The Game of 49, Game Review

The Game of 49, or just 49, is a straight forward game that harkens back to some of the old school style of play. Many of the more modern era games come with a theme, or backstory to set them up. Then, they build off the backstory fitting in the mechanics that work best to meet the needs of the game's strategy. Older style games usually only provided the strategy part of the game with little of the backstory.

At SaltCon 2017 I was able to learn to play 49 at a table with four others. These four new friends and I were enjoying new games being taught by Double Exposure Inc./Envoy. None of us had played 49 before and found the game was easy to learn. We completed our game near the lower limit of the listed time.

49 is played on a seven by seven grid board with 49 available spaces. The places come up for bid when their number is drawn from a randomized deck of cards. Each player starts with $49 (the amount you have at any time during the game is kept secret) to use to claim the location on the board. To win the game you need to get four locations in a row, a straight line in any direction. You are using bidding, money management, and location placement in your strategy. And, there are wild cards in the deck.

All wild cards do a couple of things, and then there is the 49 which is also a wild card. First, wild cards allow you to bid for the placement of any location on the concentric circle the card represents. This can provide a quick advantage to creating a row. The bidding can go higher because of the number of locations the token can be placed—I might be bidding to place on one side of the board while you are looking at the other side.

The 49 card is the middle of the board, so it is only one location and has some special rules. If no one owns the space, or it is currently owned by another player, you claim it with a winning bid (this is the only time a token is removed). If you already own the space, you get to place a token on any open space on the board.

Our game in action

After claiming your wild space, form from the wild cards or the 49 card, there is a payout. Every token on the board earns money for the player. The more locations you control, the more money you earn.

Because of the wild cards, if a number card is turned over and it is already taken, turn over the next card.

The game is easy to set up and clean up.

Our game of five was with players all a wide range of game playing experience and it went smooth. This is a good game for the more quiet social events. If you need a break in play, just don't draw the next card to bid on. You can also pause and talk during the game.

The Game of 49 was created by Mark Corsey and distributed by Breaking Games. It is designed for 2–5 players, with rule variations for when you have 2 or 5. A game is expected to take 30-45 minutes and is for ages 10+. If you have younger players who have played a few games I think they would be able to join in without problems, but maybe a little coaching.

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