A remake of German bluffng game Tiefe Taschen with criminal creatures in the place of corrupt politicians, GoodCritters is the perfect example of less being more when it comes to the ratio of rules to having fun.
In the vein of stick ‘em up party favourite Cash ‘n Guns, the action centres around the greedy crims divvying up a stash of loot. The boss – you know they’re top of the pile because they have a preposterously oversized ring that says so – splits the loot cards as they like between their minions and themselves, and everyone gets to vote on whether it goes ahead or not. Or they might just skim the top of the deck for the next bit of cash, but only if they’re first to do so; otherwise they’ll end up empty-handed. Or they could rob someone else – which might backfire and see them losing a loot card themselves if their target has guarded.
It’s laughably simple, both in the way you’ll pick it up within about 20 seconds and the guarantee you’ll end up cackling as you skim valuable sculptures and paintings while your rivals uselessly guard against your threat marker – which is just as handy for targeting an actual robbery as it is for messing with people.
The game knows that the best entertainment here is each other, and gives you just enough toys to play around with as you try to appease everyone enough to canvass votes while ensuring you stay at least a few grand ahead of your “equal” partners on the sly.