Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
The Royal Golf Association are running their annual competition to judge the best new nine hole course of the year. Will you finish all nine holes before the judges carry out their inspection?
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
The Royal Golf Association are running their annual competition to judge the best new nine hole course of the year. Will you finish all nine holes before the judges carry out their inspection? If not will stunning scenery and design excellence be enough to beat off the opposition? The Front Nine is a card game where players compete to build the best nine hole golf course with a balance of challenging par, scenery and facilities. The course cards depict each hole (pars 3, 4 and 5)and after paying the land and resource cost for trees, water and sand, they are laid on the table to depict the actual layout of the course. Each player develops a course from club house to 1st tee and from green to following tee etc. Each hole has a differing topography which constrains tee access and green exits which results in each player's course snaking across the table. Players must manage their finances carefully to enable their course to generate an income to ensure they can afford the ever increasing land costs and resources required to design and build each hole. The winner is the player whose course design best links back to the club house, has the best design, bunkers, woodland and water hazards and optimizes the use of the natural environment. The Front Nine has direct player interaction and competition and an economic engine with an interesting spatial aspect where careful thought is needed for card purchase and placement.