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Black Spy
The trick-taking game Black Spy is a film noir take on Hearts as you want to enlist the best spies you can while avoiding the black spies, who will always turn against you.
Black Spy lasts a number of rounds, with players scoring points each round. The game is played using mostly standard trick-taking rules: Each turn, someone plays a card to the center of the table, then in turn each player lays down (if possible) a card matching the suit or rank of the card led, throwing out any other card otherwise. The highest card in the color led wins the trick, and that player leads the next trick. Points come only from the black cards, with the black spies (yes, "spies", with six black #7 cards) being worth ten points each and all other black cards worth 1-5 points. When someone reaches 200 or more points at the end of a round, the game ends and the player with the lowest score wins.
| Ages | 14+ |
|---|---|
| Players | 2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players, 5 Players, 6 Players |
| Play Time | 45m – 45m |
| Designer | Alan R. Moon |
| Mechanics | Trick-taking |
| Theme | Card Game, Spies/Secret Agents |
| Publisher | ABACUSSPIELE, Ali Baba e.V., Hexagames (I), The Avalon Hill Game Co, Z-Man Games, Inc. |
E_perryi
If I recall, it's a good game for what it is, although there are similar games I enjoy slightly more.
Downblaw
The aim of the game is to score the least points possible, by either taking no black cards or all the black cards, in a way similar to Hearts, with the following exceptions: the worst card as far as points is the Black 7, of which there are 6. There is also 11 cards of each suit (barring black, which there are 16). All the black cards are worth points as well, going from 1 to 5, with the 7s being worth 10. All the other cards are worth 0 points, except for the other 3 7s which are worth -10 points. So, don't take those black 7s. Also, there is no trump suit and you can either follow the suit of the card that was lead or follow the rank of the card, which makes for some confusions sometimes. It also makes it much harder to track who's got what suit. The game is over as soon as one player's score is over the pre-established limit, which varies with the amount of players. Oh, and don't forget to pass three cards either left or right, depending on the round. We did and it certainly would have made a difference. Not sure how I feel about Black Spy. It is a fun trick taking game, but you seem to have little control over how a hand will go. It is very easy to be unable to lose control of the game (let someone else take the lead) since there are so many ways to not play in the asked for suit. Would play if someone asked to, but wouldn't be the one proposing it.
Dilngr4
I have an enormous trick-taking collection that I’ve built a geeklist for. It features more in-depth thoughts on Gespenster, as well as thoughts on a lot of the 270+ other games listed! Check it out at the link below. You may just find your favorite new, obscure trick-taker there! [b]Preliminary details:[/b] This is the OG version of Black Spy by Alan Moon. Rating and thoughts coming soon. [geekurl=https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/287257/trick-takers-and-climbingshedding-games-i-own]Click here for more in depth thoughts about Gespenster on My Massive Trick-Taking and Climbing Geeklist[/geekurl]