How To Play Trinket Trove

Like I said, Trinket Trove is a game of drafting and set collection. You score points for the sets that you collect throughout the game. But, that is not where most of the game is. In Trinket Trove, it is all about how you draft.

At the start of the game players are dealt hands of four cards. Then a number of cards equal to the number of players is dealt out. A second card is added to the first card, so there is one stack of two, at lower player counts or two at higher player counts. Then in turn order players bid with cards from their hand to see who picks first.

Bidding

When you bid, you select a number of cards from your hand. This could be 0 or it could be all of them. The number of cards you select is your bid. So if you put out two cards, your bid is two. Now, other players can still bid two, since bidding is for turn order. When you bid you the same number as someone else you look at the numbers on the cards. In the case of a tie, the player who bid first is higher in turn order.

Now, I said you can bid zero. When you bid zero you flip the top card of the deck. That is going to be your bid. But you flip your token over to zero so that everyone knows your bid is zero. So even if you flip a seven and it looks like you have one card, you will not go ahead of players who bid one card.

Drafting

Players in turn order then select two groups of cards. The rules for selecting those groups of cards is pretty simple. You can select any pile, from those flipped or those bid. However, you cannot select the cards that you bid with. If you are the last player in the round and the card you bid with has not been taken, then you can select it.

Rounds

The new turn order is then set for the next round of bidding with the player who bid the most last time going first this time. This is a disadvantage to selecting first the previous round. The game continues until you play either six rounds or five rounds, depending on player count.

The game is clever in that it has you deal out six cards, in a six round game, into a separate pile. The extra card on the first card flipped out comes from that pile. So you use it as a mechanism to count down the rounds.

What Doesn’t Work

I think that the game is going to feel different between player counts. And I suspect that I am going to like it best at higher player counts. Why? Because there is a massive stack of trinkets in the game. Now, it is possible that you could remove some at lower player counts, but that would be a lot of work sorting cards. So instead when you play with two or three, the cards you see is going to be limited. That makes some sets hard to collect, or riskier anyways.

What Works

I love the bidding in this game. I think it is really clever. The idea that your cards, which you are collecting for your set collection are also what you bid with works so well. It reminds me in some ways how Biblios often times has you make tough decisions like that, how do you want to use your cards, for points or not? And it’s a slick system that is easy to keep track of.

Draftable Bids

The fact that you bid is also one of the piles that can be taken is interesting. I always hope to remember what people are taking and then toss out a low bid with something they want. If they take it, that is hopefully going to mean that something I want is available. And then when you bid big because there is something you really want, say two cards or maybe even three, then you know someone else is going to grab that. So do you want to do that.

But, at the same time, a big bid early is interesting. And yes, I know I’m talking a lot about the same thing. It is interesting because if I bid big early, then you might bid two cards so you can get my three. That means, though that I might get two piles or two cards that I like better than what I bid. So there is good strategy in the game.

Game Speed/Set-up

This is a fast game. The slowest element is the bidding and even that is not that slow. I think that someone could spend their time trying to figure out an optimal combination and bid to start. But most of the time, you want to bid as little as possible and not bid anything that would hurt your sets. So I think it is good game in terms of speed of play.

And the set-up is really simple as well. You shuffle up the cards, set 6 or 10 aside, deal out four, and shuffle up player tiles to determine order for the first round. That is it. Now, it is mainly a card game, so I expect the set-up to be fast. But it delivers on that expectation.

Artwork

I want to call out the artwork as well for this game. I think it is great and Sandara Tang, whom I knew first from Flame Craft, is back with some great cute artwork. And I like that the artwork on the cards is always slightly different. But they were smart from a usability standpoint with that art. If a shell is green on one card it might be blue on another, but the shape of the shell never changes. I like that as it allows me to recognize cards very quickly.

Easy Enough to Learn

Finally, I want to talk about how the game is easy enough to learn. I say it is easy enough to learn because I think there is a learning curve when it comes to the bidding. And there is a learning curve when understanding the likelihood of cards coming out of the deck. So while there is a thinky element to the game, overall it is not a complex game to teach others how to play.

Who Is Trinket Trove For?

