Coloretto Review

Karma, Karma, Karma, Karma, Karma Chameleon

Coloretto is one of the simplest card games outside of Uno. But unlike the famous trick taking game, here it is all about set collecting brightly coloured lizards. What makes this game so simple is you only ever have two options. One, you can flip a card and place it in one of the pre designated ‘place holders’. Two, you take one of the afore mentioned place holders and any cards already stacked there. Easy! To setup the game you merely place one place holder card per player, shuffle the deck of colourful chameleons and add the “Last Round” card on the bottom section. Drawing of this card will trigger the end of the game. In the deck you have seven suits plus a few wild cards. You will also get a handful of “+2” cards for end game scoring, which I will get to soon. Designer, Michael Schacht has created a really tight game which can be taught in two minutes offers more thought and bite than may first appear.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

The main purpose of the game is to get as many points as possible and there are only two ways to score points but one major one to lose them too. Once the “Last Round” card is drawn, that final round is played through to the end and scoring will commence. You will only score for three of the colours you have managed to collect and all wild cards must be assigned to one of the stacks before scoring. There is a handy little score card that tells you what each amount of cards is work. For example, 1 may only be worth 1 but 2 is worth 3 and 3 worth 6 right up to 6+ which will get you a whopping 21 points.

This is all very exciting, however the twist here is that any other colours you have will lose you points instead. So you have to be vary careful not to collect past those three suits. This of course is impossible, as cards and stacks will lumber you with colours you don’t want as the compromise of collecting the ones you are focussed on. This is where the real tension of the game comes into play.

When you flip cards and add them to place holders you want to make sure you are creating stacks that are appealing to you and not other players. With everyone’s cards on show you are always aware of who is collecting what and so being tactical in your placement is where the game is at. You also have to be careful not to make any one stack so appealing that another player will pick it up before you have a chance to nab it on your next turn. Another great dynamic is the lack of card counting. Despite knowing how many of each colour chameleon are in the deck, the placement of the last round card near the bottom, means that there will always be cards that never come into play.

Invisible Touch

For those who have a grasp on the game, there is an alternate version which scores very differently. This ‘grey’ scoring track, also available on handy score cards for everyone, makes the game much harder. The most you can score is 8 points per colour but this is for 3 cards. After that the points start to go down again with 6+ only getting you 5. This makes for a much tighter fight for colours and offers opportunities to make your opponents take cards that will lower their points for their three main chosen colours. There is also a two player variant that takes two suits out of the deck and creates variable place holders. Sadly this doesn’t create nearly the tension and interest that a 3+ player game does.

Coloretto is simple fun and a great filler game that suits any age. However, it also adds a little more depth for those who want a little more bite.