Publisher: Oink Games
Player Count: 2-5 Players
Game Length: 20 Minutes
Complexity 2/5
As the newly appointed head of a circus company, your job is to put together the best group of performers. Each performer has a place, but you’ll need to scout other company’s performers to fill in the gaps and beat your opponents.
Let’s just get real right away… the theme is so lightly attached that if a subtle breeze comes along at the right time it may disappear forever. If you love circus-themed games… great, but it doesn’t really apply here. What you need to know is SCOUT is an extraordinary card game that mixes strategy and a little luck in a package that transcends board game barriers and appeals to kids young and old, seasoned and new. While that pretty much covers everyone, let’s dive into the review and see if SCOUT is a good fit for your game collection.
ON YOUR TURN
SCOUT incorporates a system of poker hands where sets and runs are played in order to trump a previously played group of cards. I’ll refer to all played cards as “sets” going forward. SCOUT features 2 key twists that make it what it is. The first twist comes in early: Cards must stay in the order they were received and sets of cards can only be played as long as they’re consecutive in your hand. The second twist is: Each card features 2 numbers (top and bottom) where only the top number is active.
On your turn you have the opportunity to play a set of cards or scout the previously played set on the table. If you can beat the current set, you’ll show your set and gain money for each card from the previously played set. If you can’t beat the set, then you’ll scout and be able to snag a single card from either the front or back of the currently played set. The player who played the scouted hand receives 1 money for each scouted card as they’re taken. The scouted card you choose can go anywhere in your hand and you have the choice to determine which side (or number) of the card is active.
Each player can use their “scout & show” option once per round allowing them to do both actions on a single turn. Play continues until 1 player empties their entire hand or a played set comes all the way back around to its original player. Points are totaled up and any cards left in your hand are subtracted. The game lasts a number of rounds based on the number of players and that’s how you play SCOUT.
ARTWORK & COMPONENTS
Despite a disjointed theme and minimal components, SCOUT brings a fun, bright and minimalistic design popular in all this publisher’s games. The hobby version comes with a handful of cardboard money and point tokens while the Target/retail version is just a deck of cards leaving it up to you to keep score.
PROS & CONS
➕ Small game footprint makes this easy to store or travel with
➕ Quick playtime means you always have time for a game of SCOUT
➕ Deceptively deep strategy (for a relatively light weight game)
➕ Easy to teach new players
➕ Twists in the game’s mechanics (while not whole unique on their own) present a unique and satisfying game experience
➕ Potential big turns build anticipation and excitement throughout the game
➖ 2 player variant loses some of the game’s charm – I’d just stick to 3-5 players
➖ Theme doesn’t really make sense (yes, I’m still harping on the theme)
➖ Luck does play a factor – whether it’s a poorly dealt hand of cards or sitting next to someone who “has all the luck”
WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?
Fans of smart, snappy card games that play well with at least 3 players are really going to appreciate this. It’s easy to teach and jump into, but the strategic depth and neat spins make this something special.
WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?
Not being able to rearrange your hand is the best thing about SCOUT. Other games like Bonanza and Hanabi have used this, but for entirely different reasons. This limitation creates the necessity to pursue creative solutions in your quest to build the most powerful sets. The dual-numbered cards are a close second, but everything exciting and fun about SCOUT grows from the game’s initial challenge.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There are so many fun pieces that seem to come together just perfectly in SCOUT. It’s a quick, simple play, but it was seeing the strategy unfold over my first few games that had me hooked.
I ultimately see the game more as a push-your-luck style card game. While you may be blessed by a powerful initial hand, you’re most likely going to have to build those sets by scouting at the right times. Bringing cards into your hand can make you more powerful, but the progression of the game allows for fewer and fewer opportunities to strike. While you might scout early even if it wasn’t necessary in order to move toward a potential big play, you’ll come to a point later in the game where a single play from an opponent can surprise everyone and end the round. Scoring is at a premium and losing points for cards in your hand can really weigh on you. So you’ll need to build those tough sets, but also need to know when to cut bait and play. It’s a fine line and I love to see how close I can come to it.
That being said, my 9 year-old-daughter who “isn’t into strategy games” at all enjoys SCOUT because it’s so accessible, plays fast and allows her to enjoy big turns even if she’s not the most engaged gamer. It’s ultra-portable packaging makes this an easy travel pick for your next vacation or daily trip to the office.
I’ve been thrilled to see how versatile SCOUT is when it comes to pairing with the right crowd. It’s been a hit with the family and with more hardcore, strategy gamers. This has all the characteristics of an evergreen-type game that will likely hang around my collection for the foreseeable future.
