Straight down the middle
EQUINOX
PLAYED
Designer: Reiner Knizia | Publisher: Plan B Games
Don’t judge a board game by its cover, the old adage goes. You certainly shouldn’t do so in this case, not least because there are two covers for the same game, reasoned as being the two equinoxes and certainly not a marketing ploy, but also because the tranquil setting demonstrated on the front of the purple version, which I was to play, certainly didn’t give any warning of the arguments across the table that were to come, nor of the fight to the death style game that would emerge.
Created by design royalty that is Reiner Knizia, the game is a ‘simple’ betting style card game, where each round you’ll place a bet on the animal you believe will survive until the end. Survival is dictated by the numerical value on the cards laid out, with the lowest value being eliminated (brutally murdered, one can only assume), where you’ll gain points based on how early the accurate prediction of the victors took place.