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Escalation! box art

Escalation!

Players

2-6

Time

?-?

Age

10+

Weight

1.07

Rating

5.80

Fit

Teach 2.4

Teaching signal

Replay 4.1

High replayability

Interaction 3.6

Highly interactive

Scaling 4.4

Scales well

Strategy 4.7

Deep strategy

Control 3.5

More strategic control

Table feel

Moderate level of direct and strategic confrontation with high interaction frequency, but low emphasis on cooperation.

Replay value

Escalation! has a high replayability score due to its high variability gameboard, availability of expansions, deep strategic depth, and good scalability. The game offers fresh experiences each time it is played, allowing players to discover new tactics and strategies. The player interaction score is average, but the game adapts well to different player counts without compromising its appeal or balance. While it may take some time to learn, the game offers a good balance between easiness and depth.

Luck profile

Escalation! has a moderate level of luck involved in the game. Random elements such as dice rolls and card draws have a notable but not exclusive impact on the game outcome. However, players have substantial ability to mitigate the effects of randomness through strategic decisions and planning. The game outcome is primarily determined by player strategy and decisions, with luck playing a minor role.

Overview

Players in Escalation! want to collect as few cards as possible. Each player starts with a hand of six cards from a deck that contains cards numbered 1-13, three jokers that can be worth 1-7, and two "pass" cards. One player opens by playing a single card or multiple cards with the same value, then calls out the sum of the cards played. The next player — and each player after that — must play cards to surpass that sum or else collect all of the cards played so far, after which they open with one or more cards. As soon as one player is out of cards, everyone else adds their cards in hand to the cards that they've collected and tallies their score. After playing as many rounds as the number of players at the table, whoever has the lowest score wins!

Editions

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Credits

Designers

1
Reiner Knizia

Artists

2
Beth Trott ??? ?? (Tori Hasegawa)

Publishers

3
New Games Order, LLC One Moment Games Z-Man Games