Measuring cards can be fun

 It Was This Big feels like it is as much a thought experiment as a game. It’s definitely a game but it’s also as much about its restraints as anything else.

My understanding is that it was an entry of a design contest where the game had to consist of eighteen identical cards. Drive Like Hell was also from the same contest, which packed a crazy amount of content into that limitation. It Was This Big goes the other way, being minimalist.

The card consists of a black fish head and tail on either side of a white fish body going portrait and a white fish head and tail with a black fish body going landscape. So you can use the two sides to either build a black fish or a white fish.

 It Was at This Big comes with four different rule sets, including a solitaire one, but they all come down to placing a head and a tail and then filling  in the space in between with _non-overlapping_ body cards.

If that sounds confusing, one look at the actual cards and it will all click. 

One nice touch is that the gap between cards cannot be bigger than the fish’s eyeball. So the game comes with its own, built-in ruler.

I have to admit that, when I first heard of It Was This Big, it sounded like a non-starter. However, earlier this year, I tried FlipTricks which I also thought was a simple, silly idea. Which it is but I ended having fun with it.

Short version: It Was This Big isn’t as fun as FlipTricks but it is better than I feared.

Here’s the thing: when making a fish that is more than two cards long (particularly the longer black fish), it becomes tricky. At least for me. I’m sure some people estimate measures accurately at the drop of a hat. Which means It Was This Big requires some real skill. Just not the kind of skill you find in any other card game.

At the same time, you can teach the game to just about anyone just by showing them the cards. It is easy to understand and simple to play without actually being that easy. 

It Was This Big is not an All-The-Time game for me. I really don’t know how often I’ll pull it out. At the same time, there is actually something to it and that something isn’t something you find in many other games. It might even make one of my travel kits.