Collection worthy

Some games just grab your attention, and when Hocus first showed up at www.kickstarter.com it was one that did exactly that.

The reason for the interest was based on it being a card game, so the cost was reasonable.

It’s always easier to take a chance on a low-cost game, than the miniature-heavy games where $100-plus is needed to get the game to your table.

Then there was the fact Hocus promised to blend the basic mechanics of Texas Hold’em poker with a bit of good old magical mayhem.

The introduction to the game is certainly one which made it sound perfect for our gaming group.

“Hocus is a classic card game beloved by ancient folk, now redesigned for modern humans who may or may not have the gift of magic. It is about managing a limited hand of cards and wielding spells to create ranked sets of cards that are superior to your opponents’ sets. Using elements from classic Poker games, Hocus expands and revises them to create a fresh and magical experience,” it detailed.

In Hocus 2-5 players build the best Sets by combining shared Communities of four cards with two personal Pocket cards. Unlike traditional Poker, players build Communities, Pockets and Pots using cards from their Hands on individual turns. There are multiple Communities, each with a Pot, and two Pockets per player.

Now the group I regularly game with have all sat in on more than a few hands of Texas Hold’em. One of the cadre actually daydreams of winning the lottery and donating a chunk of those winnings in pursuit of a year on the pro poker circuit.

And we of course also relish games which include magic, including a couple of us having been fairly serious Magic: The Gathering players, at least locally in the past.

That magical element is great fin in Hocus.

Spells, generally speaking, add cards to the Communities, Pockets and Pots.

A player generally has one of three actions to take;

• add a card from his hand to a community (where a maximum of four cards are revealed),

• add a card to a pocket (a pair of hidden cards they eventually reveal to show the best poker hand using the pocket and community cards).

• add a card to a pot. The pot is what the player with the best poker hand wins. Each card has a point value and those in pots count toward the 25 need to win.

Players are also given one of the three-card sets of advanced spells which give them unique actions they can opt to use.

A neat feature of Hocus is that it uses four unique suits, including owls which offer another level to the game.

“Owls are one of the four suits of cards in the deck. Owls are claimed by the winner of each Showdown. If Owls are present in the Pot, not only does the winner score the Point Value of all cards, Owls included, but they also place the Owls in front of them face up. Claimed Owls are not part of a Hand and will not be shuffled into the deck for the next Round.

“Owls grant bonus Spells. On a player’s turn, before or after using and one normal Spell, a player may resolve the text on one Owl in front of them and then Return the Owl. Owls are only kept for a single Round. If not used in the Round after they are claimed, they are Returned to the deck before Resolve Showdowns,” details the rule set.

The game, by designers Joshua Buergel and Grant Rodiek, plays great.

We gave it multiple play through’s the night we cracked the game open, and quickly saw strategies emerge.

Yes some owl cards and some advanced spells are more useful in general situations but not to point of annoyance, partly because no one player has access all the time.

The artwork is great, although a bit more variety through the deck would have enhanced the aesthetics.

The big drawback is very thing card stock. It has us headed to the store for sleeves after one night of play because they would not stand up to repeated use. Very good offering. One you can’t really go wrong in adding to a collection.