Odin is a compact travel game from Helvetiq's small box range with a Viking theme and unique gameplay. It's small size and quick playtime coupled with it's minimal table requirements, make it an ideal game for jet setting around the world or even just popping in your bag for a quick game whilst you're waiting on food/drink at your local cafe/bar!
First Impressions
The eyecatching artwork and bold colours, make this game stand out on the shelf. Whilst the box doesn't give much away regarding the gameplay, as I have come to expect from Helvetiq, the quality of the cards is decent and although the cards will never fit a traditional card sleeve (just like all of Helvetiq's other games!), the card quality certainly makes up for it. Typically for Helvetiq, the rules aren't worded the best, but as the gameplay is relatively simple, this isn't too much of an issue.
Game Play Overview
Odin is played over several hands with each hand having several rounds. You'll be playing cards out to beat the previous value played and then picking up 1 of the cards from the previous set. The value of the cards is the visual value of the cards you play combined, i.e. if you play a 6, 4 and 2, your value is 642, the cards must always be played in order from high to low and match either in suit or in number, meaning there are various values that are impossible to play (for example 16, 39, 398 to name a few) because if you play a 1 and a 6, the 6 must come first. If you are unable to play any of your cards, you will pass your turn and when all but 1 player has passed their turn, the round ends. You'll then discard the cards in the centre and start again continuing like this until 1 player runs out of cards. You'll then score 1 point per card left in your hand and start a new hand. Once 1 player reaches 15 points, the game ends and the player with the lowest score wins.
Pros and Cons
Odin is a relatively unique card game and although you may draw some similarities to Scout such as playing cards to beat the cards in the middle and trying to get rid of your cards first, there is a lot more differences that make this game stand out for me. Firstly, you're not stuck with your cards being in a certain order, you can rearrange them within your hand to your hearts content! Secondly, you're not collecting sets of cards or trying to win tricks, you are simply trying to get rid of your cards. Lastly, the theme is much more prominent with fun viking characters on each of the cards and the suits being represented by different Viking runes. Despite playing several games and enjoying them, I realised when checking a rule, that we had in fact been playing the game wrong due to a slight lack of clarity in the rules! However, once we realised this and corrected how we were playing, the game brought a whole new level of fun and made the game more replayable and engaging.
Final Verdict
Overall, Odin is a fun lightweight travel game, perfect for keeping in a bag for any downtime you may have. Whilst it's not a game that will get lots of play at regular game nights, it certainly has it's place and we have already played it several times with a variety of people and look forward to playing it again.
In conclusion, we would rate this game an 8.6/10
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