Ham Fisted does something I don’t like pretty well

Ham Fisted is an In Hand game which is all about trying to hold a grid of cards in one hand. Honestly, having to hold cards in funny ways is one of my least favorite forms of In Hand games but Ham Fisted does make it manageable.

Each card is a three by two grid. Each square is either blank or has one of four different anthropomorphic meat products. They are also small, basically half-size cards. Oh, we will get  back to that.

Draw six cards (the deck is eighteen cards so up to three people can play before needing another deck), keeping them in your hand. Flip over one card at a time and hold them in your hand, making sure they all fit within a five by five grid. Tucking and overlapping isn’t just allowed but essential. When you’ve played all six cards, you have to pinch the grid and flip your hand to make sure nothing falls.

Each meat product has a different scoring requirement. Bacon and ribs have to be in groups of two and three respectively to score a point (I believe one point per group). Every four sausages anywhere on the grid scores a point. A ham is worth a point if it isn’t in the same row or column as another ham. Most points wins.

Now, I was part of the recent play test of Downtown Las Palmas, another In Hand game that has a dexterity element. And I don’t want to comment on that since it’s still in development but I will say Downtown Las Palmas is superior in almost every way.

Ham Fisted’s saving grace is the relative ease of the dexterity element. Having tiny cards and only using six at a time makes it very manageable. And I’m not great at dexterity elements so that makes the difference of ever wanting to play Ham Fisted ever again.

I am a big fan of In Hand games. Playing space is often very limited and In Hand can mean playing a physical game is even an option. Palm Island was a watershed event for my gaming life. In Hand games are now always a part of my travel bags.

But making a game physically difficult to play as a design goal goes against why I play In Hand games in the first place.

The fact that I’m willing to keep playing Ham Fisted probably counts as high praise. The dexterity element is manageable. It’s simple enough that it wouldn’t work as a table game but keeps it from being overwhelming as a dexterity In Hand game.

If you are looking for an In Hand dexterity game, Ham Fisted is a good choice. And if you aren’t, there are plenty of other In Hand games out there that won’t give your thumbs cramps.

A pocket full of games for no space or time

 I have found myself throwing together another little case of games, this one for lunchtime gaming.

You see, I’ve found I often work through lunch, which means I don’t have time or physical space to game with. I already have Alexander Shen’s Potato Carrot Tomato in my bag and sometimes I don’t have space for that tiny tile-laying game.

So I made copies of In-Hand games that are super quick to play. How quick? Palm Island didn’t make the cut and that’s a ten minute game at best. That said, very few surprises. Almost all the games I picked are ones I’ve been playing for years.

Right now, it consists of:

Flipword

Elevens for One

I Am Lynx

Labyrinth Runner 

Down

The Star Speaker

Flipword got added in because I’ve had great luck teaching to folks so it goes in every travel case from now on. I Am Lynx and Elevens for One almost didn’t make the cut because they are on the longer end for what I am looking for but I wanted something with at least a little meat.

The other three games? Well, sometimes I can get in a play of any of them in like a minute. I hit over a hundred plays of Down just using it as a game to play while waiting for someone in the car. Which might say more about me than the game.

Sometimes, a couple minutes is all you have to work with. So I want to make sure I have something that will work. And every game I’ve added, except for Star Speaker, is one I’ve played off and on for years. And Star Speaker, while not challenging, has proven to be engaging.

I’m sure I’ll rearrange this little collection over time but it’s a start.

The Starspeaker: challenge versus engagement

 The Starspeaker from 2024’s 9-Card contest is about finding a new home in the far flung future after the eleventh earth is dying. The cards are decorated with mystic symbols and aspirational quotes.

And the game play consists of sorting the cards lol

Honestly, I got over the disconnect of theme and mechanics when I first played Lost Cities. ‘Wait, that’s what I’m doing with all this cool imagery? Sorting cards like Klondike? Oh, wait, this is really good’ But the world building in The Starspeaker compared to the mechanics has a striking disconnect for me. Ultimately in a good way, since I was happy about how accessible the game is.

The Starspeaker is an In-Hand solitaire game, a niche I love. Each card has a different goal. Pick one out for your game and go for it. The core mechanic is that you fan the first three cards in the deck, pick one to flip backwards into the back of the deck, and then rotate the other two cards like they are airplane propellers, changing their values. The game ends when all the cards have been flipped and the you see if you’ve achieved goals like all positive cards or no ones.

I’m not actually sure if I’ve seen this done before. Sure, Palm Island does all kind of interesting things rotating and flipping cards but Starspeaker’s card sorting is its own kind of thing.

Most of the cards also have a special power, either rotating the card or exchanging it for a card further back. Simple stuff but we are talking about just nine cards. And it adds some real agency to the game.

