Review of Bluff 'N Peg
I'm not really caught up in the huge Poker craze that has spread across the world in the last five years. In fact, growing up as a Baptist, poker itself was a taboo, and I never even played until I was in college. I do enjoy the bluffing aspects of the game, although I find it a bit too lucky for my tastes, and prefer variants. When the designer told me about the mechanics of Bluff 'N Peg (Spy Alley Partnership L.L.P., 2001 - William Stephenson), I was pleased to find that he had come up with an alternative to betting - something I'm not really fond of.
Bluff 'N Peg uses a scoring mechanic, in which players use points to bid rather than money. While that may be a letdown for many, I still found it rather interesting and entertaining. However, the game has one major flaw that makes it quite a bit less fun, although we used a simple variant to fix it. Still, with the rules as they are, the game really isn't anything that stands out amongst the dozens of poker variants. It's interesting, and may appease those who want to play Poker without the gambling aspect but not enough for me to continue playing it.
Each player, up to six, places a peg into a track (which looks almost exactly like a Cribbage board). The track goes from the starting hole to "50" but also goes backwards to "-19". A large peg is placed in the first hole in a four space track from "1x" to "4x". The dealer deals five cards to each player, and the first turn begins.
(For purposes of this rules explanation, I'm assuming the reader understands how to play poker.)
Each round, players are dealt five cards and can discard/replace up to three. Then, the player to the dealer's left must either place a card/cards that show a higher poker hand than the player before them, or fold. Once one player has played their third card, they may declare "double or fold". Each other player must either immediately fold or accept this statement. If any other players are still in the game, then the peg is moved to the "2x" space. This may happen several times but only once per player. Play continues until only one player is left, or until all cards are played and one player has the highest poker hand. The player who wins the hand receives the points that are underneath the large peg (5, 10, 20, or 40 points). All other players lose one point for each card that they've played times the number (1x, 2x, etc.) that is by the large peg WHEN they folded.
Players move their pegs according to the holes that they've won. When a player is in the "Last Chance" holes (the last three holes on the scale - also known as "-17" through "-19"), they can only move backward one hole maximum. If a player lands in the "Out the Back" hole behind the Las Chance holes, the game ends after the current hand; with the player who has the most points becoming the winner. Alternatively, the player who is the first to reach fifty points is the winner!
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: The board is a plastic raised frame which holds each player's peg. The tracks on the board are colored in different colors, but for some reason the pegs are all black - different colors would have made a nice contrast. Still, the pegs fit into the board easily. The cards look like ordinary playing cards (with a Bluff 'N Peg background) but are very high quality and the nicest part of the game. Everything fits inside an overly large box (for the game, anyway) that isn't tremendously sturdy but does look good on the shelf.
2.) Rules: The rules of the game act as though they assume the player doesn't understand poker but don't do a good job of explaining it either. I hope this game isn't anyone's first taste of poker - they'll probably never play it again! Other than that, the rules are okay, and they do have the poker hands listed in order, as well as a reference card that does the same thing.
3.) The Change: For us, this game was instantly inferior to Poker because there really isn't any bluffing aspect to it. Since you must play a higher hand than the previous player, a player MUST fold if they have a hand of trashy cards. We simply changed the game and allowed players to simply reveal one card at a time, whether they had a higher hand or not. This allowed players to pretend that they had a high hand (playing one ace might mean I have three more) and caused the game to become that much more interesting and exciting. Without this rule change, the game was really devoid of any excitement at all.
4.) Money: I can see that this game might be more enjoyable for those who, like myself, don't wish to play poker for the money. Points are certainly an interesting way, although I'm sure that they don't create the tension (and problems) that money does. Still, the large peg movement created the illusion of "upping the bet", and Bluff 'N Peg might keep the game interesting enough for those who have problems with gambling.
5.) Fun Factor: With the game as is, none. Frankly, getting a poor hand means you lose automatically and might as well fold right away. What's the fun in that? The game comes down to a guessing game, and a few players with higher hands might have a slight chance of bluffing one another in a few rounds. But you know what? - even with our rule change, the game still wasn't fun enough for many playings; and I doubt it will come out to our table again.
