0
0
Players: 2 to 6
Playing Time: 20 minutes and up
Pacardy has a little of everything—cards, dice, and even fake money (which is especially enticing for younger players). To begin, players are each given $1.25 in fake coins and an even share of the cards in the deck (which contains cards with the numbers 1-12, except for 7, and Pacardy cards, which I’ll explain later).
When it’s your turn, you roll the two dice. You add up the total (for example, if you roll a 3 and a 6, the total is 9), and if you have a card in your hand that matches the total, you get to play it and roll again. You roll until either (a) you don’t have a card that matches the total, or (b) you roll a 7. If you can’t play a card, any other player who has a card that matches the total can play it, and you hand the dice to the player on your left. If you roll a 7, everyone has to throw some money in the center of the table, and you pass the dice to the player on your left. For the first 7 rolled, everyone pays 1 cent. For the second, everyone pays 2 cents…and so on, until seven 7s have been rolled. After that, everyone pays seven cents for each 7 rolled—unless you have a Pacardy card in your hand. Then, instead of paying, you can choose to play a Pacardy card.
The player who gets rid of his or her cards first wins the round—and gets to keep the money that’s gathered in the middle of the table. Then play starts again. Once one player runs out of money, the other players count their money, and the one with the most money wins the game.
Pacardy is a great game for kids. Not only will they be excited about playing with money that looks somewhat real (my seven-year-old nephew loved it), but it also does a great job of…well…tricking them into learning. As they play, they’ll add the numbers on the dice, count money, and more—and they won’t even that notice that they’re improving their math skills. For adults, however, it’s easy to lose interest. There’s very little strategy involved, and it tends to get monotonous after a while—especially when, from time to time, players take turns winning rounds, and the game goes on for a long time. It just doesn’t have that something extra-special to make it exciting enough to play game after game.
Pick up a copy of Pacardy for the kids—because it’s a great educational game for family game night. But if you’re looking for a game for the grown-ups, this isn’t your best bet.
