Grandpa Beck's Games Skull King - The Ultimate Pirate Trick Taking Game | from The Creators of Cover Your Assets | 2-8 Players 8+

Product Information

When the bets are completed, the player sitting on the left of the dealer (Player 1) leads the round: Again, as a reminder: Special cards can be played at any time! Even if it is possible to follow suit! Notes:

For each card, they can potentially earn 10 points. If they bid accurately, they will earn all the points they can. During the first hand each player has only one card at their disposal; from hand to hand the number of cards increases by one. In each hand the players endeavor to achieve as many points as possible. The player who was able to collect the most points after 10 hands is the winner.

About This Game

Why We Love It: Skull King is a different game every time you play it, so it never bores you. Moreover, adults and kids love it equally, so it’s easy to settle on this game during your family game nights. What You’ll Need to Play Skull King

So yes, the game is a hit with our family for the game play itself. But it also has a special place in our collective memory. When playing with just 2 players, a third hand is dealt to Greybeard’s Ghost (his hand of cards remaining facedown). He doesn’t bid, nor does he score any points. Experience the origins of the orphaned Kong as he metamorphosizes from a young Kong to the fully mature King of Skull Island One of our biggest predictors about how great a game is for families is if mom likes it. And in the case of Skull King, mom not only enjoys playing it, but she’s also the one pulling it out and getting it to the table! I love the scoring and the swingy nature of who is leading. A good round can make up so much distance to your competitors if they have a bad round.

The game is played over ten rounds with the first round being played with only one card each and then two cards for the second round, and so on until the tenth round where you play with ten cards each. If they’re off by a single number, they get half of their potential points, but if their bid is at least two numbers off, they will not get any points. The new version of Skull King also throws in rules for playing with just 2 players. (Which is great for mom and dad now that the kids are out of the nest.) The rules states that he’s just there “to aggravate others” and we can attest that he definitely does that! Old vs. New Kraken and Loot cards. Plus the new White Whale! Whale of a Tale The number of cards changes from one hand to the next. In the first hand each player receives only 1 card, in the second 2 cards etc. until in the tenth and last hand each player is dealt 10 cards. Throughout the game, as many rounds are played as the players are holding cards in their hands.

For starters, the artwork on the cards has been slightly updated. While the artwork is nice and crisp, there really are just slight differences in the visual elements on the cards – the numbers, the rings around the numbers, etc. You can see the difference in a number of photos included in this review (with the old on the left and new on the right). Slight differences in the old vs. the new card artwork. Bid Cards

Another slight change is in how players show their bids for each round. In the prior version, large number cards were distributed to each player showing their bid. In this new version, each player has 2 cards with numbers on them. One card has numbers 0-4 and the other 5-9. After players bid, they then each display their bid by laying one card on the other just under the number of their bid. While Skull King has been an immediate hit in our family for the fun game play, the unique situation of when we first played it just makes it even sweeter for us.