Play it, like it, Golem It

Golem It is a new remake of a game called “To Unlimited, and Beyond” and I believe there was also a version called “Chip It”. This is a card-shedding ladder climbing game. To win, players need to get rid of their cards by playing better sets than the one played before. These kinds of games are always quick and fun to play, and all of them offer some kind of unique twist - Golem It is no exception! 🙃

After handing out cards to every player (depending on player count, which goes from 2-6), the first player will play a number of cards with the same value. 🧐 Then the next player has to play the same number of cards but with higher value. This goes on until no one can play any valid hand and everyone passes. In this case the current set is discarded and whoever played it gets to play a new set - racing to get down to 0 cards!

So far this sounds mostly like any other ladder climbing game. However your cards range from value 2 to 21, so it might seem impossible to put together valid sets of the same number. This is where gems come into play! When playing cards you can play gems to increase the value of cards so you can combine more. And that’s not all, as there are 2 types of cards:

🟦Blue cards are raised by 1 value for each gem
🟪Purple cards are raised by their value for each gem

So e.g. you could put 2 gems on a purple 7 to make it a 21, and 3 gems on a blue 18 to make it a 21 as well. For this you can use your own gems but you can also take gems from the common supply anytime. This versatility might seem too strong, however having too many gems is also bad, as you aren’t just racing to empty out your hand, but also to have no more gems remaining. Luckily passing lets you discard 2 gems - sometimes even after you played your last card, you have to spend a few turns passing to actually win..

Golem It is an enjoyable “filler” type game that’s easy to learn and brings some fun moments and looks cute. It is one of the many games @playte_games is bringing to SPIEL in October. If you enjoy similar card games, make sure to check their booth!