[Review] Hoity Toity
- From: "tomvasel@xxxxxxxxx" <tomvasel@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 10 Sep 2005 07:57:40 -0700
A person once commented to me that Hoity Toity (Uberplay, 2004 - Klaus
Teuber) has one of the worst names of any game. This may or may not be
true (I'm not a big fan of it myself), but the game itself has lasted
over fifteen years. The original game, Adel Verplichet, has sold over
one million copies and is one of Klaus Teuber's biggest successes
(after Settlers of Catan, of course).
While some might argue that the game is showing its age (it's fifteen
years old at the time of this writing), and that it's largely a
slightly complicated version of Rock-Paper-Scissors - well, maybe
they're right. But I've found that this game is an excellent "gateway"
game, one that people who don't play many games can easily learn and
enjoy. It's a game of bluffing, pure and simple - any other
"strategies" are obvious and simplistic. I personally find this
enjoyable, but some may find the mechanic of the game too repetitive.
A board is placed in the middle of the table with a track heading from
the "Club Room" (starting space) and going to the "Dinner Banquet".
The spaces are split into groups of two or three, grouped into
"castles" - each with two numbers printed on them.
Each player takes a starting piece of their color (placing it in the
club room) and a set of ten cards of that color. A deck of fifty-one
"collectibles" cards are shuffled and four dealt to each player.
"Collectible" cards are one of six different categories, each a
different color and having an associated letter ("A" through "F").
Each of these cards also shows a picture and name of the antique, as
well as its age. The "collectible" cards not dealt to players are
shuffled into two decks which are placed on the board with the top card
of each flipped face up. The first round of the game is ready to
begin.
In the first phase of each round, each player plays one of two
different cards face down: either their Auction Hall or Castle card,
indicating which "place" they will go this round. All cards are
revealed simultaneously. Each player who "went" to the auction hall
then plays either one of four cash cards they have, or one of their two
thieves; again, these cards are revealed simultaneously. Thirdly, the
players who "went" to the castle play either their "exhibit" card, one
of their thief cards, or their detective card face down, revealing them
simultaneously.
The actions in the Auction Hall are then resolved. The player who
played the cash card with the highest value places it on the board on
the "cash register" space and takes either of the face-up collectible
cards, flipping the card underneath it face up. If one, and only one,
player has played a thief card, they may steal the cash card that was
played this round. If two or more thieves are played or no cash card
is played, then nothing happens.
The actions in the Castle are then resolved. Each player who played
an exhibit card must "display" some of their antiques. They do that if
they have at least three cards that can be put together in an
alphabetical order ("AAB", "DEF", CCDEEF", etc.) The player who shows
the largest display receives the higher number printed on the space
where their playing piece resides, and they move the piece accordingly.
The player with the second largest display receives the lower number
printed on the space where their playing piece resides, and also moves
their piece accordingly. Anyone else displaying their exhibit gets
nothing. Ties are broken by the display with the oldest artifact.
Each player who played a thief now gets to steal one collectible card
from each exhibit. The thief with the highest number goes first, etc.
After all thieves have stolen, if any detective has been played, all
the thieves go to jail. There are six jail spaces on the board, and
the imprisoned thieves head for the first one, pushing all thieves in
jail forward one space. If the thief moves out of the last jail cell
(one is used for each player in the game), then he is returned to his
player's hand. Each detective gets points equal to their position on
the scoring track (a player in first place gets one point, while a
player in fifth place gets five points.)
All players take their cards back and begin the next round. The
rounds continue until one player's piece has landed on one of the final
spaces of the banquet hall. At this point, all players "exhibit" their
best display, and the player with the biggest gets eight points, while
the player with the second biggest gets four points. The player whose
piece is farther on the track wins the game!
Some comments on the game...
1.) Components: I have a much earlier version of Adel Verplichet, and
Uberplay kept most of the components the same with minor changes. The
quality of the stuff is higher, but it looks exactly the same. The
artwork throughout the game has a "New Yorker" feel to it and
definitely carries the "hoity toity" feel. The selections of antiques
range from a porcelain pipe from France, to Humphrey Bogart's hat, to a
chocolate advertisement from Switzerland. The collectible cards are
very large and very easy to distinguish from one another. The cards
that players use during the game are small, in contrast, and have a "1"
or "2" on their backs, to show what phase of the round they are used
in. I personally would have preferred that the backs of the cards be a
different color, also for the different rounds, but it's no big deal.
