Silver

Buy your copy of Silver here.

Silver is a card game about werewolves without any werewolves in it. That’s fine though as this is a gentle memory match card game with a werewolf veneer that mostly disappears as soon as the game’s main mechanics become apparent.

This is no bad thing; the mechanics are fun. Place your cards face down in front of you (this is your village) and have a peek at two. Play cards from the deck or from the face-up discard pile. Match, usually from memory, more than one card to reduce the size of your werewolf-attracting villager pool. Swap and discard your cards to end up with the least werewolf-enticing village before a player calls time.

Anyone can call an end to the game as part of their turn. Then everyone else gets a go to sort themselves out and then cards are flipped and scores are settled.

It’s a kind of memory poker, but when you draw a queen (or rather a witch, apprentice seer, or similar) you can play their effects by discarding. These effects are where the mechanics shine. Throwing away high-werewolf-attractiveness cards comes with the benefit of their effects, such as peeking at someone else’s cards, stealing one, swapping the next top deck card and so on.

The artwork favourably reminded various players around the table of the Frozen and Brave Disney movies, which certainly doesn’t harm its family friendliness. It has a disarming 'play in a caravan or tent while it is raining' vibe that lets you forgive any real criticism. Light gameplay which can be easily picked up by everyone with a little depth for mixed groups makes it perfectly fine for what it is, even if it is missing its claws.
 

CHRISTOPHER JOHN EGGETT

PLAY IT? PROBABLY

Designer: Ted Alspach

Artist: Andrey Gordeev, Taylor Bogle

Buy your copy of Silver here.

This review originally appeared in the December 2019 issue of Tabletop Gaming. Pick up the latest issue of the UK's fastest-growing gaming magazine in print or digital here or subscribe to make sure you never miss another issue.