Designer: Reiner Knizia

Artist: Gary Locke

Publisher: Gamewright

Small card games with simple rules can deceive even the experienced hobby gamer. Perhaps even more so since the expectations are higher. I have held on to Loot for a while expecting to play it at some point with a higher player count with the daughter. I suspect the game would not be great with three given the required interactions which seem to indicate that more is better, and so I was keen to play the game with five or six.

Largest armada wins the spoils of piracy

Each turn players have a choice of drawing a card to replenish their hand or play a card either to launch a merchant ship in the personal space or play a pirate ship card on one of the merchant ships already on the table – including those previously played in your own waters. Well, allegiances are sort of murky and shifty back then, with the presence of privateers and what not. A ship is deemed captured at the start off a player’s turn when they have the largest armada adjacent to the pirate ship. Similarly, an unopposed merchant ship in the play area is deemed safe in the harbor and can be cashed in by the player who put it out to see. KaChing!

Tension in the game is generated around a few key features. First, pirate ships come in a variety of colors and strengths. When attacking a merchant, only one color can be represented each time. So hoarding powerful pirate ships is only as useful as being first of a color to target a merchant ship. As cards are played and hands are depleted, deciding when to replenish becomes important. Frequently, the angst comes from just wanting to “play another card” to the table, leaving one exposed and empty handed, when really drawing a card might be more favorable action.

Loot rewards careful observation of cards at hand and in play to anticipate resistance

Knizia card games always have that little bit more depth than meets the eye. Loot is no exception. While the high value merchantmen are naturally tempting targets, the tiny cargo flyutes may end slipping under the radar undetected. Since each player can launch multiple merchant ships, playing the lower valued ones when a highly contested ship is out in the waters may net an easy few points as the smaller ship quietly glides into safe harbor, uncontested after going one round around the table. Then again, if one desires to capture a high value merchant ship from one’s own hand, then waiting to play that ship when opponents show a depleted hand would make combat more favorable. In all these cases, timing the actions is key.

To play well, an awareness of balancing one’s own gain while limiting opportunities for others must exist in the same decision space. One simply cannot let a high value ship fall to opposing players cheaply without contest, especially for the leader of the pack. No, no. Make them work for it and spend resources. The game is sprinkled with precious few special cards to create the unexpected. Each ship color has a captain that when played, will trump any contest of strength…… unless another captain is played subsequently. Delicious. Nothing is more schadenfreude when a ragtag band of pirates led by the antihero captain outmaneuvers a 36-gun pirate galleon to claim the booty. There is also a single admiral card that can be used to defend a merchant ship. Those are all the special cards available.

In summary

Loot works. It works because the core game is simple and unvarnished with loads of special cards that would undoubtedly accompany a modern reinterpretation of the game. Loot is most beautiful when players are concentrating on the basic numbers on display to gain an upper hand by using knowledge from cards at hand and those that have been played. If the game is littered with rule-bending special cards or multi scoring opportunities, it would subvert the original spirit of the game. The few in there are perfect while more would throw the game into chaos and sour the ability for more strategic play as the composition and card values are already known and can be anticipated. Publishers should learn to embrace that less is more, failing that, offer add-ons as variants or modules and not part of the core experience.

It is said that Loot plays best as a coop with teams of two. I can see that. A table with six will greatly dilute direct contests which is rectified in a three-cornered fight with combined firepower from two hands. I’m looking forward to it. In fact, contrary to my preamble, I would be not be surprised if Loot also works well with three. With Knizia, this would not be surprising.

Finally, I will note that of all the games out there, loot deserves a little bit more chrome in the form of tokens or chit to mark player colors. Heck, pirate ship minis would be great. At higher player counts, it is hard to tell who the attacking pirate ships belong to and matching markers would easily solve the problem.

Initial impression: Good