No Thanks! - First Play!

28th January 2023

It's a Saturday afternoon and we're at Wogglecon 6 for a whole day of gaming fun!

​The second game of the day was No Thanks!

Do you want to play a bad game? No Thanks!
Do you want to play a game with a long play time? No Thanks!
Do you want to play a game with complex rules? No Thanks!

​That's right, No Thanks! is none of those, instead it's an accessible family or party game.

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What's in a game?

• Cards: No Thanks! comes with 33 oversized cards numbered 3-35.
• Counters: The game also comes with 55 counters.

Due to their size, the cards feel a little flimsy but I'd say they're of an average quality.

Size comparison.

The counters seem to be opaque circular acrylic tokens.

There's no real art to speak of other than borders. Amusingly, each card contain several humorous little statements.

"Pretty darn good! No doubt!"

There also no iconography on the cards, only numbers. ​

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How's it play?
Setup

• Cards: Shuffle the cards into a face-down deck and discard 9 cards.
• Counters: Give each player 7-11 counters depending on player count.
  During the game, it is prudent for all players to keep their counters secret the easiest manner to keep them in a closed hand.
• First player: Determine a starting player.

On to play
The objective in No Thanks! is to score the lowest score, that is; acquire the least number of cards during the game. Each card will score its face value at the game end.
No Thanks! uses a traditional turn order with the active player taking their action before play progresses to the player on their left.
The game starts with the first player who begins the game as the active player.

• Reveal: The active player starts a round by flipping a card and placing it in front of themselves.
• Choose: The active player must now chose from 1 of the 2 following options.
  • No Thanks!: The active player may choose to pass by stating. "No Thanks!", in this case they must place one of their counters on the card.
    Next player: The card is then passed to the player on the left who now becomes the active player (Who now must choose whether to pass or take.).
    No counters: If the active player has no counters, then they must choose the other option...
  • Take: The other option is to take the card. The active player takes the card (And any counters placed on it.), adds it to their playing area and ends the round.
    New round: After the active player has taken a card, they start a new round by flipping another card, then decide whether to take it or not.

Endgame
Play proceeds until the deck becomes empty.

Scoring: This is where the game's wrinkle comes in, remember the objective is to get as low a score as possible.

• Counter: Each counter a player has in their possession will deduct 1 from their score.
• Cards: ​Every card a player has acquired will score its face value.
• Sequential: However, if a player has any cards in numerical sequence, then only the lowest card in that sequence scores.
  I.e., if a player has acquires 12, 13 & 14, then only the 12 scores! The 13 & 14 are tucked under it.

Points are tallied, lowest score wins!

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Overall
There's not too much that can be said about No Thanks!

The game's rules and options are rudimentary; take a card or pay to pass.
This is a game about playing the other players and not the game because everything everyone will do depends on everyone else is doing!

Basically; taking a card is bad but acquiring counters is good. Players will need to balance these outcomes with their choices.
E.g., getting counters early not only can deduct from a player's final score, they can be used to good effect to avoid cards later in the game but this at the cost of also getting a card.

Where No Thanks! is really clever is the mechanic for sequential cards because this creates an asymmetrical value to certain cards.
For the most part all players will obviously want to avoid taking cards but when a player has taken a '5' and then later in the game a '6' appears during a round, taking it would essentially have no affect on their score but for all other players, it would increase their scores.
This means players will suddenly have different motives during that round and one player can happily take the card that everyone else wants to avoid, the rules even recommend not taking the card immediately and letting players pass to pile up more counters on it before taking it!

But there's another factor in play, because cards are discarded at the game start, everyone is playing with imperfect knowledge. A player may have a '14' and '16' but there's no guarantee that the 15 will appear. Creating sequences of cards is generally prudent but by no means a guaranteed thing.

This kind of dynamic between players keeps the game interesting.

No Thanks! is quick to learn, quick to play and makes a good filler game or ender to night of gaming. It's accessibility also makes it a good party or family/crossover game. It's a fun little game with lots of player interaction and definitely one to try.