Whenever you get a game that comes in a box about the size of a pack of cigarettes there is a tendency to fall back on the line about good things coming in small packages.
That is typically rather accurate in terms of games in large part because a small package usually means a lower cost. When you get a game in that $25 range you need really only play it for an hour or so to have had a pretty good return on investment in terms of your leisure spending, especially if you factor in two, three, four people at the gaming table.
And that all brings me to Little Drop of Poison, a card game from designer Sean Scott Garrity, and from the Canadian company Baksha Games.
So what do you get in this particular small package?
Well, Little Drop of Poison is a card game, one which comes with a unique deck of cards which allows for gameplay by three-to-eight players. The broad range of players the game facilitates is one of the greatest strengths of the game. It makes for a rather light game for a party situation where numbers wanting to participate can vary.
So the game revolves around the idea of getting other players by poisoning them. Yes, it sounds like a rather dark theme, but the game keeps things light with the artwork.
A quick digression here; the art for the key character cards is quite nice, although that for the main cards, (the poison drops), are rather plain, albeit they do work. They are differentiated by colour, which could be an issue for some.
So, “the rats and the weasels have always been at each other’s throats. It isn’t in their peasant natures to be overly aggressive. But what needs to be done can be done with a little drop of poison …,” details the ruleset.
“Players gain points for killing each other and the king. The game is divided into assassination rounds. (Use as many assassination rounds as necessary). Each assassination round ends when the king is killed or there are one or fewer peasants remaining.”
So at its core, this one is very much a ‘take that’ game. You are out to get other players, so the idea of good-natured revenge will hang over the game table.
The game rules are not hard to grasp, another plus in terms of a party game, nor are they very deep. Whether this one would have huge replay value outside a party setting would be a matter of taste, but I suspect not for many.
That though shouldn’t deter anyone from getting the game. The cost point, coupled with the fact it can support up to eight players, makes it a handy game for a collection.
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