I think people who like drafting and set collection are going to like the twist of bidding on this game. Mainly because it’s not that blind bidding and it’s not increasing bidding. Plus, it is a good filler style of game. And now, I play a lot of filler style of games, but this one is a good filler game for gamers. There is strategy to the game, but when two groups are playing longer games and one wraps up, this is a good game to keep the brain working, but won’t take too long.

Final Thoughts and Grade on Trinket Trove

Trinket Trove is a great game for me. I like it at lower player counts. And that is where I have played it mainly. I think there is a benefit to playing it with the maximum of six players. Now, it does come with eight character markers, so I wonder if there is a way to play it with eight, or if they plan a mini pack of cards that can bring it up to eight as an expansion.

I want to talk more about the bidding and how great that is. But in this section, I want to talk about how I think that is the biggest hook to the game. That bidding element is where you can really push for what you need, or potentially mess it up. If I were to pick an element of the game that I like best, it is the bidding. The drafting is good, but it is open drafting. And the set collection is interesting because not everything gains you points at the same speed. But that is still set collection. So the bidding is what makes the game.

My Grade: A
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: B+
Strategy (out of 10): 6
Luck (out of 10): 6

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Top 10 Games to Demo at Gen Con

10. The Hobbit: There and Back Again

I love the Middle Earth setting, but this is the only Middle Earth set game that is making my Gen Con to demo list. There is also The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship. A “pandemic” style game in some ways. But I know more about that one. The Hobbit: There and Back Again, I don’t know much about it. I hope that it’s a fun and interesting game themed around The Hobbit. As board gamers, I think we have a lot of Lord of the Rings themed games that are good, but The Hobbit, not so much.

9. Crits & Tricks

Crits & Tricks is a fantasy themed trick taking game. I like trick taking so that is what drew me to this one right away. It sounds like each trick is a quest that you play out and that you win loot at the end of it. The theme founds fun and interesting. Or maybe each hand is a quest, so that is interesting and maybe as you progress through the quest, different hands, that is where the suit can change. Either way, I really like the sound of this trick taking game.

8. The Battle of the Divas

The Battle of the Divas is a game that jumped out at me because it is such a different theme for a game. I believe there is another game in this series from Salt & Pepper Games. But the idea is that it’s a two player back and forth game where you want to be the best opera diva. And it is based around actual historical opera singers, Callas and Tebaldi and their clash to be the best. So it is just exciting sounding as a very different game.

7. BattleForge: Berserker

Creative Games Studio LLC is the game company behind BattleForge. And I like the one game of theirs I’ve played. Though I need to play it more. And I am excitedly waiting for their next one Dante: Inferno to come. I think it might be shipping soon-ish. But BattleForge is a cooperative game again, which I love that they make cooperative games. But this one I don’t if it supposed to be a campaign. Either way, I want to know more about it as it comes out and Gen Con is going to be a great spot to demo it.

6. River Market

River Market seems kind of to be a third in the line of Creature Comforts and Maple Valley. Now, each of the games is different from KTBG, but there is a similar aesthetic. And the designer of River Market is Roberta Taylor who is the designer of Cafe Baras, a cafe capybara game. I think that game is light and fun, so I am excited to see what this game can be.

5. Tea Witches

Manny Vega and Sandara Tang are two people working on Tea Witches. If that seems familiar they also did the design and artwork, respectively, for Flamecraft. That’s the game about little dragons who help around town. So a new game with Sandara Tang’s artwork is always going to interest me. I don’t know much about the game play, but it’s tea, it’s witches, and the artwork gives me a vibe of Little Witch Academia, so I’m all in for it.

4. Camp Grizzly

Camp Grizzly is a game that is already out. And if you want to buy it now, it is going to cost you around $600 on ebay. What is this game? It’s a horror movie themed game, or horror themed game in the theme of classic horror movies set at camps. The artwork on it looks great, and I love horror films. So the idea of this theme is really interesting and exciting to me. And it is one that I did look, a year or ago or so, on ebay to see about getting it. But it is crazy expensive. So I think it is coming back to crowdfunding and when it does, I’m very interested.

