The game also seems to be better with a larger group. It will also land well with my family, because it is short and has almost zero teach, while providing a fun exercise in-between meals. But I can’t wait to bring Keepers with me to my in-laws trip to the beach next summer. Hobby gamers will shoot this game down, as my groups did. Play it with co-workers while you are stuck in an airport waiting for your flight. Play it with your family over the holidays. This is why I will make a novel recommendation to you: play Keepers, but DON’T play it with your hobby gaming friends. Dixit doesn’t have the scoring tied to providing pictures of the opposite of a clue word, but many of the gameplay mechanics have been seen in Dixit and other games like Keepers. “I think I would play Dixit over this, because of the variety and abstract nature of the pictures.”ĭixit, a game I have not played but have heard plenty about, came up a lot during my plays with other gamers. My friend Richard said it best during his second play of the game: “These cards are diminished by their proximity.” And, it’s true-there are just too many similar cards for the game to feel interesting for very long. The person who picked the word “skitter” didn’t even score that round! One person dropped “skitter” (as in, a critter walking around), and it was funny to watch 4 or 5 players all place their likely only critter card on the table: a squirrel, cricket, grasshopper, etc. When someone uses a clue like “leafy”, “green”, or the like, that will likely describe a third of the cards in the deck. You might have a hand of 7 cards (and you always draw a card at the end of the round, ensuring you maintain your hand size), but at any given time, you might have 4-5 cards that feature trees. They are almost TOO similar, which led to an interesting problem during my plays: But, all the pictures are basically pictures of nature: animals, trees, skies, waterfalls. The pictures by Jorjorian are beautiful, there’s no doubt about that. (If that version doesn’t sound long enough for you, you can play multiple rounds instead each game with 5-6 players takes about 10 minutes.) Everyone plays as the Curator once, and the person with the most points at the end is the winner. Votes are revealed, and the player(s) with the most votes for both the most and the least get to place their picture under their (score) Keeper token.

Some might see, say, a waterfall, and pick that picture, since that is the opposite of dry. So, some players might use their vote for the picture of the desert. Also, players cannot vote for their own cards. Least like the clue word? Vote with the red numbers. Most like the clue? Vote with the green numbers. Players then, using a handy dial that has all the numbered spaces in both green and red (with red numbers also circled, aiding with accessibility) vote for a single picture that is either the most like the clue word, or the least like it. (In games with three or four players, each player submits 2 of their 7 cards, to offer more choices.) The Curator adds their card(s) to this pile, shuffles them all, then places each card in a numbered space on the provided neoprene mat. So, a sample clue for a picture featuring a desert might be to say the word “dry.” Then, all other players submit one of their 7 cards to the center of the table. It has been interesting to see how many people struggled when faced with a life-or-death choice involving, say, an adjective or adverb!!) (It’s important here to note that the rulebook describes this point a couple of times: the clue cannot be a noun. One player is the “Curator” and has to pick one of their cards and describe it in a single word that cannot be a noun.

Three to eight players each have a hand of 7 cards from that massive deck of 120. It also spoke to why I think Keepers is a minor misstep for a certain audience of gamers, but why it is perfect for your next family vacation. With a deck of 120 cards featuring photographs by renowned photographer and Van Ryder staff member, Byron Jorjorian, Keepers elevated itself above the fray by asking players to make decisions based on beautiful pictures of nature.īut during my first game of Keepers, one of the players blurted out: Reading the rulebook for Keepers ( Van Ryder Games, 2022), I was getting some of the vibe of the games mentioned above, but for a classier, more restrained group. We used to play games like Cards Against Humanity and other games like Balderdash where people had to vote on the most outrageous things said, heard, drawn, or imagined at the table, with one person picking a winner. My family is a huge fan of the game MonsDRAWsity.

Ryder time keeper