Thrift Treasure: More S’mores Card Game
The past few weeks have seen temperatures well above normal with talks about global warming and droughts. I even read an article about how the Midwest would experience at least one day of a 125-degree Fahrenheit heat index each year by 2053. Alas, I’ll be long gone by then.
This week brought cooler temperatures both during the day and evening. We’ve been able to open the windows at night for great sleeping! One evening we could smell the smoke from a neighbor’s fire pit. That means Autumn is here soon! And what goes with bonfires? S’mores! Well, at least this copy of More S’mores we grabbed at Goodwill for under a dollar.
We weren’t familiar with the publisher, Madd Capp Games, when we bought the game. A quick Google search shows they’re still in business with a couple games in their line. I have to say we weren’t too impressed with More S’mores, even though we were optimistic because of the theme. There just wasn’t any strategy to employ – it’s all luck-based!
Inside the box is a deck of fifty cards comprised of twenty graham crackers, ten toasted marshmallows, ten chocolate bars, five burnt marshmallows and five chocolate-eating ant cards. Ten of the graham cracker cards are set into a pile in the middle of the play area and the rest are shuffled together.
These are dealt out equally to up to six players and kept in draw piles in front of each person. To begin the game, one of the graham cracker cards is flipped and set in the center of the table. This is the beginning of a new S’more. The starting player will then flip over the top card in their pile and play it to the table.
This could be any card type listed above and represents points at the end of the game. Players simply take turns revealing their top card, playing to the S’more, and then passing to the next person. When another graham cracker card is played, that finishes the S’more, and the active player gathers all the cards. A new graham cracker card is played from the center pile and another S’more is begun.
When all possible S’mores have been made (ten in total), the game of More S’mores ends, and scores are tallied. Each player receives points for the cards they collected. Cracker cards are worth one point, chocolate bar and marshmallow earn three points each, while burnt marshmallow and ants cost you five points per. The player with the highest total wins More S’mores!
As you can see, there is no decision making or strategy involved. You are simply revealing your cards in the order in which they were shuffled and dealt. This makes for a boring game. They should have at least let us work from a hand of cards to give us a strategic decision to make each turn! If you’re looking for a better campfire-themed game, consider Toasted or Roasted instead.
Do you know of any other camping/bonfire related games?
