Played and Reviewed by: Chris Shooter & Charlotte Stephenson
If you want to fill your week with Good Bois, then this strategic card game by Farplace Animal Rescue might just be for you.
A two-player card game (more if you have extra decks – a deck for every two players) where games typically take about 10 minutes, and the premise is quite straightforward. Each player lays out their 7 weekday cards and is dealt 5 cards from the play deck, a player’s turn consists of either playing a card onto a weekday or drawing a card from the deck. When all the days of a week is full, the game ends and the player achieving the most points from their visible cards wins.
The 39-card play deck consists of 14 different breeds of dog cards, such as Staffie, Collie, or Dachshund – all worth different points – and 8 special cards. The strategy comes into play as cards have a variety of play mechanics and characteristics.
Some dog cards can only be played on certain days: for instance, a poodle can only be played on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Some dogs can only be played on top of other dogs. Some cards let you take or swap dogs with your opponent, some cards can be played on any player’s week board, some dogs can only be played to the left or right of already played dogs, and some dogs can’t be played next to other dogs, for example, a chihuahua can’t be played next to a great Dane, and so on and so forth.
As with many card games, a good start can largely depend on your initial card draw but discerning when to play and when to draw, learning what cards can benefit you the most in your current playing situation is the crux of it. Make use of the special cards such as Zoomies or Stuffed Toys that allow you to swap dogs with your opponent or use a dog card that can knock your opponent’s score down, such as the French Bulldog, which is worth a relatively low 2 points and can be played on top of any dog on any board or the St Benard worth a whopping 6 points, that you can use to play on top of any of your own dogs, moving that dog across to an empty space of another player.
It’s a quick game though so watch the board, learn to read numbers upside down, do some quick mental arithmetic and do not dilly-dally as you will find your opponent’s days filling up quick and then it is all over red rover (see what I did there…)
The box and cards are nicely made and feel like quality in your hands and the artwork is quite adorable. Peggy our resident West Highland Terrier was very impressed she had a card in there as well worth 6 points and quite a useful one:
From Us:
Chris: It’s quick fun and not too overly taxing, but it is quirky enough to be engaging, a good one to turn to if you’ve not got the capacity for a big setup and tear down. It is about dogs (extra points in my book) and it is produced to help fund rescue dogs. More extra points. Other variations exist as well, such as Cat Days and Dino Days which expand on the theme.
Charlotte: It’s a lovely-to-look-at game, with charming artwork and cute Doggos. I feel like it would be perfect for families with little ‘uns, as the simplicity of it makes it easy for young minds to get to grips with quickly, but it’s also engaging enough to kill half an hour or so. Super-fast to set up, no fiddly bits and bobs, and dogs. Lots of dogs. Which is a good thing.
More information at Farplace Animal Rescue