Another new to me game hit the table last week. This is one that I picked up because it was on sale and because I hadn’t heard anything bad about Lucky Numbers. Lucky Numbers is one of those games that people seem to enjoy, but no one seems to go out of their way to talk about. So is it a fun little time or is it a bit of a miss, let’s take a look at how Lucky Numbers is played.

How To Play Lucky Numbers

Lucky Numbers is a pretty simple game where your goal is to get both your rows and columns into descending order. All players play with a four by four grid. At the start of the game, four numbers are seeded from the top left corner and work diagonally down to the bottom right.

From that point on, you draw a face down clover tile and place it in your board. Or you take a face up clover tile and place it on your board. That is how turns work. Your goal is to get those columns and rows both into descending order. Whoever is the first to complete that wins the game.

What Doesn’t Work?

The game is lucky. I expect you guessed that with a name like Lucky Numbers. But Lucky Numbers is a very lucky game. I draw a tile and I get what I want, that is great. You draw a tile and you don’t, that is unfortunate. And if I draw a one and already have one, well, that means the next person is getting their ideal top left clover. So you may set up another player on your turn.

What Works?

Firstly the speed of the game is great. Now for the sake of Lucky Numbers this is not the ideal first thing to talk about. But Lucky Numbers is a filler game. And as a filler game, I want it to play quickly and it really does. A turn is simple and generally you just draw a face down tile.

I enjoy as well the puzzle aspect of the game. It reminds me of something like Rack-o, but this is being done over both rows and columns. So there is a familiar aspect to the puzzle. But it is also more than the classic game. I think that is a nice addition to it. And limiting the numbers to 1 to 20 (once in the pool per player) is a nice touch as well. Because with Rack-o you may search for one of three numbers out of 100. Here you play with a much smaller range.

The final element that I want to talk about is when you replace a number you have. I think that is where some of the choice or observance of the game comes in. Mainly, I want to put out a tile you don’t want to use. So I need to think about what I want to do for sure. Because sometimes I might give you the win if I am not careful. So maybe I need to press my luck versus take a face up tile. Or maybe hold off on swapping out a tile until I complete the rest of my board. This could be a negative in a two player game, but only if players don’t plan well.

Who Is Lucky Numbers For?

I think this is a game for people who want a filler. But not your traditional game night filler. I think it’s more of a game for people who want a filler game and play casually. It falls into the camp of games that are easy to teach my parents. They understand Rack-o. Or it is going to be a game that I can play with my kid while he is pretty young. There is no element of the game that is too complex. So it is a wide reaching game, just maybe not a heavier game night filler.

Final Thoughts on Lucky Numbers

I think Lucky Numbers is a fun game. And I see why people generally enjoy it. I also understand why people generally don’t talk about it. Lucky Numbers isn’t going to be anyone’s favorite game on Board Game Geek. But I expect a lot of people will enjoy it for what it is.

Is the game very lucky yes. But it doesn’t hide that fact. Nor is it going to be a thinky game. But if you expect it to be a Rack-o variant that offers more than Rack-o does in terms of blocking people and puzzling out what numbers are still available or not, it is better. It is just not going to be anything more than that. And it is one of those games where it is fine it isn’t anything more. Because sometimes a game should just be simple.

There is a solo mode as well that I want to play. Which is basically set-up the board and see if you can solve a swapping puzzle in the number of turns suggested. I expect that, unless my family loves the game, I’ll play through some of those and move on from the game. But that’s just because I’ll gladly play it but won’t suggest it.

My Grade: C+
Casual Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: C-

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