Odds'R

Television series like Celebrity Poker have made poker cool again.  So it's no surprise that some hybrid games start hitting store shelves.  Odds'R is just such a game.

Gameplay

Odds'R is a unique amalgamation of trivia, gambling, and strategy for 2 to 4 players or teams.  For this review we had four players.  The basic setup is that you move around a spiral board.  On your turn you are read a multiple choice question and the answers.  Then everyone bets on whether you will get it right or wrong.  Everyone must bet at least the minimum ante on whether you'll get it right or wrong.  There's no maximum bet.  The ante gets higher as the leader moves closer to the center of the board.

Along the way there are spaces that raise the odds to, say 5 to 1 or spaces that allow the player to flip a cow chip, or to get the grab bag for additional money.  There's also spaces that can cause a player to loose money or move backward on the board.  As play continues a lottery grows with each lost bet.  On occasion players are allowed to by lottery tickets and the lucky numbers are read at the beginning of each turn.

The game ends when someone lands in the center of the board.  The winner is determined by who has the most money at that point.

The questions asked are interesting and often humorous covering topics such as sex, politics, death and more.  They are usually centered around statistics.  My favorite question from the game we played was How many men have received breast reductions.  The answers would be something like 1 in 10, 1 in 100, and 1 in 1,000.  You may think you know the answer but you probably don't.  Also, for your information there is a paragraph on each card discussing the research done to obtain the answer.  More often than not we were surprised by the answers.  At the same time many of the questions are quite easy to reason out the answers too.

At first glance there doesn't seem to be much strategy to the game, but there actually is.  On your turn look at your opponents money and the size of the bets they've made on you.  Can you afford to loose a small bet by throwing the answer to force them to loose more money?  That's just the beginning.  There are many other finer details to the game that I haven't covered that come into play with each turn.

To win this game  you have to be a sly gambler, posses a decent amount of general knowledge, and perhaps most important of all know your opponents.  We found the game to be well balanced, fast paced, funny, and very unique. 

8/10

Presentation

The game comes with a large number of pieces that are all fairly well made.  One of our players mentioned (since our board wouldn't fold down flat) that it would have been cool to get the game on a fold out piece of felt much like many of the poker games are presented.  We will have to fold the board out upside down and put a heavy book on it to get it formed more flat.  But this little issue reinforces how sturdily the board is made.  It should hold up nicely for a long time to come.

The poker chips are good quality plastic featuring their value and the game logo.  The lottery tickets come in sheets that must be broken down into individual tickets prior to play.  At first opening even with breaking down the tickets the game is a quick set up.

7/10

Overall

I think this game is great because it can appeal to such a mixed group of players.  In our group we have a few players who really love poker and love to gamble.  We also have several trivia gamers.  Both sets of players were satisfied by this game and had a great time with it. 

8/10

-Stephen Lackey

Odds'R

Released by Eagle Games

Check out the official website!

Review:

Gameplay 8/10

Presentation 7/10

Overall 8/10