3. Class of ’89

Paverson games is making a name for themselves. I have the game Luthier which is coming and that looks amazing. But their first game, Distilled, is really popular and is on my shelf to get played. Class of ’89, though, does seem like a little different game. This is a game about making a year book. And that itself sounds lighter as a theme. But it is also a theme that sounds like a ton of fun. So I want to know more about their next project. And I really hope that I like it because I really love the theme.

2. Viking Route

Viking Route I think was on my most anticipated games coming to crowdfunding or maybe coming this year. But now at Gen Con is the time to demo it. This is a ship sailing game but it uses a mechanism for navigating your ship that I think sounds great. What is that mechanism? Magnets. You play magnets around the board to move the ship and affect the way the compass is pointing. That mechanism is in another game that I own and I need to get played.

1. Mystic Curling Club

So after so many amazing sounding games, how is it that Mystic Curling Club is the top of the list? One word, curling. I love watching curling as a sport. And I want at some point in time in my life to do some casual curling. And yes, where I live doing some casual curling is a possibility because the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro has multiple locations with curling. But this is going to be a dice flicking game witch magical powers in it as well. This sounds silly and fun and I love the theme so it is easily my #1 game to demo at Gen Con.

Final Thoughts

As always, I wish I was going to Gen Con. I think that all of these games sound wonderful to play. And there are a ton of different and unique things among them. So someone want to check them out for me and let me know their thoughts?

But out of all of these, the one that I want to try the most is Mystic Curling Club. But as I say that, I think I am apt to just buy that one for the theme no matter what. So I think that The Battle of the Divas is the one that I want to see and try the most because I am less likely just to buy that one sight unseen. Even then, if I can find it or it’s predecessor cheap, I think I may pick it up. I play games at two players fairly often, so a two player only game is pretty easy to get to the table.

What is your most anticipated game to demo at Gen Con?

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Catch up on my Top 100 Games (of all Time) 2023 Edition:

100 through 91
90 through 81
80 through 71
70 through 61
60 through 51
50 through 41

Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition – 40 through 31

40. Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

As I always say, I’m not the biggest fan of social deduction games, in fact, there is only one that I like and that’s Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. And a lot of that is because it’s not just a social deduction game, there is more going on. And you always have something to base your conversation off of. A lot of time, in social deduction games, it’s more just taking a stab in the dark as you talk hoping someone will slip up. It’s not until later rounds where it is meaningful.

So, what makes Deception: Murder in Hong Kong different? I think it’s the role of the Forensic Scientist. They send up reports from their basement lab, basically they’re the person who runs the game, and from that lab they give you clues. The murder took place in a “school” the victim was “athletic” things like that.

Everyone else is trying to piece together those reports to figure out who the murderer is. Because it’s someone in the group. And because it’s someone in the group, they are trying to put suspicion on everyone else. But how to the reports help, you might ask? They help because everyone has a set of clues and murder weapons in front of them. So it helps narrow down what it can be. The detectives on the good side need to figure out which combo of clue and murder weapon are the cause. And of course the murder and their accomplice are trying to throw everyone off the sent.

Buy Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

39. Crokinole

Next up is one of the new games on the list. But I should say, it’s new to me. It’s certainly now a new game. In fact, it’s the oldest game on my list. Crokinole is a game of flicking a disc trying to land it in the center of the board. There is a groove there that you can land it into. But if you don’t do that, it’s about trying to get points and keeping your opponents pieces off the board as much as possible.

I like this one as a simple flicking game. You flick with very little thought for objectives beyond get it in to the middle. And while I love the getting up and moving around in PitchCar, Crokinole is fast to get to the table and much simpler in what you are doing. In fact, you can only shoot from a small quarter of the big board. And you can’t get up from your seat. The just simplicity of that system makes it a great game to sit, play, and chat while you’re playing it.

Buy Crokinole

38. Kohaku

Kohaku is the first of two tile laying games in a row here. And I really like Kohaku for how pretty it is, and also the simplicity of game play. You take two tiles on your turn, one scoring and one fish, that are adjacent to each other on the middle board. Then you place them anywhere into a tableau of your koi pond. There’s only two rules while placing, it needs to connect, no starting a new pond. And it needs to not have fish next to fish or scoring next to scoring. Whomever has the most points wins.

