District Noir: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Set Collection, 2-Player Push Your Luck, Open Drafting, Hand Management
Player Age: 10+ Player Count: 2 Players Time to Play: 10 - 20 Minutes
Game Designer: Nobutake Dogen, Nao ShimamuraGame Artist: Przemysław Fornal, Vincent Roché, Hinami TsukudaPublisher: Pandasaurus GamesYear Published: Originally 2016 Pandasaurus Reprint 2023BGG Weight: 1.89Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Player Age: 10+
Game Designer: Nobutake Dogen, Nao Shimamura
Objective:
District Noir is a two players push your luck/set collection game that has two players vying for control of the city. If they gain the three city cards, they instantly win the game. Otherwise, players win by having the most points through alliance and support cards. These cards are gained by players taking a maximum 5 of the last played cards from the centre row once per round. Together the players are building this centre row by playing down the cards in their hand.
Card Anatomy:
Support Cards:
Support Cards award the player the value written on the group of cards if they have the majority of that support. For example, whichever player has the most cards numbered 8 at the end of a game will receive 8 points. Each support type also has cards in the deck equal to their value, i.e. there are five occurrences of the number 5 card, six occurrences of the number 6 card, etc.
City Cards:
There are only three city cards. Any time the player gains all three city cards, no points need to be tallied as they are the immediate winner of the game.
Alliance and Betrayal:
Alliance and betrayal cards are immediate points that can be either positive or negative.
Setup:
- Shuffle all 45 cards together.
- Remove three random cards from the game.
- Play two face-up to the centre of the table.
- Deal each player five cards as their hand for the first round.
- Each player chooses a faction using the summary cards and then the first player token is flipped to determine starting player.
How to Play:
The flow of the game is easy, you either play one card from your hand or take the five most recent cards played (or less if there aren't yet five).
Each round, players will have up to six alternating turns wherein each may only pick up cards once throughout a round. After taking cards, they will be placed into their categories in a tableu in front of the player for easy viewing by each player. The game will run over four rounds, with each consisting of five fresh hand cards and the token flipped for the first player. In between these rounds, the player's tableu and cards in the centre will remain in the same state as when the round ended. Once the four rounds have been played each player will tally their points by adding the alliance, betrayal and any supporters they won majority of. The player with the highest points is the winner.
Final Thoughts:
- Great production quality, especially the poker chip faction token.
- Easy to play but challenging in how to tempt the other player.
- The centre row may confuse people at first but after one round the game easily clicks.
District Noir is a push-your-luck that is run by the players, not necessarily the deck. The centre play area is a shared row that has each player attempting to persuade the other player to use up their one card collection action per round. When you first receive your five cards, you may be planning on how to save the good ones for your own collection while wondering how to clog up your opponent's tableu with betrayals, or tempt them to use up their collect action early. This creates a dynamic of pushing your luck where you're heavily relying on your opponent’s reaction, do you wait another turn so you can pick up five cards instead of three or do you simply take the cards you have been waiting for now? District Noir is a smart back-and-forth game that will have you playing multiple games in rapid succession as you try to outmanoeuvre your opponent. If you like quick and interactive two-player games, District Noir is an easy choice
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