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Swordsmen and dogs are a challenge to deal with, especially when grouped up. Learn to dodge them better if needing to do so.
Some cards add additional ways to score - and in the case of the mermaids, you instantly win if you play all four. Yes. Yes it is. Sea Salt & Paper has been making waves (sorry) across the Zatu bloggers community, where it’s not uncommon to have two or three different online games on the go at the same time. I’ve been playing a game the whole time I’ve been writing this review. Sea Salt & Paper est vraiment fun, et surprenant, car on essaie de prévoir le moment où et quand l’adversaire va (ré)agir et parfois, souvent, on se plante.Alternatively, they can declare “last chance” which gives each other player one more turn, after which scores are counted up and compared. Floats in the air and fires three large spheres towards your minions, killing them instantly upon touch. The fun wrinkle in this game is the fact that round end is player controlled, a choice, and a *spicy* choice at that. You can end the round in two ways after you've collected and played at least seven points worth of cards. You can either just call a stop to a round (which means that everyone just scores the points on their cards) or you can call "last chance" and you can GAMBLE. Gambling means that you're confident that you have the most points. In fact, you're so confident that you will let everyone else have a final turn in the round, after which you compare scores and confidently say that you have the most points still. These rubes don't have a chance, your hand is great! Until they inevitably have a higher score and you only get a fraction of the points you would have gotten. It's great, I absolutely love a game that promotes hubris while also allowing players who are behind to "shoot the moon" and get rewarded. Oh, and you also immediately win if you ever get all four mermaids (which is unironically my favourite rule of the game).
Adding to the sharp competitive gameplay is the option to reveal ‘duo’ cards on your turn, which activate specific effects at the cost of being revealed to your opponents. The abilities allow you to steal cards from rivals, draw extra cards and even take another turn, so they are powerful enough to be tempting - and their points remain, albeit now revealed to your opponents as they secretly work out how their own score compares based on the fragment of information they have. If the person who declared last chance does not have the most points, that player only scores their colour bonus, while all other players score their normal card points. If you have a "duo" of cards in your hand that can be played in a pair, you may play them to the table to trigger their effect: I don't dislike dice anymore, especially after having read Dr Knizia's book on dice games, but I have a very clear preference for card games likely due to Magic the Gathering being my gateway into the hobby. 40% of my collection is card games. I'm happiest when I get to shuffle cards in my hand with a Cheshire grin and the nervous snap of cards when there's a silence. It's embarrassing to say but there's nothing really like a card game; games of cards really get my blood going. So it is with that context and without any hyperbole that I say that Sea Salt and Paper is one of the best I've played in years, at least at low player counts. Each papercraft creation is themed around the sea - hence the name - from crabs and mermaids to lighthouses and ships, and was made for real by origami masters Lucien Derainne and Pierre-Yves Gallard before being snapped for the game. (Japanese origami legend Tomoko Fuse’s stunning shell models also make an appearance.) The models were available to see in person at publisher Bombyx’s booth in Messe Essen - and I can tell you, they look just as impressive in person.If the player who declared last chance has the most points, they not only score their card points, but they also get a colour bonus, scoring one additional point for each of their most copious colour. Players can choose to play another matched pair if they have one, end their turn, or, if they have seven or more points, attempt to end the round in one of two ways. Pair of crabs = take a card of your choice from either discard pile (opponents do not see what you took) Sea Salt & Paper‘s scoring is really interesting. You score based on sets of cards, as long as you have at least a pair. Some cards score more points for more cards. Others only score for a pair. You also score based on card colour. There is even the possibility of getting points for every single card of a certain type. It sounds very confusing, but becomes clear after a round or two. Not only that, but the cards also have ColorADD symbols on each of them. ColorADD is “a universal, inclusive and non-discriminative language that enables the colourblind to identify colours”. The game comes with a couple of reference cards that show which colours relate to which symbols, making it instantly accessible to everyone. It’s also completely language independent as there’s no text on any of the cards. Fin-ishing A Round
a. Shoots a fast firing gun at your minions, rolling away from the direction of your minions every now and then I really enjoy this game and it has been popular among my friends as well. I suggest you give it a go yourself and see where Sea Salt & Paper takes you. Useful Links Tip 3: You will most likely die a few times, likely from screwing up your position. It is important that you keep your head in the game and keep learning where to position your minions behind the pillars. Let’s talk about art, folks. Few games have had art that absolutely dazzled me like Sea Salt & Paper. I’m talking, like, EVER. It’s one of the most beautiful and charming games I own, and that all comes down to the incredible photographed origami that graces each card. Someone please give Lucien Derainne & Pierre-Yves Gallard all the game art awards, and they can just keep them in perpetuity for these unreal origami creations and magnificent photographic staging. There are two arenas with bosses in the final wave. In the harbour Wharfmaster Glenn makes an appearance that must be defeated. In the graveyard, a special version of the witch must be slain. For tips on how to fight them, refer to the ‘defeating bosses’ section in this guide
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If the last-chance player ends up not having more points than everyone else, they only get their colour bonus, while everyone else gets their normal card score, without an extra colour bonus though. So it can be devastating if you don’t win your last-chance bet. Sea, Salt and Paper Fun Each matched pair played gives the player one point visible to other players, and also grants them a one-time free ability. Since delving deeper into the boardgame hobby, I've been making a conscious effort to gather and keep more data of what I play and what I like. I could pretend to say that it is done in some pseudo-scientific effort towards data-driven game selection and collection curation (which does happen to some minimal extent), but it's mostly done because looking at the amount of games I've played and understanding the mechanics I like makes me happy. There are two valid complaints about the game that arose across my plays, both from other gamers and myself. One is that, for what the game is, it’s a little long. That’s not to say it overstays its welcome, it’s simply that for a little appetizer game like SS&P, there were a few games that bled into the 40-minute territory, which is perhaps more than I want from game of this weight. That might not apply to everyone; others might be totally content to live in this underwater kingdom for the better part of an hour, but it was just a little too light for me to fully sink my teeth into for that length of time.
So far, so card game. Sea Salt & Paper is far from the first card game to ask players to collect sets for points. Where it sets itself apart, however, is at the end of each round.
Despite those two minor gripes, I think this game is a winner. It won over my non-gamer wife, and it won over several heavy gamers I play with too. It’s something you can teach in 5 minutes and it’s a joy to look at. So, to my two French friends from Gen Con 2022, I say “merci, et bon voyage!” The real-life origami models made for Sea Salt & Paper were visible at this year's Essen Spiel convention.
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