One For Sorrow is a good addition to my In Hand library

I am always on the lookout for new In-Hand games and One for Sorrow turned out to be a dandy one. 

The theme of the game is that you are guarding the forest and the magpies from the Keeper of Sorrows. You need to align the magpies before either the Keeper of Sorrows and his allies kill the forest or evil thirteenth magpie fully rises.

So, you are putting cards in numerical order while dealing with a timer counting down.

There are thirteen magpie cards, four tree cards and one Keeper of Sorrows card. Eleven of the magpies are good guys and have special powers to help rearrange the deck. The trees each have two hit points and serve as timers for the game. The first   magpie and the Keeper damage the trees, which both hurts your final score and brings one of the losing conditions, all the trees being dead, closer. If the thirteenth magpie ever reaches the top of the deck while being flipped upright, that’s instant game over.

The gist of each game turn is that you resolve the top card of the deck and then move one to four cards to the back of the deck without changing their order. 

As I mentioned, all of the good magpies have some kind of special power that lets you rearrange the cards. After you use it, you turn the card upside down (not flipped over) If you don’t use a power, you can reset the card. Most of the cards will still let you use the power when they are upside down, but they are only worth points at the end of the game if they are right side up.

One for Sorrow has two strong design elements that make for a good gameplay experience. It has a solid decision tree and it is mechanically simple. Your end goal of getting the cards in numerical order is simple. The special powers are easy to understand. And you never have to hold the cards in any kind of funny way, just as a deck.

That might seem like a strange thing to highlight, but it’s actually a big deal in a In-Hand game. While some of them have an intentional dexterity element, having the game be easy to physically play is a big deal. More than that, because you never have to tilt cards, the ability to pause One for Sorrow and come back later is easy.

One for Sorrow is physically and mechanically accessible. It has a solid theme and offers good gameplay. It is well on its way to becoming part of my travel kit.