The Number - First Play!

24th September 2023

Sunday evening is here again and it means we're all logged into Board Game Arena for a few hours of gaming fun.

Your number is up with 'The Number' a highly minimalist and abstract number-driven (Obviously!) bluffing game.

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Caveat: we've only ever played this game digitally.
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What's in a game?
​Scoring board: In the physical version of the game, these would be dry erase boards.
There's one in each player colour and every board shows the numbers 0-9. There's also a row of boxes along the bottom to track scoring. Most of these boxes also display scoring bonuses in small lettering at the top.
They're also double-sided and the other side is used to track scores across the game's 2 rounds.

Number board: This would also be dry erase in the physical copy of the game. It's a small board with spaces to write 3 digits and comes in each player colour.

Following it's minimalist aesthetic, there's no art in The Number whatsoever.

The game also uses no iconography unless you count numbers and that's all very easily understood.

That's it for components. Quite possibly the smallest amount I've written about components!

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How's it play?
Setup
Players: Give each player the scoring and number boards in their player colour.

On to play
The objective in The Number is to secretly write down a 3-digit number, reveal it and hopefully score it.
There's no turn order in the game and all players carry out their actions simultaneously. Furthermore each of the game's 2 rounds has 5 turns.
The following steps occur in each turn
Write: Each player secretly writes a 3-digit number on their number board and places it face-down in a central playing area.

• Restricted numbers: At the game start players will be able to use any combination of 3 digits but as play progresses, numbers on a players scoring board will become unusable in later turns.
  More on this below.

Reveal: Once all players have chosen and written their numbers, all number boards are flipped and their numbers revealed.

• Positioning: Arrange the number boards in a column sequentially. Putting the smallest number at the bottom and going up to the largest number at the top.
  In the case of a tie, simply put the boards with the matching numbers adjacent to each other on the same 'level'.

​Resolve: Starting at the top of the column, players confirm if their 3-digit number is eliminated or not.

• Check: This is done by a player checking the 3 digits of their number against the digits of all the smaller numbers below their number in the column. If any of those smaller numbers have matching digits, then the player's scoring board is eliminated. Any scoring board that did not have any digits that matched any smaller board can be scored.
  The lowest board in the column will always score because there's nothing lower than it to compare to.

Blue player is eliminated because their 7 matches the red player's 7. Green is also eliminated because their 6 also matches one of the red player's numbers. Red is not eliminated and scores 4VPs (plus bonus) by virtue of having nothing to compare against..

• Scoring: All number boards not eliminated score Victory Points (VPs).
  Players gain VPs equal to the first digit in their 3-digit number.
  • Bonus: The player who scored the most VPs in that turn also gains the turn bonus as listed on their scoring board
  • Cross off digits: Any players managed to score points, must cross off all the digits that were used.
    ​These number cannot be used for the rest of the round.

Since the red player scored with 476, they earn 4+2 = 6VPs. They must also cross off the numbers 4, 6 & 7.

Next turn: Once all player have resolved the outcomes for the numbers they played, the next turn starts. Players should wipe those numbers off of their number board.
Now players begin another Write step with a new 3-digit number on their number board, remembering they cannot use numbers they have crossed off.
End of round: Once 5 turns have been completed, the game goes to end of round scoring.
Players gain 1VP foe each number they used during the round.
Then players total their score for the round and record it on the back of their scoring board.

The red player crossed off 7 numbers, thus earns 7VPs.

Next Round: All numbers and crosses are wiped off of all player boards and a 2nd and final round begins.


Endgame
Once the 2nd round has been completed, all players total the scores they gained over the 2 rounds.

Points are tallied, highest score wins.

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Overall
The Number is about the most abstract game I've played and makes no attempt to shoehorn in any theme.
It is indeed purely a numbers game!

Whilst this is mechanically a simple game (I mean - players write a 3-digit number!), there's quite a lot going on under the surface here.
I'd say the primary decision comes choosing whether to play a high or low number which is a clever trick as it creates tension between those 2 options. It also give players meaningful decisions to make.
Players will also need to be wary of what numbers may get crossed off when choosing their numbers

Obviously using a high number is beneficial because; provided it is not eliminated, it will earn more VPs, but if it is eliminated it earns nothing and will have also squandered a high value number.
Playing a low number has the advantage of going later in the reveal step and consequently less chance of being eliminated. Additionally, a low number gives the player an opportunity to try and anticipate what numbers their opponents will play and eliminate them. However, players will need to be careful they don't accidently cross their own high value numbers when doing this. Finally, playing lower numbers only generates lower VPs.

There's also higher level of play at work here. Players will need to pay attention what numbers their opponents have crossed off and conversely, which numbers they have available.
Not only does it provide clues to what number they might choose next, it also shows which numbers their opponent cannot play and thus are safe to play themselves: E.g., if all opponents have used their '8's, then a '8' should be safe to play.
All of this means that there's a whole lot of indirect interaction between players in The Number and a need to adapt to the numbers played as well as sharp eye to spot an openings when they appear.

However, despite all of this interaction and decisions making, I did not find The Number an engaging game. Usually, theme is not important for me but here, I think it the lack of it here made me bounce off the game. It's just too abstract for my taste.

One to avoid if you don't like abstract games or if theme is important to you.

If that's not important to you: The Number is straightforward to learn and easy to pick up, it should work as a crossover game as the core concepts are pretty simple. With just 10 turns, it should also have a fairly quick play time and might prove a good filler game. If that's what you're looking for, The Number might do it for you.