Designed by Reinhard Staupe.
Published by AdlungSpiele.
Reviewed by Jocelyn Becker
(jocelyn@best.com)
The title of the game pretty much sums it up. This is a very quick game for two players that involves much slapping down of cards, as you try to beat your opponent to match cards. A long game lasts five minutes. The game is usually accompanied by cries of "get your hand out of the way" as both players try to put their cards down at the same time.
If you've played Set and enjoyed it, you'll like this game, it's kind of a dual solitaire version of Set. Each player gets half the pack, then you each take three cards into your hand, and turn up the top card of your half of the pack. The aim of the game is to get rid of your cards by matching them against the top card on either of the discard piles. Each card has attributes of shape, color, and number. For example, a card might show three green houses or five blue balloons. A card in your hand matches a top card if it has at least one of the same attributes as the top card. For example, a card with one green balloon matches a card with one of anything of any color, any number of balloons of any color, or any number of green shapes of any kind.
You can have up to three cards in your hand at all times, so as soon as you've played a card, you pick another one up from your pack (although I find it is often faster to play all three cards in your hand, then pick up three cards at once). The slight drawbacks to the game are that it goes so fast that the discard pile becomes messy as players slap their cards down, and sometimes it can be hard to tell which is the top card. Also you're usually concentrating so hard on your own cards that you wouldn't notice if the other player played a card that didn't match. Then there's the bumping hands syndrome as you both try to play on the same pile simultaneously.
The game comes from Germany, has convenient, short rules in six languages and sells for around 10DM.
Speed is fun to play, if you're quick of eye and swift of hand. If you're not, then it's usually over so quickly that you don't have time to mind. It makes a good filler game for those few spare minutes, can be played anywhere anytime, even between courses at the dinner table, and comes in a handy little packet that slips easily in the pocket. And that's all I'll say, because for such a short game, this review is already too long.