Publisher: Epik Games
Designer: Matt Bushman
Artist: Matt Bushman
Year: 2011
Players: Three to six players
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 20 Minutes
Genre: Humorous trick-taking card game
Retail Price: $6.99
Power Trip is a neat little card game that was introduced to me by my son, who was introduced to it himself at the Chicago Toy and Game Fair.
The game consists of 48 playing cards, 10 rule cards, 14 action cards, and 2 position cards. The object of the game is to win three rounds by playing all of your cards first. The first to do so is the winner. The playing cards have four sets numbered from 1 to 10 with several wild cards (which are wild), 4 clear cards, and 2 power trip cards. One of these has a star on it and the player who receives this one gets to play the first card in the game.
All of the playing cards are dealt to the players, while the rule and action cards are shuffled and set in separate decks to the side. The player who received the power trip with a star on it can play the first card or cards. You can play a single numbered card, or a pair, all the way up to four of a kind which would complete a set and clear the board.
Players continue to play either a higher numbered card or set of cards, or add to the set currently in play. So for example, the first player plays a 2. The second player could play anything from a 3 to a 10, or another 2 or set of 2’s. Let’s say they play another 2. This is where one of the special rules come in. If two of the same numbered cards are played consecutively, then the next player has to skip their turn. Sound difficult Not really. Joe plays a 3 and then Fred plays a 3, so Biff has to skip a turn.
Once any player can complete a set of 4 of a kind, they can play their cards, even out of turn. So you have to pay attention and play fast. Completing a set clears the table, and the player who completed it gets to play the first card of the new set.
Play continues until the first player runs out of cards. They are assigned the position of Ruler. The other players continue and finish out the round. The last player to go out is assigned the position of Peon. You mark down who the ruler is on a score sheet, because the first player to become the ruler three times wins the game.
For the second and all other rounds, the Peon has the task of collecting all of the cards and shuffling them. Then they deal out the cards. The only power that the Peon has is that if any player touches their cards before the Peon picks his cards up, then they lose their turn. So the Peon will try many ways of tricking the players into thinking that they have picked up their cards, or even fling them into the other player’s hands forcing them to lose a turn. If a card falls on the floor, leave it there until the Peon picks up his cards.
It is also the Peon’s job to clear each completed set during the round. If he isn’t paying attention all of the other players can knock twice to make the Peon lose his turn. Finally the Peon must exchange his best card with the Ruler’s worst card. So as you can see, being the Peon isn’t fun.
Being the Ruler on the other hand is a lot better. Not only do you get to exchange your worst card for the Peon’s best card, you get to draw a rule card from the rule deck. This card puts a rule into effect for the entire round. Some of the rules include whisper, in which no one can speak above a whisper all round. Left Handed, where you can only touch the cards with your left hand, and so on. If the Ruler catches you breaking a rule, you miss a turn.
That’s the whole game. It took a round to get the hang of the rules and after that it was a lot of fun. It is simple, with enough complexity to make it interesting. You can easily complete a game in under an hour. The only criticisms that I have are that you need at least three players, and some of the rules can dampen the fun level of the game. The rule that you can’t speak anyone’s name made everyone just remain silent for the whole round, as did the whisper rule. The rest of them are quite fun and it is entertaining to be the ruler and start busting people. You are allowed to complete a set out of turn anyway, even if you are missing a turn so everyone stays pretty involved.
The cards are glossy, and slightly thinner than regular playing cards. There is no real artwork to speak of. The game is very inexpensive so I didn’t really expect any. If you like cards games with a twist I do recommend Power Trip.
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We love playing Power Trip! We use the iPhone app which has all the new Rule cards! We only use the ones we LOVE! Great game for a great price!
I was recently introduced to Power Trip by my girlfriend and her friends at a college party. We play the game now almost every weekend for hours. We really enjoyed using the rules on the mobile device app. Our group even came up with a few and submitted them to the creator and he actually added one of ours to the app! I really like how the creators keep their fans involved in the game. Definetly recommend this game!