Meeple on Board Rating
Be the first to review this product.Board Game Geek Reviews
Be the first to review “Black Spy”
You must be logged in to post a review.
You must be logged in to post a review.
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. |
Badger on the move
Played as Gespenster. Much enjoyed it, despite its age (Alan Moon’s first published game). It requires a different way of thinking and all players slipped up at times.
cane
Excellent trick taking game from the past. It's nasty and has clever mechanisms and the combination goes to my personal trick taking top 10.
chaddyboy_2000
A fairly average trick taking game, with no real twists to set it apart from the field. The twists here are: 1) You must follow suit OR number. So, if a red 3 is led, you must follow with either a red card OR a 3 if you have them. You can only play off if you have neither. 2) All of the black cards are worth points (which are bad). The black 7's are especially bad. On the flip side, the colored 7's are negative points (which is good!). You are trying to avoid taking tricks with points in them. Overall, the game is fine and is solid as a trick taking game, but I just didn't find that it differentiated itself enough from the crowd to make me choose it over my favorites in the genre, but still a good game.