Connect Four, but amusingly chaotic? It looks like I’m seeing Dobble!
Am I indeed seeing Dobble?
Chances are pretty good that you are familiar with the card game Dobble (Spot It! in America), with its distinctive round cards and the distinctive tin in which it is sold. In the original Dobble, each card has a number of different symbols, with the composition of the symbols and also the size of symbols varying from card to card. Two cards always have exactly one symbol in common. There are different game mechnisms, but in the most commonly played variants, players must either play out their hand cards fastest by matching symbols on the table or players must be the fastest to find matches between turned-up cards. Players play this party game simultaneously, which of course causes chaos, hysteria and hilarity.
Recently, Dobble Connect was released. Dobble Connect combines the familiar Dobble with the familiar Connect Four. No round cards that players will fling onto the table, but hexagonal cards that players will lay out as quickly as possible? What does this have to do with Dobble? Well everything because it is still about recognising similarities between pictures as quickly as possible.
Setup and gameplay
The box of Dobble Connect contains 5 stacks of cards. A small stack of starting cards with a black round and four stacks each with a colourful border. Each player or team receives a pile in the corresponding colour. In the case of teams, the cards are divided among teammates. A starting card is placed face up or table and players are ready to play the first round.
Players simultaneously turn open a card and try to find a match with one of the symbols between their card and one of the cards lying in the centre of the table. At the beginning of a round, of course, only the starting card of that round is still face-up. If a player has a match, that player indicates this and then places their card on an empty side of the card where the match was found. This player turns open a new card and players continue playing.
In this way, more and more cards appear on the table and also more and more opportunities to match. Once a player or team manages to place four of their cards in a row, that player or team has won the round. The winner gets the starting card as points and players take the cards in their colour back to their pile, but the winner of a round gets cards of other player colours depending on how many points they have won so far. In this way, a player or team also gets colours from other players and potentially help other players with queues. Players are required to play a card.
Verdict
Once a player or team has enough points, this player or team has won. Dobble Connect combines a tried-and-tested party game with a familiar concept. This game will surely be hit with players young and old especially the young and those young at heart (or that are looking for a good drinking game).
