Win: Micro Card Game

When I first heard that designer/publisher Chris Handy was going to make WIN, a boiled down version of his amzing Long Shot games to fit in his Pack-o-Gum series, I thought, no way! Yet, he surprised me. This is amazingly fun, deep, and strategic! https://www.eatlunchandboardgame.com/win-a-long-shot-game/

I had seen this as a scaled down version of Long Shot the Dice Game, which is really fun, and so I was excited to get the gaming pleasure at a lower price and smaller packaging. However, as an older gamer who has seen the small font and symbology in many games become increasingly illegible without magnification over the years, I worried that might be the case with this. Fear not! The card symbols and text are large enough! For those who might like Long Shot, this makes an excellent travel sized version; and for those whose eyes are old enough, this is still something you will see and be able to enjoy playing!

I had seen this as a scaled down version of Long Shot the Dice Game, which is really fun, and so I was excited to get the gaming pleasure at a lower price and smaller packaging. However, as an older gamer who has seen the small font and symbology in many games become increasingly illegible without magnification over the years, I worried that might be the case with this. Fear not! The card symbols and text are large enough! For those who might like Long Shot, this makes an excellent travel sized version; and for those whose eyes are old enough, this is still something you will see and be able to enjoy playing!

Long Shot: The Dice Game (LS:TDG) is one of my my favourite roll & writes. WIN manages to retain the core experience and actually gets rid of the part of LS:TDG that I disliked the most; the jersey and helmet actions, which always felt a bit tacked on and separate from the rest. The run cards especially are a brilliant alternative to the dice, and revealing one by one each turn is an exciting moment for everyone at the table cheering on the horses they've placed bets on. However, the run cards are also where the problems we've had with the game start. The numbers on them are not equal. Horse 4 has a 50% chance of moving three spaces or not moving at all every turn. In our three plays so far, horse 4 has always finished the race. This wouldn't be a problem if the odds payout for 4 weren't as good. Likewise for 6 which also has two cards moving it three spaces (and has finished the race in all our plays). In theory horse 1 has a good chance of moving a lot through the Advance action, potentially 4 spaces if the cards come out right. But the payout for 1 is so low that people rarely want to invest in it at the beginning, making it a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy; nobody bets on 1 and thus nobody ever moves 1 with the Advance action. The times players did invest in 1, you're still banking of the cards coming out just right for you to be able to move it four or at least thr... ah too bad, only two cards show a 1 in your turn. Again, the game has been fun as mechanically it works great, and maybe it's my group's mentality that's making it not fully work for us. I have to try it with others to see how it goes.

Long Shot: The Dice Game (LS:TDG) is one of my my favourite roll & writes. WIN manages to retain the core experience and actually gets rid of the part of LS:TDG that I disliked the most; the jersey and helmet actions, which always felt a bit tacked on and separate from the rest. The run cards especially are a brilliant alternative to the dice, and revealing one by one each turn is an exciting moment for everyone at the table cheering on the horses they've placed bets on. However, the run cards are also where the problems we've had with the game start. The numbers on them are not equal. Horse 4 has a 50% chance of moving three spaces or not moving at all every turn. In our three plays so far, horse 4 has always finished the race. This wouldn't be a problem if the odds payout for 4 weren't as good. Likewise for 6 which also has two cards moving it three spaces (and has finished the race in all our plays). In theory horse 1 has a good chance of moving a lot through the Advance action, potentially 4 spaces if the cards come out right. But the payout for 1 is so low that people rarely want to invest in it at the beginning, making it a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy; nobody bets on 1 and thus nobody ever moves 1 with the Advance action. The times players did invest in 1, you're still banking of the cards coming out just right for you to be able to move it four or at least thr... ah too bad, only two cards show a 1 in your turn. Again, the game has been fun as mechanically it works great, and maybe it's my group's mentality that's making it not fully work for us. I have to try it with others to see how it goes.

This is a fun micro game, if you are a fan of Long Shot. It is definitely micro. The whole game fits in a box about the size of Wrigley's gum!