Cat Blues: The Big Gig - Review
Information:
Mechanics: Bidding, Rummy, Set Collection
Player Age: 14+ Player Count: 2 - 4 PlayersTime to Play: 45 Minutes Game Designer: Reiner Knizia
Player Age: 14+
Introduction:
Over the course of three rounds, players will be using the same hand to bid and build the quartet's, rummy-style. This is in pursuit of booking bands and gaining tips from the mouse audience. If players use too many wild cards (jokers) they will lose five points each round, and if the player has the most range in their quartets they will gain a bonus ten points.
Game Anatomy:
Cards:
The core cards in the game range from numbers 1-5 and a joker. Each card will appear 15 times in the deck and will be used for both bidding and creating melds (sets of four).
Joker:
The Joker can be used as any other numbered card when bidding and creating melds. The catch is whenever the card is used as a wild it will be placed in front of the player who used it. At the end of each round the player with the most jokers will lose five mouse tips.
If a joker is used for a joker-only meld, this will cause the jokers to be discarded instead.
Seven:
The 7 cards are an optional module that works exactly like the other numbers. There are two differences to this number; there is no quartet connected to this value and there are only seven of these cards in the deck.
Quartet:
Each value has a quartet assigned to it (except the seven). Whenever a meld is played, players will gain the quartet token if it is their first time creating that meld. It is not a race to gain these but rather depends on if each player wants to collect them all.
Mouse Tips and Big Tip:
Each mouse tip is worth one point at the end of the game.
Setup:
- Give each player a tip case card.
- Between players, decide if the sevens will be shuffled into the deck.
Round (set) Setup:
- Each player will be dealt six cards after the main deck is shuffled well.
How to Play:
On a turn, the bid pile will be revealed one card at a time. This reveal will stop when either a duplicate card value has appeared or a joker appears. If a joker appears, all players will draw an extra card into their hand. These revealed cards will now be auctioned as one collective pile.
The player on the bandleader’s left will open the bid, where the bandleader is the winner of the last bid. Players have to raise a bid or pass. Once all players have passed, the highest bid is the winner and the pile of cards is placed into their hand after spending the bid cost.
In terms of the bidding, each player (in order) either has to pass or bid a higher value than the last bid. Players can bid using unique cards or sets of the same value. The more cards in a bid will equate to a higher value. Sets of the same card will also equal a higher value than unique cards if the number of cards used is equal. Naturally, a higher-valued set of the same cards will also be worth more. For example, 2 unique cards will be beaten by 2 three's, which in turn will be beaten by 2 fours.
The winning player of the bid will take the cards that are being auctioned into their hand. They can then create as many melds as they want to use the cards in their hand. A meld is four of the same card (jokers can be used as substitutes). When creating a meld, the player will gain mouse tips equal to the value on the card, i.e. a meld of four will award four mouse tips. The player will also gain a quartet token of that value if it is the first meld of that type they have achieved in this game. If a player at any point falls below four cards in their hand they will draw cards to equal four.
Once the last card of the deck is auctioned or the mouse tips run out, the set will finish. Each player will keep their quartets and mouse tips but discard their hand and lose five mouse tips if they have the most jokers (jokers to be discarded after). Players will play three sets, then all mouse tips will be calculated and the player(s) with the most quartets will gain the big tip for a bonus of ten points.
Final Thoughts:
- Vibrant art with unique art across the same value.
- Can be played over one round but it removes the quartets, whereas I find a lot of strategy over aiming for the most quartets.
Cat Blues is a fast auction game that is good to either start the night with or to play in the wind down. The thing that sets this game apart from other auction games, besides its unique theme, is the rummy-style element. Both with auctioning and creating melds, there is a strong rummy element to collecting sets of the same card creating a range of strategies. On one hand, players want the highest-value cards because that will create more mouse tips when playing melds and possibly more auctioning power. In reverse of this, players may want a low hand so they can gain more cards for free or they may even want to create larger sets of unique or the same cards, holding more auctioning power. A good element of this game is the rummy element I find it is an auctioning game with many valid strategies. If you are a fan of auctioning or rummy games I can easily recommend Cat Blues.
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