SKYJO (2015)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
2-8	15-45 mins	Alexander Bernhardt	Magilano

In SKYJO, players are trying to reduce the total score of twelve cards in front of them. They do this by drawing a card and replacing it with one in front of them, keeping low numbers and getting rid of the high ones.

The catch here is that ten of the twelve cards in front of you start face down.

This gives SKYJO a chaotic feel. There are times when you’ll take a relatively low card only to reveal a 0 or -1 which is then available on the draw pile for the next player.

But other times you take a 0 and reveal one of the cards lurking in your collection was a 12, and you can’t not let out a cheer.

The round end is triggered by a player revealing their last card. When the round end is triggered, all players reveal their cards and if the person who triggered the end doesn’t have the lowest total, their score is doubled.

It makes for a tense end of round as players try to deduce if other players have the potential from what is already revealed to get lower. The last few plays of a round nerve-racking as a player or players work out when best to pull the trigger.

And so the game goes on. Card totals are tallied after each round and the first person to cross 100 points triggers the end of the game. The player with the lowest total score wins.

When turns are flying and players are flipping and replacing cards left right and centre, it can be a lot of fun.

That said, it is pretty luck based. Some players can find themselves frustrated when cards they draw each turn are high numbers they don’t want, or their revealed cards are better than what they’ve taken, meaning they continue to gift amazing cards to the next player.

But a bad round is usually forgotten by the next round, and this bad luck of the draw tends to move through the players across the game.

SKYJO is a fun family game. It’s super easy to teach, and can play very quick once everyone gets into the flow.