Two pairs beat three-of-a-kind in the family-friendly filler game Oh My Socks!
I’m constantly surprised by the design ingenuity that allows hundreds of new small-box card games to hit the market every year. Designers are still finding ways to make a basic set of cards do new and interesting things, with Oh My Socks! being a fine example.
Designed by Antoine Bauza (7 Wonders, Takenoko) and Théo Rivière (Sea, Salt & Pepper, Draftosaurus), Oh My Socks! is a simple set-collection filler card game with a few nice twists – and it teaches quickly and plays in less than 30 minutes. The cards are fun, colourful and clear, and the pasted-on theme works well, with the main aim (collecting pairs) matching the washing machine/sock collection idea perfectly.
Each card has a colour, an arrow (more on that later) and a number. That number denotes how many cards of that colour are in the deck – there are 11 yellow cards, for example, but only two light brown cards. Most cards also have a star value (from zero to three), which represents the points they’re worth for final scoring. Some also have a special power, which you’ll get to use immediately if you keep the card.
On their turn, a player draws two cards, adds one to their face-up tableau, and then hands the other to an opponent. Which way the card goes (to the player on your left or right) is decided by the arrow on the card, which adds weight to your decision.
There are two special powers in the game, which are included on around a third of the cards. Gift cards have you draw a face-down card and give it to a player of your choice, while Rescue cards allow you to steal a card from another player and add it to your collection. Finally, the Super Sock is a one-off wild card that can be used as any colour (but you must decide the colour when you add it).
The game ends when the Washing Machine card (shuffled into the bottom part of the deck) is drawn. At this point, players flip any Gift cards, add them to their colours, and then discard any card colour they don’t have an even number of (you only want pairs of matching socks, after all). Simply add up the stars remaining to get your score.
There really is nothing to hate about Oh My Socks!, but that doesn’t mean it will appeal to everyone. The game is very light, and while the special cards and arrows add agency, there is no real control. For me, this adds to the fun and makes it great to play with kids, but this is a fun party filler not a tactical masterpiece.
Also, I wouldn’t recommend the two-player variant, where you sit side by side and pass unwanted cards to the empty side, taking those cards out of the game (but face up, so you can still card count). While it technically works, it isn’t as much fun – the game plays best with three or four players, with five being okay, too.
In my plays of Oh My Socks!, both in bars and at family events, it went down well. While you won’t win over any strategists, if you let your silly side take over, you’re likely to get plenty of laughs and a few surprises; especially as players reveal their Gift cards to find their score has gone from zero to hero, or the reverse.
Review by Chris Marling
Yes
Oh My Socks! is great with kids and a perfect addition to your filler-game arsenal.
Oh My Socks! has a similar length and weight to Coloretto, with the high luck factor easily forgiven thanks to the short play time.
Category: Family & Party
Designers: Antoine Bauza, Théo Rivière
Publisher: Helvetiq
Time to Play: 15m
Players: 2-5 Players
Age: 6+
RRP: £12
67 Cards
Rules sheet
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