Leo Colovini did the guessing game face cards made use of a mechanism that makes people appear deeply human: pareidolia. To recognize supposed faces or objects in patterns or things shows how much the human brain is dependent on expectations. One of the best-known - and probably the scariest - examples of pareidolia is the "face of Mars". As early as 1976, the Viking I space probe photographed a formation on the Red Planet that resembles a face in the pictures. Only high-resolution images from 2001 then showed the "real face" of the amazing rock formation. But because to err is human and looking at illusions is a real guarantee of fun anyway, Ravensburger has brought an entertaining card game onto the market, which was able to secure a place on the recommendation list for the game of the year 2018. We have face cards played and tell you in the following review which crazy couples were particularly popular.
Simple set of rules.
You don't have to be an Einstein to follow the rules of face cards to understand. Leo Colovini has created a comprehensible combination game with simple means, which is just as good as a family or party game as it is as an entertaining game in between. And so it should come as no surprise that face cards has landed on the gaming table at regular intervals since it was within our reach.
142 cards from different categories form the heart of the fun card game from Ravensburger. Each player equips himself with a photo album, which he places on the table in front of him. Then the starting hand is formed from 7 cards (if there are more than 5 players, from 6). Protected from the eyes of the other players, everyone looks at their hand cards - and lets the impressions shown have an effect on themselves. It is amazing how quickly the first similarities on the map images are discovered, sometimes thought up. It is exciting to see whether other players think similarly to yourself. To find out, each player chooses two cards at the beginning of a round that he believes are similar. The same hair color, a similar nose, a comparable facial expression: any similarity that is somehow justifiable can be used as a selection criterion. There are also special points for a cross-category selection (people, animals, objects).
When each player has chosen his crazy pair of cards from his hand, each player in turn places one of the cards face up, the other face down, in front of them. If the player round consists of a maximum of 4 players, three additional cards from the supply are laid out as disruptive cards. It shouldn't be too simple and obvious either. After shuffling the table cards, the players turn over their face-down pair cards. The starting player now begins to guess a possible combination. The owner of the cards laid out in front of him gives feedback as to whether or not there has been a hit. If the answer is no, it is the next player's turn. If the answer is yes, the two players involved each receive one of the cards and place them in their photo album as victory points. Then the players draw two cards and continue the round. face cards ends when all players have been starting players the same number of times.
In order to offer experienced players a challenge, Ravensburger recommends a variant: the players place both of their pair cards in the middle to increase the level of difficulty even more. In practice it works well and is fun - also because none of the players knows who is behind which pair of cards.
The crazier the ... crazier
Using the Maori and Albert Einstein as a pair of cards is pretty obvious: after all, two sticking out tongues can hardly be clearer. Choosing the hairless baby and the wrestler is at least as illustrative of what they might have in common. You have to think outside the box, especially when it comes to cross-category similarities. An actress who opens her mouth wide may resemble the ruin where you can see windows as eyes and the entrance as mouth. The crazier the selected similarities, the funnier they are face cards the game games.
A small weakness of the game principle is unmistakable: the more often you face cards plays, the greater the wealth of experience with regard to the similarities between card pairs that have already been found. Here it is up to the players not to rely on already known similarities - and thus the safe choice.
The award of bonus points for cross-category similarities motivates, after all, to come up with something new more often. The fact that a large number of cards show or suggest similarities also helps. So the author did everything right when choosing the motifs. Hats off!
Quick start. Fast process.
The catchy game principle of face cards without further ado ensures entertaining moments at the gaming table. Whether as a family game, party game, game in between or as an introduction to a game evening: face cards from Ravensburger provides fun gaming experiences without further ado. The low entry barrier and the catchy rules are two major strengths of Leo Colovini's guessing game. Because the basic principle of the card game works without the use of text elements, the possible field of application is wide: from children to elderly casual gamers, every target group is served. Even if it helps: Basically, you do not need a particularly strong power of observation to play. The human brain performs the comparative work steps automatically. The more experience a player has gained in the course of his life, the more obvious some similarities become - especially with cross-category similarity factors. Players set the challenge themselves with Facecards. Through an active detailed analysis of the pictorial information, other players can positively influence their score, so that nobody is condemned to complete passivity. The fact that no similarities were discovered at all hardly happened during our games. This has a positive effect on the rating of facecards, because luckily a lack of sense of achievement is in short supply in this card game.
