SMÄK! is a fast-paced card game that offers a fresh take on classic card-matching. With cute art and a unique dice-rolling mechanic, SMÄK! provides an engaging experience. The goal is simple: be the first to play all your cards. However, achieving this is anything but straightforward.
SMÄK! plays 2-6 players, and my favorite count to play at was 4. It's like a high-stakes game of UNO mixed with a splash of tactical warfare magic and a dash of dice-rolling excitement
SMÄK! is the debut game for Termite Films LLC. It recently finished a successful Kickstart campaign. The game was designed by Marc Boos and Charlie Wuppermann and was beautifully designed by Jan Ericka
Note: I played a prototype version of SMÄK! for this review. While my opinions are based on this prototype, all views expressed are my own and reflect my personal experience with the game. I am not associated with the publisher and have not received any payment or compensation for my thoughts
Components
Rulebook
Icon cards: that come in four colors blue, green, pink, and yellow and in three suits stars, clouds, and hearts
Unicorn cards: these are used to slow down your opponents
SMÄK! cards: cancel unicorn effects and trigger a dice battle (this was my favorite part of the game)
SMÄK! dice: one per player
Unicorn Horn headband
Gameplay Overview
🌈 In SMÄK, players race to discard all their cards by matching colors, icons, or playing special unicorn cards. But beware the mischievous unicorns! They can disrupt your plans with their special abilities
🎲 If you get stuck, don’t worry. You can SMÄK your way out of trouble with a dice battle. These cards are played to either cancel unicorn effects or just because. When someone plays this card, they scream, "smak!" Then, everyone rolls their dice. The last person to roll the unicorn symbol (there's only one on each six-sided die), gets to collec the unicorn penalty
🏆 The player with the most points at the end of a round gets to wear a unicorn horn! 🦄 (Kodak, my dog, did not like wearing it at all 🙈)
Playing the Game
Turn Actions: On your turn, you can either:
Play a card that matches the color of the top played card
Play a card that matches the icon and amount of icons of the top played card
Play a Rainbow Unicorn Card
If you can’t play, draw from the draw pile and play if possible
At anytime, if you have the same card that was played (a card matching the color, number, and icon) play your card out of turn to help you discard your cards faster
Ending the Round
When a player plays their second-to-last card, they must make a Unicorn sound. The round ends when a player plays their last card. Remaining cards in other players' hands are scored as penalty points.
The player with the highest penalty points wears the unicorn horn for the next round. At the end of five rounds, the player with the lowest score wins.
Pros
- Language independent
- Replayable
- Quick setup and play time
- It has dice!
- Interaction: even if it's not your turn, you can play a card to help you shed your hand
Cons
- Highly luck-base
- Similar premise to other card games
- Variety of cards may be overwhelming for new players
- Penalty system might be confusing for some
Final Thoughts
SMÄK! combines cuteness, strategy, and a healthy dose of chaos. The game is easy to explain and fast to play. Whether you want to just play one round as a palette cleanser or play multiple games of it at once, the game is nostalgic. I remember all those nights playing Uno as I grew up. Only if we had a cute theme and a die. I did enjoy that there is a kid friendly version, so I can play it with family
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