Card games are timeless and mostly completely non-toxic. The card game Poison by game designer Reiner Knizia is an exception. Everything here revolves around poison, a poison kitchen and lots of poison potions - poison, on the other hand, is timeless. We took a closer look at the card game, because with a price of around 8 euros and a legend as an author, you can hardly go wrong, can you? Our test shows how entertaining poison is and whether it might be worth buying for you.

Pretty poisonous business

Card games are usually the ideal warmers and prepare game rounds for more complex titles. And also Poison fits seamlessly into the league of warm-up games. It's just stupid when the card game is so much fun that all other titles are quickly forgotten.

In the focus of Poison there are three poison cauldrons that form the center of the table. As a preparatory measure, each player receives three-colored magic potion cards as well as poison cards, which then make up his hand. The first card in each of the cauldrons determines the cauldron color. From now on, only magic potion cards of the matching color may be placed in the three cauldrons. The green poison cards, on the other hand, fit into every magic cauldron. The aim now is to collect as few negative points as possible and that is not that easy. There are always negative points when the kettle overflows and that happens again when the card value in a kettle exceeds 13. Since the magic cards have values ​​of 1, 2, 4, 5 or 7 each, you should be careful about laying them out.

The last card placed by the player who let the cauldron boil over forms the new starting card. As many rounds are played as there are other players in the game. The highlight on Poison: If you collect enough potions of one color, you can neutralize minus points. That adds extra momentum to the game. Otherwise feels Poison like a classic and good trick-taking game. There is nothing wrong with that, because it keeps the entry hurdle pleasantly low and makes it easy Poison into a great family game that children can also take part in without any problems.

Also makes Poison also made a good impression with regard to the illustrations. The cards are nicely designed and have attractive graphics that perfectly match the theme.

Infobox

Number of players: 3 to 6 players
Age: from 8 years
Playing time: 30 to 45 minutes
Difficulty: medium
Long-term motivation: medium

Publisher: Amigo Spiele ► 
Year of publication: 2008 
Author: Reiner Knizia
Language: German
Cost: 15 Euro

Summary

Poison by Reiner Knizia is an entertaining card game for the whole family. In the spirit of classic trick-taking games, the players try to successfully avoid minus points in order to emerge victorious from the kitchen. It takes a little luck, but it does Poison is more of a puzzle game than a card game in which only a lucky hand decides about victory points. This corresponds perfectly to the game systems that the bestselling game author Reiner Knizia regularly designs. Mind is at Poison capitalized, fun as well. Whether as a snack as part of a game evening or as a pure family card game, Poison is always a good choice. Trying out completely non-toxic!