The board is very nice and very easy to figure out where the cards go,
and the jail spaces are very clever and intuitive. Everything fits
inside a large sturdy box (probably larger than it needs to be) with a
nice plastic insert that holds all the components well.
2.) Rules: The rulebook, with seven full-colored pages, is an
excellent one with many examples and illustrations. Paragraphs called
"In a nutshell" are included throughout, which summarize the rules to
that point, and are excellent for quick reference. I found that if I
explain each phase slowly players catch on quickly and that Hoity Toity
doesn't take long to teach. After one round, the entire game comes
into focus for most people, and it's very simple to play thereafter.
3.) Colors: Each color has a different distribution of cash cards and
thief cards. For example, black has a "6" and "7" thief, while purple
has a "3" and "10" thief. Black has a $6,000, $7,000, $18,000, and
$19,000 card, while tan has a $1,000, $12,000, $13,000, and $24,000
card. The way the distribution works means that there will never be
ties, and that no color has a distinct advantage over the others. It's
a clever system and works well. With clever use of thieves, players
can supplement their cash cards with the high ones of their opponents.
4.) Bluffing: Every round consists of very little strategy but almost
solely of bluffing. If you are the only player to go to the castle,
it's automatic points for you - just show a small display and take the
points with a grin! If you are the only player to go to the auction
hall, then you can spend your smallest cash card for a "collectible"
card. In a five or six player game, being the only person at a certain
location is very improbable. So, players usually have to guess what
the other person is going to play at their location. At the auction
hall, a player can play their highest cash card, hoping to beat
everyone else and get the item they need for their collection. At the
same time, maybe a thief would be better, because the other players may
be playing their highest cash card, and it would be certainly nice to
add that to one's collection. But if two people play thieves at the
auction house, then no one gets anything. A lot of howls and growls
can be heard during this phase. Of course, that's nothing compared to
the actions at the castle. Should you display your collection there,
trying to get points? But what if everyone else plays a thief and each
of them take one of your cards? But thief isn't the best option
either, because someone else can play a detective, causing you to lose
your thief, and them to get points. Playing a detective is also by no
means assured, since if no one else plays a thief, you get nothing!
Whew!
5.) Strategy: There are a few things a player can do strategically,
but most of the choices are obvious. When stealing a card from another
player's collection, one should take the one that hurts him the most.
For example, if Sam is displaying a "ABBCDDEE" collection, it makes
sense for me to steal the "C" card, as it hurts him the most, cutting
off three other cards from his collection. Sometimes a player may take
the card that they need more (I might REALLY need an "E" card), or take
the card that is the oldest (there are a lot more ties than you might
think), but hurting the opponent is usually the best move. Other than
that, the game really comes down to playing the right card at the right
time. It's great if you are the only person to go to a location, or if
you play a detective card and everyone else plays thieves; but that's
not strategy as much as it is guessing the opponents' actions.
6.) Fun Factor: Probably the only reason Hoity Toity isn't as big of a
hit as Teuber's other game (Settlers) is that it is the same actions
(hide cards, reveal cards, resolve actions) over and over and over
again during the game. If players move slowly, the game can drag out
and become monotonous and dull. But if things are kept lively, and
players play cards fast and immediately, I've found that the game stays
fresh and interesting and finishes in a much shorter time. The fun in
the game comes from playing the right card to hurt your opponent
(stealing his highest cash card, sending his best thief to jail,
stealing the best card from someone's collection, etc.) This kind of
interaction may annoy some people, who simply want to play friendly
games, but for those who like to directly affect their opponents, Hoity
Toity is an excellent candidate.
7.) Players: The game is so much better with five or six players that
I will probably refuse to play it with four or less in the future.
It's simply not as interesting, as players will often not compete for
certain things. In a five player game, if you are the only person
going to the castle, it's an amazing feat. In a three player game, it
happens all the time and generally makes the game less interesting. I
won't even attempt the two-player variant included in the game.
Hoity Toity is a very interesting game, fun especially for those who
enjoy games in which they can bluff and affect their opponent. There's
probably a large group of people who wouldn't like the game (I've run
into a couple) because of its repetitive nature. There have been
complaints that the game just doesn't have enough options to keep it
interesting. But for myself and most of whom I've played it with, the
game is a simplistic bluffing game with a small variety of options -
something that is fun to pull out once in a while. Hoity Toity isn't a
great game, but it's still a fun classic that has survived for fifteen
years and can hold it's own against other light games. Besides, it's
fun to steal your opponent's cards!
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games."
www.tomvasel.com
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