But it’s also very pretty, like I said. The newest versions are cheaper and just have cardboard tiles in them. Those are still pretty. The more expensive version, which was the first one they put out, has acrylic tiles to it. And why that works so well is that they can put water on the bottom and then have the fish, dragonflies, lily pads or ripples in the water on the top. So it gives them this depth that looks like looking into very clear water.

Buy Kohaku

37. World Wonders

World Wonders is the other tile laying game, and one of the new games on the list. It again falls into that category of a pretty simple game in what you are doing on your turn. You are paying for a tile to place on your board. Their are restrictions, mainly that it needs to be next to a road or another tile where you can place them. And that’s about it, minus the wonders. The tiles push you up on some tracks, which you want to keep balanced, but it’s mainly about the wonders.

The wonders are all great wooden pieces that are screen printed to all look like different wonders. It’s really cool that way. And the wonders are the most likely way that you’ll get points. As you play out tiles you’ll fulfill requirements to be able to place a wonder. But you can’t just get the wonder. You need to spend the rest of your money to get it. So if you get it early, you might spend more money first before you snag that wonder. But you also don’t want to miss out on a wonder, because again it’s how you get points. It’s a very good system or push and pull that way.

Buy World Wonders

36. Via Magica

Next up is Via Magica, one that I learned about from the Dice Tower group. Though it’s not a favorite of all of them, I really enjoy this gamer’s bingo type of game. Someone is drawing chips from a bag that are all different types of animus that you all use to open gates. So one is drawn out and you can fill in one on one of your three games that matches the type. That’s simple.

It adds a bit to the game when you consider which gates to take. Some of them might make a resource wild for you, so you get more flexibility when opening gates. Or it might let you transfer some animus to a specific color on other cards giving you a head start. Plus they give you points, and you make decisions based on trying to get the most done, but also groups of colors. Because there are bonus points for the first person to get various color groups completed.

It’s a great simple game. The artwork is cute, and it’s one that would work well with most groups of people. Is it the most challenging game, certainly not, but Sometimes I want an easy and fun game to play, and Via Magica is very good for that.

Buy Via Magica

35. Sushi Go Party!

And now another bigger group game. I like Sushi Go Party a lot for a couple of different reasons. Firstly, I like drafting games and how they tend to be games with little to no downtime in them. The most downtime that Sushi Go Party has is when calculating the scores at the end of the round. Otherwise you’re drafting cards all at the same time.

The other thing that I really like about Sushi Go Party is the variability. There are a ton of cards that you can get for the game and that come in the main box, so you can mix it up how it works each time. And it allows you to customize it to who you’re playing with as well. I might want to play a really cut throat version some time, or maybe a more peaceful and zen version another time. With more cards, it can really be set-up for your game group.

Buy Sushi Go Party

34. Meadow

Now a game that looks peaceful, but it isn’t fully. Meadow has amazing artwork and it’s all about building out a tableau in front of you of nature. But the game is a very tight and thinky game with a core mechanism that really challenges you to think through as you play.

There’s a grid of creatures, terrains, and scenery in the middle of the table. And you have four tokens (five in a two player game) that you use to determine which card you get. But the token as a number one it, one through four, and that determines the distances from the spot you put the token and that is the card you get. So there is great strategy for when you grab something, even if you might need it later. Because it might be getting hard to be able to take.

This is one where I know even I take a bit on my turns. There is a lot to think about and that’s part of what is great about the game. It’s a real puzzle that is hidden in a box with very pretty artwork.

Buy Meadow

33. Flamecraft

And speaking of games with pretty artwork we have Flamecraft. Flamecraft is a resource gathering and contract fulfillment game. All of it with adorable artwork from Sandara Tang. But there is more to this game than just the pretty artwork and the fun artisan dragon theme.

In Flamecraft, you are collecting resources and fulfilling contracts. But the game does a lot of other fun things. Mainly as you gather resources you’re adding dragons to shops. So they become more powerful and can help you gather more resources faster. I think that’s an interesting challenge and twist of the game as you build up those shops.

