Small chaotic game request

Hi! I am looking for a small chaotic game full of backstabbing and nasty tricks in the same vein as Munchkin.

I have King of Tokyo, which is a favorite of mine, but since the info is mostly open, there is not a lot of nasty suprises, even with both expansions.

Munchkin is quite fun, but has a tendency to be too long.

I have grave robbers from outer space, and find that while the game is fun, there is too much backstabbing in the game. What I mean is the game usually ends with pretty low scores, and only one or 2 cards in front of you. It's too easy to destroy each other's movies.

I have tried Lords of Scotland, and there is quite a few nasty tricks in there. But my friend already own it so I won't buy it again. Same thing with Monopoly Deal, a nasty take that kind of game but since my friend owns it, no reason to buy it.

I might be interested by Shinobi Wat-aah, or Cutthroat Caverns. However, I am concerned about shinobi's pasted on board for the advanced game. It increase the price of the game and I am not sure it is worth it. And Cutthroat Caverns seems to be quite long for what it is, 90 minutes?

so you're looking for something along the lines of a knife fight in a phonebooth type of thing?

There's a card game played with a traditional 54 card deck called Spite & Malice. Skip-Bo is a derivative of it. (Ken reviewed it a week or two back.) Worth a look, though it's certainly not in the vein of Muchkin.

S.

Wiz-War is my go to game for that kind of thing.

One game that you might want to check out is Guillotine. It's a quick, light-hearted card-based game where each player takes on the role of a busy and oddly competitive executioner during the French Revolution. Dirty tricks abound.

quozl's recommendation of Wiz-War is a good one too: I love that game. Tons of nasty combos that you'll be able to play on folks. It's a longer game than Guillotine is, and it makes solid use of map tiles, miniatures, and chits, so it has a more "board gamey" feel than Munchkin has.

A game that just had a new edition get kickstarted is Nuclear War. It's another nasty, dark, lightweight game. I haven't played it in years, but there may be copies out there.

Finally there's Fluxx. I have never played it but I always hear it mentioned in the same conversations as Munchkin, so it might be worth checking it out.

ubarose wrote: Just saw some people playing Iello's new micro-game, Welcome to the Dungeon. I don't know if it is any good, but it as small. It's a pack of cards and some cardboard tokens.mthe dudes playing it said it was a push your luck game.

I played it once and REALLY dug it.

Cutthroat Caverns can go ninety but you can also control that if you like. Basically there are X number of monsters set up and you have to get through all of them. We've occasionally played to a lower number (I think it's supposed to be ten and we've played hour long games with ... maybe 8 - I can't recall now) but the thing about it is that you want it to go 90 because it's so damn good. But all the other games mentioned work too. Wiz-War is a great chaotic game for 45 min - an hour. In fact it pretty much perfect.

ubarose wrote: Just saw some people playing Iello's new micro-game, Welcome to the Dungeon. I don't know if it is any good, but it as small. It's a pack of cards and some cardboard tokens.mthe dudes playing it said it was a push your luck game.

I picked that one up and played a couple of games. Basically on your turn you either pass or draw a card. If you draw a card it either goes into the dungeon or you bury it by taking away gear from the hero. Whoever is the last not to pass has to go into the dungeon. First to survive two trips wins, two unsuccessful trips kills you. It can be fast, though you may really agonize over your decisions. I like it, but I'm not yet convinced on its staying power.

We're talking ab out chaotic game and no one has mentioned Cosmic Encounter yet? May be on the long side, though I would consider it the same length as Wiz War.

If small is what you want, Magical Athlete is the correct answer. It is so stupid and wonderful.

Gloom is great card game for 4 player screw your neighbor. The playing cards are transparent with opaque scoring and text blocks. So you play your cards over your opponents characters and obscure their beneficial text/ scores with your detrimental info and vice versa. Unbelievably cut throat and fast. Has a gothic kind of feel to it. The winner is the player with the family that, at the time of death, lived the most pathetic and wretched lives.

I will echo the recommendation of Guillotine for light, fast, fun.