3 Spellcasters and a Dwarf
  • Home
  • Special Effect
    • Special Effect
    • The Final Return of The Indiana Jones Charity Globe Trot
    • The Warlock of Firetop Mountain Challenge
    • Return of The Indiana Jones Charity Globe Trot
    • Bard's Tale Challenge
    • Fighting Fantasy Challenge
    • The Indiana Jones Charity Globe Trot
    • Mirkwood Charity Walk
    • Middle-earth Charity Walk
    • Dungeon Daze
  • RPGs
    • The One Ring
    • The Evils of Illmire
    • Beach Patrol
    • The Surrendered Lands
  • Game Blogs
    • RPG Blog
    • Gaming Blog
  • Painting Blog
  • Contact

Gaming Blog

Wonderland

2/12/2019

0 Comments

 
10th November 2019

Sunday lunch time at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking. 50 Fathoms is still on hiatus, so board games it is.

We actually begin the day with a card game. A little 2 player 'Alice in Wonderland' themed game called 'Wonderland'. Yeah... Someone spend a while coming up with that.

What's in a game?
Wonderland is quite a minimalist game. There is a deck of cards for each player and each deck has only 7 cards in it. 7!
Despite the differing artwork, the 2 decks are identical.
  • There is a deck for the 'Alice' player and a deck for 'The Red Queen' player.
  • The cards in each deck are numbered from 1 to 7.
  • Each card will display one or two symbols. These symbols are a 'vial of poison' and a 'cake'. They may be along the short edge or the long edge.
The art on these cards is obviously themed around the book and is quite nice.

The theme though, is entirely replaceable, it could as easily been about cats v dogs or elves v orcs or whatever v whatever.

Picture
Wonderland.
Picture
A nearly concluded game. Note the face-down cards around the outside.

How's it play?​
The purpose of Wonderland is to place cards down in the playing area (In a 3x3 grid.) to 'win' the rows and columns.

After deciding who will be playing who, each player should take their respective deck.
  • Both players keep all 7 cards in their hand.
  • Both players will play 3 cards face-down.
  • One player should put their 3 cards in a row and the other in a column. This should look like a 'right-angle' shape. Between the row and the column there should be a imaginary 3x3 grid.
  • Then taking turns, both players lay down their remaining 4 cards face-up. These can be played in the 'normal' orientation or upside-down.
  • Once both players have finished playing their card, we go to the endgame.
Endgame
Rows and columns are 'won' by calculating the value of each players' cards in each row and each column, the player who has the highest value in each row and each column 'wins' it and takes that row or column's face-down card.
However, it's not just the value of the cards that matter here. The poison and the cake play a vital role here.
  • If a card has a cake along one side and that side is is pointing at another adjacent card in the 3x3 grid. Then the value of that adjacent card is doubled.
  • If a card has a vial of poison along one side and that side is pointing at another adjacent card in the 3x3 grid. Then the value of that adjacent card is reduced to zero. The card is still worth 0 if a cake is pointing at it, zero doubled is still zero.
The player who captures the most face-down cards, wins the game.

Picture
The game conclusion.
Picture
4 cards taken and a winning score.

Overall
Wonderland is an interesting little game that seems to be about trying to out-predict the other player and ruthlessly take advantage of any error the other player may make.
Playing a card with a cake or poison symbol facing the right way can dramatically change the scores.
There's also an element of bluffing here, as each player essentially has to discard 3 cards and only play 4. This means it not possible to count cards as a player never knows what their opponent has put into their row or column.

Wonderland is a quick game to play and is small and portable.
I don't think it's a game that stands up to a lot of repeatedly play. But has a quick filler for 2 players it's OK. 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I play, I paint.
    ​This is where I talk about what I play.

    Archives

    March 2025
    March 2024
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019

    Categories

    All
    2 Player Only
    50 Fathoms
    Abstract
    Annual Quiz
    Area Control
    Asymmetrical Play
    Auctioning
    Black Hack
    Bluffing
    Board Game
    Campaign Play
    Card Game
    Clockwork & Chivalry
    Cooperative
    Cthulhu Hack
    Deck/Bag Builder
    Deduction
    Dice Game
    Drafting
    Engine Builder
    Hand Management
    Hidden Movement
    Hidden Role
    In Darkest Warrens
    Legacy
    Merry Outlaws
    One Vs Many
    Oubliette
    Party Game
    Programming
    Push Your Luck
    Real Time
    Renaissance
    Resource Management
    Roll And Move
    Roll And Write
    Route Builder
    RPG
    Sand Box
    Savage Worlds
    Set Collecting
    Storytelling
    Tableau Builder
    Team Based
    The Month In Gaming
    The Year In Gaming
    Tile Placement
    Trading
    Traitor
    Trick Taking
    Voting
    Wargame
    Wasted Hack
    WFRP
    Wogglecon
    Word Game
    Worker Placement

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Special Effect
    • Special Effect
    • The Final Return of The Indiana Jones Charity Globe Trot
    • The Warlock of Firetop Mountain Challenge
    • Return of The Indiana Jones Charity Globe Trot
    • Bard's Tale Challenge
    • Fighting Fantasy Challenge
    • The Indiana Jones Charity Globe Trot
    • Mirkwood Charity Walk
    • Middle-earth Charity Walk
    • Dungeon Daze
  • RPGs
    • The One Ring
    • The Evils of Illmire
    • Beach Patrol
    • The Surrendered Lands
  • Game Blogs
    • RPG Blog
    • Gaming Blog
  • Painting Blog
  • Contact