Duck Duck Bruce (Gamewright, 2007 – Peter Neugebauer) sounds like the name of a bad Monty Python skit. But it’s really a card game featuring ducks and a dog named Bruce and is a simple game for children that teaches them how to push their luck. Now I’ve already reviewed a game that had similar features – Gopher it! In that review, I mentioned how I considered Gopher it! to be a “gateway” game, a game that helped children learn mechanics that they would use in many games, as they got older.

Duck Duck Bruce is similar, but it has a much higher “fun” element to it, one that will really resonate with children and their parents. The artwork is extremely cute; and while the end scoring is a bit confusing for younger children, the game has a charm that will appeal to many families. I myself found the game play merely passable – I felt a lack of control – but my kids enjoyed it so much that I found myself playing it multiple times, and not having a bad experience!

A deck of sixty-six cards is shuffled and placed on the table. The deck is made up of ten suits, each with six cards (numbered “1”, “1”, “2”, “2”, “3”, and “4”), and six “Bruce” cards. A die (numbered “-1”, “1”, “1”, “2”, “3”, and “3”) is placed near the deck, and the last person to feed a live duck goes first.

On a player’s turn, they take the top card from the deck and place it in front of them, starting a row. After this, they may either end their turn, taking all cards in the row – placing them face down in front of them, or turn over another card and add it to their row. This continues until either the player ends their turn, or

They reveal a duck card of the same suit as one card already in their row. At that point, the two cards, and all the cards between them are discarded, and the players turn is over.

They reveal a Bruce card. Everyone shouts Bruce!, and the player loses all face up cards in the row. However, the player gets a consolation prize of sorts by choosing another player and announcing the amount of cards (up to three) that they will steal. They then roll the die. If the number rolled is the same number or higher than the one they stated, they steal that many cards randomly from the player they are going after. Otherwise, they get nothing; and if they roll the “-1”, the opponent may steal one card from them! All cards stolen must be revealed to all players.

As soon as the last card from the draw pile has been revealed, all players turn over the cards that they have collected and sort them by suit, keeping only the highest number of each suit. Players add together their score and mark it on paper. Another round is started in the same way. The game ends after a certain number of rounds, time, or points – the players can decide beforehand. The player with the most points is then declared the winner!

Some comments on the game…

1.) Components: The deck of cards is wonderfully illustrated. Each card shows a number of ducks equal to the number strutting down a path. The paths are a different color, have a different background, and are easily distinguishable to all. The artwork is funny (the ducks seem to be smirking jovially at the players), and the Bruce cards themselves have a picture of a crazed dog hunting down a scared duck. The cards and die fit inside the small box easily.

2.) Rules: The game rules are on six small full color pages. I found that the game was easy to teach to people (notably kids), although the younger ones had a hard time understanding that they only would get to keep the highest number of each suit.

3.) Press Your Luck: The game is mostly about taking chances. Why take one card? Now if it’s a “4”, you might consider it, but still – why not take another? Getting two cards of the same suit happens occasionally, but more often players are zapped by drawing a Bruce card. I have seen my young daughters start to realize just how far they could actually push their luck, so the game was useful in that regard.

4.) Memory: There is also a bit of memory in the game, as players must remember who has what cards when they get a chance to steal. Also, if you already have drawn the “4” of a color, then getting the “1” is pretty much useless, unless you want to pad your cards against thieves. Certainly you can play the game without attempting to memorize anything, but kids will pick up on the memory element easier.

5.) Bruce and the Fun Factor: For an odd reason, it’s fun to shout Bruce at the top of your lungs. Or maybe that’s just the kids and I, but it does add a bit of wackiness to an already light game. The anticipation of drawing the next card is fun, and kids will get a kick out of watching their overreaching parent draw too many cards and lose them all. Duck Duck Bruce is a light game that doesn’t really present anything new, but it does allow kids to make some meaningful decisions without really stretching their brains much at all.

Duck Duck Bruce is for kids and their parents/teachers/caretakers. It’s a fun game that you’ll enjoy laughing at and playing, and kids will learn about risk taking. The game is full of simple, fun choices – from deciding how many cards to steal to how many cards to draw. You can play it until you’re sick of it – which may happen, but I think you’ll have fun before that point. Comical artwork and a funny theme help elevate this kids game to one that will be requested often. And adults won’t roll their eyes when it is.

Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games”
www.thedicetower.com