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Explosiv box art
1999 Ranked #18,519

Explosiv

This bidding card game has mobsters place numbered cards to claim the most valuable briefcases for points. Filling a briefcase with an eighth card flips it into a bomb, turning a winning bid into a negative prize.

Card Game Hand Management Category: Combinatorial

Players

2-4

Play time

Not listed

Age

12+

Complexity

1.75/5

Rating

5.85

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.4/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 4.0/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.6/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.0/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.5/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

Theme In this simple card game players are Chicago era mobsters trying to make off with briefcases full of stolen loot. But careful, some of those briefcases might explode...

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

Theme In this simple card game players are Chicago era mobsters trying to make off with briefcases full of stolen loot. But careful, some of those briefcases might explode... Aim of the game Collecting the most points by collecting "explosive cards" with high values. Game play There are four sets of 8 cards, each with values from 1-8. Each player gets a set of one colour. The explosive cards show briefcases with positive values from 1-8 on one side, and bombs with negative values from 1-8 on the other side. They are shuffled and a number of explosive cards equal to the number of players plus one are laid out, positive side up. The remaining explosive cards are set aside. Players try to win as many positive explosive cards as possible. They take turns placing one of their number cards in front of one of the explosive cards. Whoever places the highest total on each explosive cards gets to take that card. Rules for card placement: You cannot play another card directly on top of one of your own cards. Each number can only be played once per explosive card, i.e. if another player has already played the 4 on an explosive card, you cannot play a 4 on the same explosive. 8 is an exception; there is no restriction on how many 8s can be played on one explosive card. If there are already 7 number cards on an explosive card, a player can blow it up by adding an 8th card. The explosive card is then turned from its briefcase side to the bomb side, and the player who wins it gets negative points instead. A round ends when all players have played all their cards. Card values on each explosive card are added up, with the last card in a row earning its owner an extra two points. The player with the most points in one row wins that explosive card. Players get back their number cards and a new round starts with new explosive cards. The game ends when all explosive cards are gone or there aren't enough left to start another round. Players add up the points from all their positive and negative explosive cards. The player with the highest total wins the game.

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Category

1

Mechanism

1

Family

1

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Editions

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Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
2–4
Best with
2
Play time
20 min
Age
12+
Complexity
1.8/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

1
Michael Schacht

Artists

2
Design/Main Michael Schacht

Publishers

1
Piatnik

Linked items

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