Tabletop Tuesday - No Thanks!

Welcome to another edition of Tabletop Tuesday - Your weekly exploration into games of dice, cards, luck, and more of the Tabletop world.

This week's game...the game of chips and wit that is No Thanks!

Players: 3-5*
Time: 10-20 minutes
Genre: Casual Card Game



No Thanks is a game that is easy to grasp for newcomers thanks to its simple premise: Points are bad, and the player with the fewest points when the deck runs out wins.  Each player starts 11 chips and each turn a point card is revealed from the deck.  Depending who's turn it is, they have two choices: Take the points and go again, or put a chip in the middle and pass (no thanks).  Eventually, someone will take the points because they either ran out of chips to pass or they want the chips in the middle that come with the points.  Points in the deck can range from 3-35 points.  With this setup, the game is a constant calculation of risk vs reward.  What holds more value: The chips or the points?  If I pass on the chips now, can I get more people to build up the pot for me?  Or will the chips get grabbed before then?

There are two additional rules that greatly shift the dynamics of this game.  If players should get a sequence of points (Example 2,3,4, 5 or 20, 21, 22), only the lowest value in that sequence will count towards that players score.  However, 9 cards are removed at random at the start of the game, so no particular sequence can be guaranteed to be available in the deck.  Landing these sequences can drastically reduce a player's score and allow for some devious tactics.  For example, if you have the 26-point card and the 25-point card is revealed, you may be inclined to take the points to reduce your score...or you may pass knowing no one else wants those points and thus try to obtain more chips.  Just try not to let your greed get the better of you.  I recommend this game for those who enjoy tough calls and fiddling with chips.

For those who noticed the asterisk by the player count, there is a version of No Thanks for 3-7 players, though this game plays best with 4-5 players, so if you can't find that version, you can still rest easy getting the 3-5 player version.  If you have any questions about No Thanks, be sure to ask in the comments.  Otherwise, look forward to future installments of Tabletop Tuesday!