A Card Shark's Challenge

 This week's post is about a game I literally picked up on the side of the road. You see, there were some free antique doors that my wife wanted for craft projects in front of a house that was being remodeled, and there was a small pile of games and puzzles next to them. She got the doors and I got the games. 

Now, these weren't really exciting games. They were more like brain teasers by unknown (to me) companies. Today I'm sharing what is probably the most interesting, Scarne's Challenge. 

The box is in poor to terrible shape. In fact, it barely works as a box. The graphics are still there, though. Here they are...

Unfortunately, I didn't see $25,000 in the box, but I did see this...

Here is the board set up to play. Note that the numbers on a few of the tiles have worn off. It's easy to figure out what they're supposed to be, though. 

Ah, the rules! Before we look at them, let me tell you a little about what I found out about the game's creator, John Scarne. He is, after all, probably the most interesting thing about the game.

John Scarne wasn't just some bumpkin game designer. In fact, as a magician, he was one of the best card manipulators and mathematical geniuses around. During World War II, the military hired him to instruct the troops on how to avoid being cheated at cards and dice. He even played Paul Newman's hands in the 1973 movie, The Sting while he manipulated cards. This guy was good. Really good. In fact, he is considered by many to be the best ever.

He also spent much of his career disproving various "card counting" methods, and coming up with his own. He wrote about a dozen books on cards, magic, dice, and probability. He passed away in 1985 leaving quite a legacy behind. He's one of those people that is not generally well known, but in certain circles is very well known. He also created two games. One of which, published in 1947, is this one.

Now that I've set the stage, let's look at the instructions. You know a guy like Starne isn't going to create some historical simulation or fantasy adventure. Nope, this guy liked numbers. And numbers is what we get!

The closest thing this game reminds me of is the little peg jumping game that's on the tables in Cracker Barrel restaurants. But it's actually much more involved. Here you go...

The key is the setting youself up with your "jump moves" so that after your five you can manipulate the rest with "line moves." There are 20 preset games to choose from, each with scores for "par," "good," "fair," and "poor" games. I'm really good at "poor" and "incomplete" games. Especially "incomplete."

And here we have rules for group play, if you want to torture your friends...

All in all, it's not a bad game. But it's also not a great game. I can see how if you stick with it, you will improve your score. Still, I'm not sure I have that level of commitment. 

Starne's Challenge really is a challenge to get good at, and a fairly good game overall. It leans a little heavy into the puzzle side of gaming, having taken away all chance (no dice! No spinner!) which puts the full responsibility of how you do on your brain. My brain didn't like that. 

Still, for a "found on the side of the road" game, I guess it's not bad. 

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!