Game Review: The Lady and the Tiger

The Lady and the Tiger designed by Peter C. Hayward, Allysha Tulk, Kevin Carmichael, Ken Maher, JR Honeycutt, and Philip Tootill, published by Jellybean Games

I am always fascinated by game designs that use the same components to create completely different games. That's the case with The Lady and the Tiger. The components were created and several designers developed games from those. The components are the following:

• 25 gems (5 in each of 5 colors)--the first printing had glass beads, which were nicer looking than the plastic gems in the second edition (which I have). The plastic ones are more color-blind friendly.
• 4 door cards (a blue lady, a red lady, a blue tiger, and a red tiger)
• 14 playing cards (3 blue ladies, 3 red ladies, 3 blue tigers, 3 red tigers, a lady/tiger card, and a blue/red card)
• Game summary cards for each game

Components page from the rules (click to enlarge)

The diversity of the games is surprising. Here are the five games:

1. Labyrinth (by Philip Tootill) ia a two-player game where players move their cubs (five colored tokens) across a grid of cards to their home card. On each turn, the player moves one token to an adjacent card and then swaps two cards, at least one of which has to have a cub on it. The trick is that the player can't swap just any cards. It has to be two of the same color or two ladies or two tigers. And the choice is further limited by only one of the two colors (blue or red) or one of the two types (ladies or tigers) depending on what was chosen previously. Cards on the side keep track of which type can be moved next.

Game in progress

You can choose blue or tiger next

The game is very "thinky" and thus prone to analysis paralysis. Planning moves ahead is possible but not certain. It's fun and challenging.

2. Doors (by Peter C. Hayward) is a two-player game in several rounds. In each round, one player is the Collector and one is the Guesser. Both players draw one of the door cards, so they have a specific color (blue or red) and character (lady or tiger). The players deal out four of the general cards face up. The Collector chooses one of the face-up cards (which is immediately replaced from the draw pile). The Collector is trying to get four cards that match their color or character. The Guesser gets to discard one of the four face-up cards and can try to guess the color and/or character of the Collector. Successful guessing gets points; unsuccessful guessing gives points to the Collector. As soon as someone scores, the round is over. The roles then switch for the next round. Play continues until one player has scored ten points.

It's an interesting game but I am terrible at it. We played twice and, including both games, I scored four points. Yikes! I did enjoy it in spite of my lack of skill.

3. Favor (by Allysha Tulk and Kevin Carmichael) is an auction game. Each player starts with five gems and a secret identity (one of the door cards). Cards from the deck are played to the center. On a player's turn, the choice is to flip up another card in the center or to call an auction. During the auction, each player gets to bid a number of gems on the whole set of cards in the middle. Whoever called the auction has the last bid, so the last chance to get the cards. If the auction caller wins the cards, his bid is split among the other players. If another player wins, the auction caller gets the bid. So the gems move around. Once the cards run out, a final auction is held. The cards that match both characteristics of a player's secret identity are worth three points; one characteristic is worth one point; no characteristics are negative two points. The two wild cards can alter attributes on one card. The game runs for three rounds. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.

Auction games are an Achilles' Heel for me. I am never that good at them. This game was ho-hum, but maybe it is just me.

4. Horde (by Ken Maher) is a solo game where the player tries to collect all the red and blue gems from the cards. Those gems are distributed randomly along with the black and white gems across the four door cards. Three yellow gems at the top are used to mark the rounds.

Hordes just starting

Each card drawn makes the player do one of three actions:

1. Move a gem between the lady cards or between the tiger cards (depending if the drawn card is a lady or tiger, regardless of the color on the drawn card)
2. Remove all pairs of trash (white and black gems) from the matching door card (so a drawn red lady can only remove trash from the red lady card); any unpaired trash (two of the same color or a third/fifth gem) stays on the card
3. Collect a treasure from a door card only if there is no trash AND the treasure matches the color (so a drawn red lady can take a red gem off the red lady door card if there is no trash on that door card)

The wild cards (lady/tiger or red/blue) force the player to put back trash on the cards. If no trash has been cleared yet, the player can swap two pieces of trash from any door cards.

There is a definite (and quick) learning curve that makes the game play more satisfying (and success more likely). On the other hand, the last card drawn is put under a yellow marker to indicate the round is done. If the first two rounds end with the same card (e.g. two red ladies), I have found it is virtually impossible to win in the final round unless that door card has no matching colored gems. Typically, I just start again.

I like this game but realizing when it becomes impossible to win is a little frustrating. The game only takes ten minutes at the most, so it is not a big loss.

5. Traps (by JR Honeycutt)

This is a bluffing game, which is not a popular style of game in our house. So we didn't play it. Four out of five isn't bad, is it?

Overall, I like these games. The variety is good, with something for everyone. The package is small. The art is gorgeous.

Recommended.