There are a lot of poker variants available with commercially available ones such as Parlay, to simple ones that require only a deck of cards and a rule change. So I can't recommend to my readers that they pick up a full blown game that really isn't that fun and needs to be adjusted to retain a little enjoyment. Just grab some chips and cards and play Texas Hold 'Em.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.thedicetower.com
Bluff 'N Peg uses a scoring mechanic, in which players use points to bid rather than money. While that may be a letdown for many, I still found it rather interesting and entertaining. However, the game has one major flaw that makes it quite a bit less fun, although we used a simple variant to fix it. Still, with the rules as they are, the game really isn't anything that stands out amongst the dozens of poker variants. It's interesting, and may appease those who want to play Poker without the gambling aspect but not enough for me to continue playing it.
Each player, up to six, places a peg into a track (which looks almost exactly like a Cribbage board). The track goes from the starting hole to "50" but also goes backwards to "-19". A large peg is placed in the first hole in a four space track from "1x" to "4x". The dealer deals five cards to each player, and the first turn begins.
(For purposes of this rules explanation, I'm assuming the reader understands how to play poker.)
Each round, players are dealt five cards and can discard/replace up to three. Then, the player to the dealer's left must either place a card/cards that show a higher poker hand than the player before them, or fold. Once one player has played their third card, they may declare "double or fold". Each other player must either immediately fold or accept this statement. If any other players are still in the game, then the peg is moved to the "2x" space. This may happen several times but only once per player. Play continues until only one player is left, or until all cards are played and one player has the highest poker hand. The player who wins the hand receives the points that are underneath the large peg (5, 10, 20, or 40 points). All other players lose one point for each card that they've played times the number (1x, 2x, etc.) that is by the large peg WHEN they folded.
Players move their pegs according to the holes that they've won. When a player is in the "Last Chance" holes (the last three holes on the scale - also known as "-17" through "-19"), they can only move backward one hole maximum. If a player lands in the "Out the Back" hole behind the Las Chance holes, the game ends after the current hand; with the player who has the most points becoming the winner. Alternatively, the player who is the first to reach fifty points is the winner!
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: The board is a plastic raised frame which holds each player's peg. The tracks on the board are colored in different colors, but for some reason the pegs are all black - different colors would have made a nice contrast. Still, the pegs fit into the board easily. The cards look like ordinary playing cards (with a Bluff 'N Peg background) but are very high quality and the nicest part of the game. Everything fits inside an overly large box (for the game, anyway) that isn't tremendously sturdy but does look good on the shelf.
2.) Rules: The rules of the game act as though they assume the player doesn't understand poker but don't do a good job of explaining it either. I hope this game isn't anyone's first taste of poker - they'll probably never play it again! Other than that, the rules are okay, and they do have the poker hands listed in order, as well as a reference card that does the same thing.
3.) The Change: For us, this game was instantly inferior to Poker because there really isn't any bluffing aspect to it. Since you must play a higher hand than the previous player, a player MUST fold if they have a hand of trashy cards. We simply changed the game and allowed players to simply reveal one card at a time, whether they had a higher hand or not. This allowed players to pretend that they had a high hand (playing one ace might mean I have three more) and caused the game to become that much more interesting and exciting. Without this rule change, the game was really devoid of any excitement at all.
4.) Money: I can see that this game might be more enjoyable for those who, like myself, don't wish to play poker for the money. Points are certainly an interesting way, although I'm sure that they don't create the tension (and problems) that money does. Still, the large peg movement created the illusion of "upping the bet", and Bluff 'N Peg might keep the game interesting enough for those who have problems with gambling.
5.) Fun Factor: With the game as is, none. Frankly, getting a poor hand means you lose automatically and might as well fold right away. What's the fun in that? The game comes down to a guessing game, and a few players with higher hands might have a slight chance of bluffing one another in a few rounds. But you know what? - even with our rule change, the game still wasn't fun enough for many playings; and I doubt it will come out to our table again.
There are a lot of poker variants available with commercially available ones such as Parlay, to simple ones that require only a deck of cards and a rule change. So I can't recommend to my readers that they pick up a full blown game that really isn't that fun and needs to be adjusted to retain a little enjoyment. Just grab some chips and cards and play Texas Hold 'Em.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.thedicetower.com