Otherwise, the guessing game presents itself as a worthy title for a place on the recommendation list of the jury of the Spiel des Jahres eV association. The cards are of high quality, the images are atmospheric, surprising, sometimes funny. The well-elaborated instructions help you get started with the game quickly face cards and focuses on teaching the few basic rules. Hardly unpacked, as a player, you will want to tackle the first game without a long lead time and want to challenge (or encourage) your brain contortions. face cards is an ideal card game if one considers parlor games as a valuable cultural asset. The funny guessing game is suitable for everyone and is one thing above all: a lot of fun.
The fact that the comparatively simple game principle does not wear out after just a few games is also due to the bonus cards and special cases that face cards give additional stimuli.
Facecard images
Infobox
Number of players: 3 to 7 players
Age: from 10 years
Playing time: 15 to 50 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Long-term motivation: medium
Published by Ravensburger
Author: Leo Colovini
Year of publication: 2017
Language: German
Cost: 10 Euro
Summary
It is possible to employ up to 7 players for around 20 minutes face cards always. The simple card guessing game by Leo Colovini is a title that is suitable for use on a wide variety of occasions: as a fun family game with children face cards just as much fun as a warm-up exercise for experienced players who want to tackle a time-consuming strategic board game afterwards. Checking the individual “portraits” for possible similarities - or simply indulging in the automatically running cognitive processes - ensures a lot of entertainment; Occasional head shaking on the part of the fellow travelers included. face cards is not always as clear as one would expect from this, admittedly not entirely new, game principle. Many a surprise, some aha-effect causes laughter among the players. For good reason, we only used a few examples in the review of Facecards from Ravensburger: if you approach the guessing game without being influenced, you may discover similarities in the course of the game that would have escaped you.
It makes a lot of sense to reprove yourself as a player and to forego safe points. Discovering new similarities is not only fun, it also promotes observational and creative skills. That makes face cards Although not a real development game, the game's actions still require cognitive resources that people otherwise rarely try to use very consciously. That face cards on Recommended list game of the year 2018 is not surprising.
In contrast to other guessing games, luck is not an influencing factor in the game. Apart from the random distribution of the cards in hand, it is all about the creative skills of the players to collect points. face cards feels enormously active from a player's point of view, simply because the brain is constantly working. To call the guessing game challenging would be an exaggeration; However, it is not always easy either. Depending on the card display, it can be extremely tricky to understand the thoughts of other players. Simply guessing into the blue does not work either, because the commonalities of the selected pairs of cards should be explained. It is not always easy to convey to the other players what crazy ideas you have come up with. For the evaluation of face cards a simpler term is therefore more suitable: entertaining!
Shallow entertainment is exactly what the card game offers Ravensburger players: not much more, but definitely not less. This is not least due to the low downtime of face cards. The entire game round is always involved in the action, only the last player in the row sometimes goes out of the round without points if his teammates have guessed particularly well beforehand. This is a small shortcoming, but one that can be gotten over. face cards convinces as a simple guessing game with high interaction value and lots of funny moments. This title will also make it onto the gaming tables in the long term. In order to counteract signs of wear and tear and impending routine, players should definitely use the enclosed blank cards to enrich the game with some new motifs. Alternatively, the variants (connoisseur, expert and risk) are suitable as motivating factors - however, we liked the basic variant best. If you like uncomplicated games with a high fun factor, you should take a look at the guessing game by Leo Colovini, published by Ravensburger. face cards receives an unconditional purchase recommendation from us.
