Sometimes a review just writes itself. Klunker, an aptly named card game, has players trying to match up collections of jewelry and artifacts. The cards are treasures you keep in your vault or storefront. The ones in the vault are your private collection, safe from prying eyes. Those in your storefront are fair game; deciding what to place there is tough because it will probably be something you can’t use but your opponents can.

When everyone has put some cards in their window, you may then play cards out of your hand into your vault. If you play four of the same card, they are flipped over; now they represent money in the bank. Since you only get six cards each round, some of which end up in the window, chances are you’re going to build a little of each set at a time. Getting a set of four often takes a couple of turns. The trouble with incomplete sets is they subtract from the value of complete sets. When you match four cards, every other set in your safe deducts one dollar. For example, if you complete a set and two other incomplete sets are still sitting in the safe, you would only put two dollars in the bank instead of the full four.

After everyone is done playing cards into their vault, players have a chance to use the money they made to buy those valuables their competitors placed in the windows. Then there’s another round of play, dealing players up to six cards and restocking the storefronts. If the deck runs out, the game ends, each dollar in your bank becomes a point, and the high score wins.

Klunker takes 3-5 players. It’s inexpensive, but the rules are simplistic. The chance to buy stuff from other players isn’t much of a trick, and the money itself has little part in the play of the game. What few wrinkles there are do little to make this game playable more than once or twice.

--by Andy Vetromile

I'd like to make a comment about this article.

This page has been visited Hit Counter times.