards; those are it for the whole game.
Ending the Game: A game ends the instant the seventh bonus card is drawn. The player with the highest score wins.
Relationships to Other Games
Double or Nothing is a classic game of brinkmanship. The best games in this category generally have the same characteristics: the main decision point is whether you risk your current winnings or continue on; and sometimes you're forced to risk more than you want to. Some of the best examples of this genre include Can't Stop (1979) and Cosmic Wimpout (1975). More recent examples include Cloud 9 (2004), Diamant (2005), and Dungeonville (2005). It's also been a frequent element in TV game shows.
Most games in this category center on die-rolling. Double or Nothing is a rare one (along with the aforementioned Diamant and Dungeonville) which is instead based on the luck of the draw.
The Game Design
Mechnically Double or Nothing is a fine game, and obviously a Reiner Knizia design. The choice of cash or card is meaningful, yet not always easy; you sometimes have to take a bad risk if a previous risk has paid off for another player.
The card management side, where you have a smal set of cards that you can use for definite results, was a nice addition and added some good strategy to a generally "lucky" game.
However, I also didn't find Double or Nothing particularly exciting. The choices seemed too intellectual and the risk didn't seem visceral enough. I enjoyed myself, don't get me wrong, but there wasn't the same yelling and shouting that I've seen in other press-your-luck games. My personal take is that dice are more exciting then cards, because there's more chance for total, amazing success, or abject, unexpected failure, though I don't know if that's really the answer.
Overall, I think that Double or Nothing is a fine game, and definitely well-designed but I don't think it plays to the strengths of the press-your-luck genre, thus I've given it just a high "3" out of "5"--slightly above average.
Conclusion
Reiner Knizia's Double or Nothing is a fair game, and definitely well-thought-out and well-designed, but it doesn't seem to catch the raw excitement that you find in some other press-your-luck style games. If you want a more intellectual brinkmanship game, this is fine, otherwise I'd go with Can't Stop!
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