Fun, Fast, sometimes Frustrating

Also on Monday, November 21, 2005, we got in a game of Beat the Buzzard. It started with 3 people, ended up with 5.

This is a game that has a lot of other names -- it's been remade many times. It's a simple concept -- each person has a hand of 15 cards, numbered 1 through 15. There is a deck of cards in the middle, valued 1 through 10, and -1 through -5. On each turn, players secretly use one of their cards to bid on the center card. For positive valued cards, the highest card claims it. For negative cards, the lowest bid card gets it.

The twist - any cards that tie cancel each other out. So, it's often not good to play your highest cards on the highest values - it might end up being eliminated accidentally by another player.

The psychological implcations of this are huge. If I play a high card, will someone else cancel it out? If I don't, will someone outbid me? Is everyone else thinking exactly what I'm thinking? It can cause some serious brain pain.

You simply add up the values of all the cards you got.

The first couple games had three of us. (Scores are listed in order, winners first)

Beat the Buzzard Scores
First round	Chris	42	Charles	6	Jake	-8
Second round	Chris	19	Charles	16	Jake	5

Then, Matt joined...

Beat the Buzzard Scores
First round	Chris	23	Matt	14	Charles	4	Jake	-1
Second round	Charles	29	Chris	9	Matt	7	Jake	-5
Third round	Charles	13	Jake	12	Chris	11	Matt	4

THEN, Christine joined...

Beat the Buzzard Scores
First round	Charles	23	Matt	16	Christine	10	Jake	0	Chris	-9
Second round	Jake	23	Chris	14	Christine	4	Charles	2	Matt	-3
Third round	Jake	11	Chris	11	Charles	10	Matt	8	Christine	0
Fourth round	Jake	14	Matt	10	Charles	8	Christine	6	Chris	2

Check this out, Charles is the only player to NEVER come in last.

Beat the Buzzard is probably the most outrageous fun we've had in a game. When you get stepped on by other players, it's annoying, frstrating, and really, really, hysterical. The game goes very quickly -- it has a great "Just one more!" appeal.