Seven Dragons is Looney Labs latest card game.
After a few day of playtesting, the game is fun, simple, and entertaining. If you are a fan of Looney Lab games, this will seem very familiar. Using several elements of game play that work well for Looney Labs games like Fluxx, Seven Dragons combines straight-forward game play with action cards that create unexpected shifts.
The dragons have nothing to do with the game. The art work by Larry Elmore is quite nice, but since my spouse "doesn't do dragons", the beautiful pictures are lost on her.
On the other hand, my 19 year old daughter really likes the art and has thoroughly enjoyed the game. All fantasy-themed games go through her for testing and Seven Dragons gets an A+.
The game is a variation of dominons. In this case, each card has images of dragons, some have four images, some have only one. You must link the card's images to each other to form a seven card connection in order to win.
The creative wrinkle is that each player has a hidden goal to link a specific color of dragon. Action cards cause the goals to be switched or rotated, causing your well-laid plans to benefit the player who just stole your Gold Dragon Goal Card.
My daughter and I played four games in about 30 minutes. Some were over fast when few action cards came into play, while other games lasted longer when goals and hands keep swapping places.
The rules are on a single piece of paper. They were quick to read but had to be reviewed a few times because even though the game is simple to play, the use of the cards and a few speciality dragons makes it a bit confusing the first few times to figure out specifically what each dragon does.
Children Rules
A nice addition to the game is a set of optional rules for children. Next up will be testing the children rules with my 6 year old daughter. We'll see if she likes dragons.
Visit www.looneylabs.com to find more information
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