Review of Ruby Rush!
I can’t make this review very long, since Ruby Rush! (Truekid Games, 2007 – Andy Van Standt) is one of the shortest, easiest games I’ve ever played. I wasn’t sure what to think of the game when I read it. It’s almost a test of will – a psychological experiment, if you will. There are only twenty-six cards in the game, and it’s possible to simply draw a card the entire game, do nothing else and win. But the game has some layered complexity beyond that.
Let me explain. Each of the twenty-six cards shows one to seven rubies on them. On a player’s turn, they simply draw the top card from the deck. Then, if they wish, they may play as many cards from their hands, as they want. The cards, once played, are discarded, but the action on the card occurs. The actions are:Dig 2: Draw two cards from the deck
Dig 3: Draw three cards from the deck
Claim Jump!: Steal a random card from an opponent
Dynamite 2: Discard two random cards form an opponent’s hand
Dynamite 3: Discard three random cards from an opponent’s hand.
There is one catch here. If you Dig, or Claim Jump, and the card you get is one of the two cards that says “Cave In!”, then you lose the game! Drawing a Cave In normally is not a problem. Once the entire deck is drawn, all surviving players compare rubies, and the player with the most is the winner.
That doesn’t seem like much, does it? And while the game is only four dollars, it does seem that you could just grab twenty-six cards (most likely of better quality) and do it yourself. The game only supports two or three players, and more decks have to be combined to make it playable with more.
Like I said, it’s more of a mental test of willpower. Really, two players could sit there, looking into each other’s eyes, and draw thirteen cards each, with the winner being the person with the most rubies. That’s luck.
Or is it?
Well, on one hand you could draw both of the Cave In cards, at which point there would be nothing stopping you from using all your pathetic Dig cards (most are worth one or two rubies) to draw up the remainder of the deck. And I also played in a game in which the actions of the other two players alerted me to the fact that they had the Cave In cards, which allowed me to completely win the game.
It also seems likely that a player, when drawing a Dig 2 card on their first turn will use it. Why not? The game only lasts two minutes anyway -- why not take a chance in the beginning? It’s also hard to sit there as you draw cards, wondering if your opponent is getting better cards than you. Complete psychological game – it’s all about who will crack first.
Look, I like the “game”, even though it’s really too quick for me to consider it to have much substance at all (like drinking a teaspoon of ice tea on a hot day). And I don’t know that I can really recommend that anyone pick it up – unless they want it for the novelty sake. The packaging is just a folded piece of paper, and the cards are as generic as they come.
But.
I do have a good idea of how to utilize it, and that’s as a “Start Player” device. Quickly play a game of Ruby Rush to see who goes first in the real game. It also would probably come in handy in a psychology class. It’s a neat concept, but I would like to see it fleshed out a little more into a complete game. I look forward to future games from Andy and hope they can have these neat little twists in them.
Oh, by the way – I’ve never played a game in which I drew cards only. Is it just me?
Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games”
www.thedicetower.com
Let me explain. Each of the twenty-six cards shows one to seven rubies on them. On a player’s turn, they simply draw the top card from the deck. Then, if they wish, they may play as many cards from their hands, as they want. The cards, once played, are discarded, but the action on the card occurs. The actions are:
There is one catch here. If you Dig, or Claim Jump, and the card you get is one of the two cards that says “Cave In!”, then you lose the game! Drawing a Cave In normally is not a problem. Once the entire deck is drawn, all surviving players compare rubies, and the player with the most is the winner.
That doesn’t seem like much, does it? And while the game is only four dollars, it does seem that you could just grab twenty-six cards (most likely of better quality) and do it yourself. The game only supports two or three players, and more decks have to be combined to make it playable with more.
Like I said, it’s more of a mental test of willpower. Really, two players could sit there, looking into each other’s eyes, and draw thirteen cards each, with the winner being the person with the most rubies. That’s luck.
Or is it?
Well, on one hand you could draw both of the Cave In cards, at which point there would be nothing stopping you from using all your pathetic Dig cards (most are worth one or two rubies) to draw up the remainder of the deck. And I also played in a game in which the actions of the other two players alerted me to the fact that they had the Cave In cards, which allowed me to completely win the game.
It also seems likely that a player, when drawing a Dig 2 card on their first turn will use it. Why not? The game only lasts two minutes anyway -- why not take a chance in the beginning? It’s also hard to sit there as you draw cards, wondering if your opponent is getting better cards than you. Complete psychological game – it’s all about who will crack first.
Look, I like the “game”, even though it’s really too quick for me to consider it to have much substance at all (like drinking a teaspoon of ice tea on a hot day). And I don’t know that I can really recommend that anyone pick it up – unless they want it for the novelty sake. The packaging is just a folded piece of paper, and the cards are as generic as they come.
But.
I do have a good idea of how to utilize it, and that’s as a “Start Player” device. Quickly play a game of Ruby Rush to see who goes first in the real game. It also would probably come in handy in a psychology class. It’s a neat concept, but I would like to see it fleshed out a little more into a complete game. I look forward to future games from Andy and hope they can have these neat little twists in them.
Oh, by the way – I’ve never played a game in which I drew cards only. Is it just me?
Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games”
www.thedicetower.com
