This was another one of those "LOOK AT THAT ART I MUST HAVE IT" impulse buys at Tokyo Game Market. Even if the game wasn't great it would be very cute to look at, right? Except it really IS good. One of my all time favorites.

Why? Because what could be better than a perfect blend of tactical game play, hilarious trickery, and having a cute collection of rabbit cards? Don't let the sweetness of the art trick you, this game is as clever as they come, both with its mechanics, and with the half-truth bluffing.

The aim of the game is to get as many points as you can by collecting only three item stacks. Careful though, get a fourth type of item, and your biggest stack gets discarded! Sounds simple, right? But to get the cards, you have to bluff like hell for 'em.

Turns are simple: I draw a card, and I offer it to an opponent. Beautifully easy.

However, I have to pick my opponent based on a lot of factors, but primarily it's two things: Whether I want the card or not, and how many of their three double-sided Accept/Reject cards are facing accept or reject.

These double-sided cards serve as to whether the person being offered a card can accept or reject an offer. Once they accept an offer, they turn their accept card over and it becomes a reject. You only have three of these, so if you accept too much, you'll have to reject the next card, even if you really wanted it! The same applies the other way; reject too much and you're a target for the others to force you to take that evil fourth item type.

So, if I want a card for my own stack, I might offer it to an opponent with only one (or no) accepts left, as they probably wont risk their last accept for it. HOW I offer it is the fun part. Each card has a type; pet, milk, egg, fur; and a point value; 0, 1, or 2. I must say ONE of those things, and cannot lie.

So I could offer you a "fur". Now, you don't know if that's a fur with a high point value of 2, or a low point value of 0. You do have a stack of fur, but do you risk taking it? If you take it and it's a 0, your whole stack gets reduced to 0 points, because the points = Value of the top card x cards in stack. So you if you have 3 fur cards with a 1-point card on top (stack = 3 points), and you take a 0 card, you suddenly have 0 points. However, I also have fur, so maybe I want you to reject it so I can keep it, as it was actually a 2-point card which would make my stack worth a lot!

Do you see the trickery? Trust me, when you're struggling over that one card, you'll really feel the pull of this game.

Photo: Jelly Jelly Cafe