Ligretto: Red – Card Game by Schmidt Spiele – 2-4 Players – 10 Minutes of Gameplay – Card Games for Family Game Night – Card Games for Kids and Adults Ages 8+ - English Version

This is a fantastic game for friends and family alike! The aim of the game is to score the most points by playing cards into the middle of the playing area while also getting rid of your "ligretto stack." Each player has a deck of 40 cards- 4 colors numbered 1-10. You shuffle your 40 cards and then lay out a given number based on the number of players face-up in front of you. You then remove another 10 cards from your deck- these ten become your ligretto pile and are set in a stack face-down next to your cards. the remaining cards in your deck become an extra deck you will use to score more points during the game.Then the game starts- everyone begins trying to get rid of all their cards in play (plus as many of the cards in their extra deck) by placing them in the middle. However, cards can only be placed on top of cards of the same color and have to be placed in numerical order. So, ones can be placed instantly but twos through tens have to be placed in corresponding piles (red 2 on a red 1, green 3 on a green 2, blue 4 on a blue 3, etc.). Thus the challenge is trying to get rid of, say, your yellow 3 before another player places theirs in the yellow pile, forcing you to have to keep yours until a new yellow pile gets started. This can lead to some fun scrambles when 2 or more players are trying to get rid of the same card.If you can't place any of your cards that are in play, you turn over three cards from your extra deck- if the top card is playable you can place it, and if the one under that is playable you can place it, and so on until the top card is not playable, at which point you turn over another three and repeat until you get an opportunity to play one of your face-up cards on the table. If you run through your entire extra deck and still have cards left in your ligretto pile you start your extra deck over again and continue going through it the same way. Whenever you place a card that's from your face-up cards, you replace it with one from your ligretto stack and continue to do so until all of your ligretto stack has been placed, at which point you can end the round by saying "ligretto stop."When a round ends, all the placed cards are re-sorted into each player's deck (each player's cards have a different design/color on the back for sorting) and counted up. Every placed card is worth a point, and every card remaining in the ligretto pile takes away 2 points. The player with the most points is the winner! You can choose to play multiple rounds and keep adding the scores of each round together to determine a final champion or you can just play one-round games.Because you get points for every card played, sometimes it is best to not end a round as soon as you get rid of your ligretto stack, especially if you run through your ligretto stack very quickly. You have to pay attention to how many cards you've placed vs how many cards others have placed and try to end the round when you feel like you've placed enough cards to win once everyone else has their ligretto stack penalty subtracted from their placed points. It becomes an engaging, tense game as you try to monitor other players, your row of cards, your extra deck, and all the piles in the center.It sounds like a lot to keep track of but it's actually very easy to learn and pick up on! Rounds go very fast- usually someone ends the round within a few minutes, maybe 12 at most and depending on how many are playing. Each ligretto box supports 2-4 players, so you can have up to 12 players if you get all three boxes. I have two, the red and blue, and that is plenty for my needs. I will say the game gets more frantic and fun the more players you have- when I get 7-8 people together it becomes quite a blast with people playing cards left and right and scrambling to play their card before someone swoops in and places the card first. It's a ton of fun for everyone who's ever played with me and I highly recommend it for anyone who likes fast card games. Big hit at group parties!This set, the red box, has the green triangle, pink hexagon, black square, and brown circle decks. The box itself is only 4x4x2.5 inches so it's super easy to take to parties and get-togethers. Grab a box of your choice and try it out!

Have been playing this game years. One of my favorite!!

This game is so fun to play! My whole family is addicted. The rounds are quick, but we still end up playing it all night.

Such a fun game. Everyone can get it on the fun!

My daughter loves this game!

Great dinner party game. Easy to play.

A very good game, easy to learn and to play. The only drawback is that since it’s so fast paced there isn’t much room for conversation.

Fun game once you understand it. It requires a lot of space to play with many people. I would say this could be played by maybe 8 and up? It’s not that it’s impossible for younger kids but it took me a second to learn the rules.