Rich strategy options behind a deceptively simple facade...
Written: Dec 20 '01
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Pros: Easy to learn, multi-faceted, skill and chance combine to keep things interesting
Cons: Strategic thinkers can win consistently, addictive - you'll lose sleep playing late into the night
The Bottom Line: Simple to learn, a fun game that people from 6 to 86 can play together. Can be played very casually, or with a fair degree of concentration and intensity.
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| JeffSullivan's Full Review: Sequence Game |
We bought Sequence at least 8 years ago and have introduced many friends to it since. On the surface, you have a hand of 5-7 cards and put a colored chip on the board in one of the two places on the board that match one of the cards in your hand, until you get a "sequence", five chips in a row. You're racing the other players, and their moves may block yours. There are a limited number of powerful wild cards, and deciding when to play them can have a decisive effect on the outcome.
As you gain experience, you start to realize that as in chess, every move you make involves a decision that increases or decreases your odds of winning. Each choice you make will affect both your board position and the value of the assets you're holding in your hand. The options you have on the next move are affected by what you've set yourself up for on the board, the cards in your hand, and the reactions you've triggered from the other players.
Rather than recite the rules, I'd like to provide you with a few examples of strategy that will give you a flavor for the levels at which you can play the game.
All players notice that the corners are wild, so you only need four additional chips to complete a sequence. As players block each other's attempts to complete a sequence, many players realize that it's useful to group chips as close as possible together in order to be building potential sequences in several directions at once. The edges of the board block growth of a potential sequence as effectively as a competitor's chip, so it'd generally best to group your efforts as close as possible to the center of the board. Wild cards should be hoarded to complete a sequence, or to block another player from completing one.
Strategies to experiment with as you gain experience include holding back key cards that would tip other players off to your best sequence prospects. If your opponents are avid blockers, you may wait until you have an extra wild card to handle their potential response as your sequence unfolds. You can even create a diversion with a lesser opportunity (that they don't know you can't actually complete yet), trying to get them to expend any wild cards that they might otherwise use to block your main attack.
Here are a few I'm just starting to experiment with:
In a three player game, play your cards/chips in the best board positions, but hold back as long as possible on ones that would align three chips in a row. Soon your two opponents will be doing battle, and expend their wild cards blocking each other just as you're about to unleash your best cards.
To maximize the power of the hand you're holding, periodically discard from your hand cards that have low flexibility, such as when one of the two spots on the board is already taken. Toward the beginning of the game, after securing the most central board spots represented in my hand, I then play any doubles (cards that I hold both of) to free up those spots in my hand for more flexible cards.
Since people hoard the wild cards to complete their own sequences and to block others, it sometimes can pay off to make an immediate run at a sequence if you can pull it off very early (perhaps using a corner to get there faster, or any wild cards you may be holding).
As in poker, some people give away a lot via facial expressions or comments. In this game your eyes can give away what area of the board (or group of played chips) you're planning something for. "Table talk" is technically banned by the rules, but the ban is rarely enforced, so it can be informative or misleading. I wouldn't be surprised if some players count the wild cards played in order to judge the odds of their competitors completing a threatened sequence, or the odds of having theirs interfered with.
While there's no need to consider advanced strategies while you're learning the game, it's exactly due to the gradual recognition of subtle tactics that helps keep it fresh and interesting. Whether you enjoy games that are mentally engaging, or ones that simply offer rounds that unfold differently and can change rapidly, there truly seems to be something here for everyone.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 15
Type of Toy: Board Game
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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Epinions.com ID:
JeffSullivan
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Member: Jeff Sullivan
Location: California Wine Country
Reviews written: 84
Trusted by: 71 members
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