Presentation
Dirty Deutsch doesn't hide that it's the creation of a single man. The rules are short, direct and lightly infused with Mr. Gorman's wit. The cards may be exhibit a lot of photographs and clipped cartoons, but they are relevant to the given card's title and do add to the irreverent tone of the game. The choice of color and symbol (in this case, letters), by and large, is meant to make it very easy to distinguish in actual play between one type of card and another (either between colors or between letter categories; these are explained below). The exception is the Orange and Red card borders, which can be mistaken for one-another in poor lighting. The look of the game is competent and efficient, a good mark for Mr. Gorman.
As for the gameplay presentation, it is compact; three cards comprise the playing board, and you need the usual space for the drawing deck and the discard pile, but all told this game can fit easily on to those rinky-dink cafe tables you see on TV a lot, even with four players at the table. This shows that Dirty Deutsch is a game well-suited to social play in places like coffee shops, bars, clubs, university cafeterias or similar places where table space is often at a premium. Setup is fast and easy; takedown is just as swift, and the entire game fits in a small box that easily fits in a backpack or purse. (Again, think of buying a CCG deck or two; about that size.)
Overall, a solid effort by a first-time designer and publisher.
Gameplay
As the name implies (and the rulesheet makes explicit), this is about making insults in German. Gameplay starts easy; take the three white-bordered cards and set them up in letter order--A, B, C--to make your playing board, shuffle the rest and deal out four cards per player. Have some means on hand to keep score, because the first one to hit 20 points wins. One of the players draws from the top of the deck and puts that card on its appropriate board space (by matching the letter--again, A, B or C--on the card to the appropriate board space). Players choose on their own as to who starts, and on you go.
Player turns are four steps long:
- Trading a Card: Trading is either discarding one of yours for a new one from the deck or by putting one of your cards face-down and inquiring another player for either a card of a given color (Orange, Red, Yellow, Green) or of a given letter (A, B, C); the other player must answer truthfully. If the other player has that type of card, then he must give you (one of) that card; if not, he must give one card of his choice to you- either way, he takes your face-down card in return.
- Playing a Card: Take one card from your hand and play it on the board. It must be played on the board space matching the letter on the card; it may overlay another card previously played. (This matters; see below.) All of the cards, when laid out in A-B-C format, will make an insult in German; you are strongly encouraged to say it aloud, and the rulesheet has a little advice on how to do that (along with phonetic pronunciation on the cards themselves above the written German). The rulesheet doesn't require a player to do this to score points; it's there for entertainment, so it is optional.
- Scoring Points: When two or three cards on the board match in color, that player scores points immediately. Either you score points directly, or you score by stealing them from another player that you designate at that moment (if they have any to steal; you can take what isn't there); respectively, these are "Get (X)" and "Steal (X)" on the cards. Only the matching cards count towards point-scoring. (The white cards are not counted for scoring, obviously.) In addition to scoring points, a three-color match also resets the board; all cards are discarded, the board resets to its initial state and play resumes from there.
- Drawing a Card: This marks the end of your turn; draw from the top of the deck. If, at any time during play, this exhausts the deck then shuffle the discard pile into a new deck and resume play. You always end your turn with four cards.
This is a game that is about timing your moves and disrupting the others. In play it became clear that, in addition to scoring directly, a good part of playing the game turned around breaking up attempts by others to set up matches; if you could score by doing so, so much the better. A well-timed break-and-make play or trade could get you an edge, especially if you score off a pair or trio of cars that steal points from a vulnerable rival while boosting your own score. It reminded it, in play, of games like Munchkin and Chez Geek and that is the audience that Dirty Deutsch aims for. This is just enough of that sort of thing for a casual game like this, especially if play in the sort of social milieu where it is intended to be used; there's enough substance to make it fun without being so much that it draws in the hardcore crowd.
Because the turn sequence is so short and straight-forward, even with some thought put to trying to maximize your odds of winning, the game will usually be over within the half-hour time on the box. This game is quick to learn and master, as befits a party-game product, but the real entertainment value comes from uttering the insults that come from playing card into the board space; winning is secondary to having a good time with off-color humor, and as this is the primary goal of the game (and its design) that is why I say that Dirty Deutsch--provided that you have a group that is into such humor--is a solid past-time sort of game that's worth having in the household collection, alongside the aforementioned Chez Geek and Munchkin. Given the smaller audience, this is a fun game and worthy of your consideration if you fit that audience.
Disclosure: I do know the creator. I have had no hand in the game's creation, and did not know of its existence until contacted about reviewing it. Aside from the complementary copy I received for that very purpose, I have not be compensated for my efforts.
