Unstable Unicorns

21st July 2019

​Sunday lunchtime should mean 50 Fathoms at 'The Sovereigns'. But alas the fates had a different plan for us.

Unicorns! Beautiful creatures of myth and legend and a friend to the virtuous. What could be more lovely and pure than a unicorn?

How about an army of unicorns to conquer the world? And not just any unicorn army, but an army of unstable unicorns!

What's in a game?
Unstable unicorns is a card game, there are several types of card:

• Unicorn cards: Unicorns come in 3 types, basic, baby and magical. The magical unicorns confer special abilities.
• Upgrade/downgrade cards: Upgrade cards have beneficial effects and downgrades have detrimental effects. These effects tend to be ongoing.
• Magic cards: Magic cards are played during a player's turn and tend to have a one off effect.
• Instant cards: These can be played any time, even during another player's turn.

All of the cards have humorous cartoonish illustrations and the entire game is present as tongue-in-cheek.

How's it play?
Set up.
First, separate the cards into 2 decks. All of the baby unicorns are put into one deck called 'The nursery' and the remaining cards are put into a draw pile.

Each player is given a baby unicorn and dealt 5 cards. The baby unicorn is put into play (Into the player's 'stable'.) on the table.

Now we're ready to go.

This is how a turn goes:

• Firstly the active player manages any upgrades/downgrades that is affecting them.
• Then the active player draws a card.
• Next the active player either plays a card or draws a second card.
• Play then progresses clockwise.

That's the rules, the cards are all self explanatory.

Endgame
Play continues until a player has put the requisite number of unicorns into their stable and they win.

Overall
There's lots of player interaction here. Some magic cards and downgrade cards are things you play on your opponents and some instant cards allow you to cancel other player's actions.

There's also an element of 'pick on the leader' when the players realise that a player is getting ahead. I find that this can detract from the some games. But in unstable unicorns it's a feature, it's part of the rivalry.

Unstable unicorns is a quick, simple, fun game to play. It makes for a good filler game and plays up to 8 players.