Buy Flamecraft

32. Mansions of Madness: Second Edition

Now a game that has fallen a ways, Mansions of Madness: Second Edition. This one is mainly down here in the 30’s because I’ve played other games that I love, so a few games have moved down. But also because I haven’t played it recently, so it’ll go up if I get it played again before the next time I do my Top 100 Games.

But this is a Lovecraftian themed game in the Fantasy Flight Arkham Files line. This one has a bit more of a localized feel as you play through it. And the app helps with the game allowing it to add in interactive puzzles and change up the map each time you play so scenarios, while the story might not change, feel different.

And the game just does a lot in it. I mentioned the puzzles, but the stories are good. And because of the variety of tiles and monsters in the game, you can really get a wide variety of stories. Often times they take place in houses, but I’ve explored other areas, such as city streets and the shops on there. And it is a longer game, but because it’s cooperative and you all have that one goal, it works well. The immersion into the story and into the game certainly helps as well.

Buy Mansions of Madness

31. Super Fantasy Brawl

Finally, rounding out this section, we have Super Fantasy Brawl. Super Fantasy Brawl is an arena battling board game where you are trying to knock out your opponents characters for points, and complete objectives, for points. And it’s up to five points, so it’s a fast game. And I think it balances everything in the game really well.

I like the action selection system a lot. There are three action chips, each of a different color. You pick one card from each color to active on a turn. So you might be activating the same character multiple times, or it might get split up between characters. But you can also use them for defense. It just refreshes at the end of your turn, so that means that you’ll be missing an action on the offensive.

And I like how knocking someone out just means that they can come back in with a card play the next round. So I can’t knock out all your characters and just win that way. But you also can’t figure knocking characters out, because you need to do that to break up them getting a goal. A check for a goal is at the start of your turn, so your opponent always has a chance to stop it, which is a really good system.

Buy Super Fantasy Brawl

Upcoming Streams

Let’s run through the stream structure like I normally do. You might already know the schedule but in case you don’t. Wednesday at 8 PM Central I stream either a campaign game, or with this time of year it’s my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition. And join me next Wednesday for games 30 through 21, so hitting the half way point. It goes so fast, and now I have so many games that I want to play.

Then on Monday I stream at 9 PM Central time. It’s generally a solo game. Though I’ll also do pack openings for things But normally it’s a solo game and a one off for the game like a roll and write, or sometimes a game like Under Falling Skies or For Northwood, which was on the list today.

But the best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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Pros

• Theme
• Artwork
• Price Point
• Developer/Design team of Dwellings of Eldervale

Cons

• FOMO on Fancy Version
• Game Play On the Page

The Page

This is a great page but with my common complaint. This page doesn’t have nearly enough game play information on it. Now the game might be as simple as what it shows, but when you have a playthrough the rule book link, I’d love to see a bit more of how the game actually works. In particular the “How To Play” section doesn’t have how you win on it. That likely doesn’t have a fancy gif you can make for it, but it is important to know.

Otherwise, they do what they should, they highlight the amazing artwork. The Artwork of Sandara Tang is just amazing. The dragons are adorable and I think really all of it sets the theme of the board game so well. And little dragons helping around a town is completely adorable.

The Game

The game itself looks like it should be fun. However, I can’t speak to that too much because as I said in the section about the page, there just isn’t enough information on this page. So normally I’d write up a whole lot more on this. I could have watched the how to play video(s) or game play, and I might later. But if I can’t tell how the game works or how to win the game by looking at the “How to Play” section, that probably isn’t ideal.

To go further on that, I’m in the hobby. I spend a lot of time, maybe too much, looking at Kickstarters and Gamefounds. When I do this post though, I want to not dive exceedingly deep in. Why, because most people won’t. So I want to give you my first impressions. And that is that the game looks amazing, but the game play, I don’t know.

Back or Brick

This one, will it be a Back or Brick? For me this is going to be a Brick. I actually really want to play this game. However, this game is going to go to retail, so the only reason I’d back it right now to help the company fund the game, it’s already funded, or get the deluxe version. Now the deluxe version looks cool, but for a lighter game, which this looks like, do I need all the fancy plastic. How much is a Game Trayz insert going to improve my enjoyment of the game? I’m not sure this game has enough stuff to warrant getting the fancy version.

How about for you is this a Back or Brick?

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