ODIN – Climbing the Ladder to Valhalla

In the days of the Vikings, those returning from war told tales of conquest. They told tales of their fallen brothers, rising from the battles to the honored halls of Valhalla. That’s the story, such as it is, in Odin, a new ladder-climbing game from Helvetiq.

If you don’t jive with the story, though, that’s okay. It’s just Viking-themed art on an otherwise abstract game.

Odin is a card game for 2-6 players by Gary Kim, Hope S. Hwang, and Yohan Goh, published by Helvetiq. Kids as young as 7 years old should be able to play, and a game takes about 15 minutes.

Gameplay

Deal nine cards to each player.

The first player must play ONE card from their hand. The next player (clockwise) can then choose to play card(s), or pass.

In order to play cards, they must form a higher set than what is already on the table. That can be the same number of cards with a higher value… or a set of cards that is one more card than the existing set.

A set of cards is all the same color or all the same number, and arranged in order to make the highest number possible.

For example, if the first player plays a 5, then the next player could play a 7, or a pair of 2s to make “22”, or a matching 2 and 1 to make “21”. But they couldn’t play three 2s to make 222, because that would be adding two cards.

After playing a set of cards, the current player MUST pick up a card from the set they just beat, and add it to their hand. For a single card, this is easy – pick up the card. But if the old set has multiple cards, then they must choose exactly one to keep.

Then it’s the next player’s turn – will they play an even higher set and take a card, or will they pass? In Odin, passing can be strategic. If the round makes it back around to a player who passed, they can play into the round again if they want.

However, if every player passes and the round returns to the person who played the set currently on the table, discard this set. The player who played the set starts a new round by playing a single card from their hand – OR if all the cards in their hand form a single set, they may play their whole hand and immediately end the round.

Going Out

A full hand ends when someone has played all their cards (either by starting a round with their whole hand, or by playing a higher set that empties their hand). Once the hand ends, every player takes points equal to how many cards they still have.

Then discard all the cards, re-shuffle, deal out nine cards to each player, and start a new hand.

For a regular length game, play until someone has accumulated at least 15 points at the end of a hand. (This takes 3-4 hands, in our experience.) Then the player with the fewest points, wins.

Of course, for a shorter game, play just one hand – whoever can play all their cards first becomes the winner.

Impressions

It takes a special kind of card game to get everyone at the table interested. Odin does a great job, with speedy turns, simple decisions, and engaging artwork by Crocotame.

After our first play, the basics of Odin became clear. Play cards when you can make a higher number, and make sure to to pick up a helpful card.

Every turn is an opportunity to improve your hand for further plays, picking up a card to add to a set in your hand. But it’s so easy to be overly eager to get cards out of your hand, playing out your best combo to pick up a card that’s totally unhelpful. The strategy of card selection (or not!) is the differentiator that makes Odin very interesting.

Player Counts: from Easy-Going to Frustrating

In a two player game, you have to be very careful, trying to get cards out of your hand without giving your opponent what they need: it’s a race to go out first.

At three and four players, Odin is a game of careful but still simple decisions. Try to shape your hand to give yourself multiple options to play each time as you whittle down your cards.

But Odin gets frustrating at five or more players, and especially at the maximum player count of six. You’ll be waiting a lot longer between turns, and get fewer chances to play your cards. We’ve seen players get boxed out three or even four turns in a row, because the numbers quickly climbed higher than they could possibly beat, in every turn around the table.

Simple but Compelling

At every player count, Odin causes players to ask two questions: “Can I beat this with the cards in my hand? And do I actually want to?”

These two questions create just the right amount of tension for gamers, and add to the highs and lows around the table. At The Family Gamers headquarters, it’s common to hear “I’ve got just the thing,” or “Oh no, I shouldn’t have done that!” or “I knew I should have saved my bigger number,” mixed with laughs and fake outrage at the other players.

We recommend Odin for family and small group play. We’ve played other ladder-climbing, card-shedding games, but this one is hard to beat for how easy it is to learn, while still offering real decisions to make nearly every turn. It also doesn’t hurt that this tiny box can fit in a purse or pocket.

If Odin sounds like your kind of light strategy game, get it from Asmodee or Amazon, or try it for free on Board Game Arena!

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Odin from Helvetiq (via Asmodee) for this review.

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