Skull King

This is Wizard with some extra hot sauce. My lunchtime gaming group and I played Wizard all the time until we tried Skull King. We haven’t played Wizard since. If you like trick taking games at all, you should try out Skull King, it’s a hoot and a half.

Year of Release: 2013
Number of Players: 2-8
Playing Time: 30 min
Listed Age: 8+
Mechanics: Trick-taking
Theme in a Nutshell: Pirates

What I like:

I really enjoy trick-taking games so this game is right in my wheelhouse. The special cards actually make the game more approachable for novice players. I’ve had pretty reasonable success teaching this to people of all different trick-taking skill levels.

In Wizard you can get set up with your hand so that you can’t fail for the remainder of the round. Skull King says hold my beer. The rock-paper-scissors aspect of the special cards really it makes it hard to rely on your hand to do what you need it to do. All the special cards really make it a dynamic game.

The scoring for bidding zero is awesome, and being able to play up to 8 is nice for our lunch gaming group. Kraken and Whale are great. Play with those as soon as you’re comfortable.

My Rating: 8.7/10

What I don’t like:

It really plays best with 4 or more, games with 2 or 3 are not quite where it’s at.

If you get grumpy about luck in games, you should skip this one.

The loot cards seem dumb, we’ve never played with them.

Is it good for kids and families?

Sure is. As long as your kids can handle the concept of trick taking this can be a lot of fun for families. Start them with Hearts or Wizard first, then graduate to this.

Learn more about the game:

• How to Play Skull King in 6 Minutes – The Rules Girl (video)
• Skull King: My Favorite Game Mechanism (video)
• Skull King on BGG
• Where to buy Skull King online in Canada