The cards are really solidly designed because everything you actually need to look at to play the game are on the corner so you can see it when you fan the cards. And it might seem weird to praise a design element that has been around for generations but sadly that is not the case.

So the game has cards that are both visually neat and very functional. The mechanics are easy to understand but offer choices and there are special powers to mitigate bad shuffles. But is it challenging or engaging?

Well, no and yes.

The goals do range in difficulty. The easiest one is to get a +/- 6 in a suite. The most difficult is to have each suite have the exact same ranks. The easiest goals are painfully easy even as tutorials while the tough goals actually take some concentration but are very doable.

I can see someone being done after playing each goal once or twice. But as an In Hand game, Starspeaker is also a puzzle you can noodle around with anywhere. And being able to scale the difficulty adds some nice flexibility. 

I normally think that asking how challenging a game is isn’t a bad yard stick to measure it by, particularly for a solitaire game. After all, in a solitaire game, you are playing against the game itself and too easy shouldn’t be interesting, right? 

However, I still enjoy the process of playing some games that aren’t that challenging. Starspeaker is one of those games. It is very portable and playing through a few rounds is relaxing. The challenge isn’t high but the engagement is solid enough that I’ve added it to my travel kit.

The Starspeaker is a visual treat that doesn’t offer a tough challenge but it is decompressing. I do wonder how the design elements could be taken further.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3237752/wip-the-starspeaker-2024-9-card-nanogame-pnp-desig/page/1

My brain and my gut argue about Numbsters

Numbsters is a solitaire micro game that’s built around the old joke that Seven ate Nine.

The game consists of eighteen cards that are numbered one through eighteen. It’s sort of an In Hand game since all of the active cards are held splayed in your hand. (You still need a draw deck and a discard pile but there are ways of dealing with that and keeping everything in your hands)

The eight card is the mouth card. The basic mechanic of the game is that, if the eight is in between two cards that are in sequence, the larger card can be discarded. One could eat two, thirteen could eat fourteen, etc.

Ah, but there’s a clever bit. Every card other than the eight has a special power that gives you other ways for cards to eat each other. And whatever card is on top of the active cards, that’s the special power you get to use.

Each turn, you draw a card from the draw pile. You can then move one card or swap two cards. Then, you have to eat a card, discarding it.

You win if you eat sixteen cards and the eight is not on top of the active cards. You lose if the eight ever on top or you can’t eat a card.

I’m of two minds of Numbsters.

On the one hand, it hasn’t zinged for me. I keep meaning to play it more and just haven’t gotten around to it. Part of me feels like I could really like it if I give it enough of a chance but I haven’t worked up the energy to do that.

On the sugar-coated side, I think that it’s mechanically really well designed and I think it’s a brilliant use of theme. From the game-as-art form standpoint, I think Numbsters does a great job.

So, my brain thinks Numbsters should be good but my gut isn’t convinced.

On the limits and influence of Palm Island

As I’ve mentioned before, I have been playing a lot of In Hand games lately. And that means I’ve been revisiting Palm Island, which is the poster child of In Hand games.

Palm Island definitely didn’t invent In Hand games. But it did give the idea a kick in the pants. I honestly would say that a third of the In Hand games I’ve seen post Palm Island were clearly Influenced by it.

Something I want to do this summer is get the color files printed so I have the ‘full’ games and get the ‘full’ Palm Island experience. I’ve spent years with the low ink demo and I’ve wanted to see how much deeper the game gets.

However, when I actually looked at the files, I realized that most of the cards are for the two-player version of the game. As a solitaire player, the only new element are feats. Which turn the game essentially into a campaign but doesn’t seem like a major mechanical shift.

And I know that the basic framework can be tweaked just a little to get significant changes. In Battle for the Carolinas (which I have started replaying and really enjoying), you need different cards at different points in the game. You need maps and compasses to find the battlefields but then they need to become men and weapons. It creates a different tempo than Palm Island.

While Palm Island has a very solid structure of resource management and infrastructure development, it is ultimately very simple. The individual actions are very simple. This is not a bad thing.

Between the random shuffle of the cards and the limit of only being able to store four cards, Palm Island does has variabily and tough choices. But it’s presented in such an accessible way so that the initial learning curve is just about keeping the deck in your hand the whole time. It’s great for casual gaming.

But now I’ve been seeing that the si one structure is one that can be built on. And, while games like Battle for the Carolinas shows that other folks are doing this, the fact that Portal Dragon will be publishing Palm Laboratory and have mentioned Palm Galaxy shows that this was intended.

And even as I become more and more aware of the limitations of Palm Island, I am playing it more often. I keep on going back to it and having fun. There is a good game there.

Palm Island is not the definitive In Hand game. It didn’t create the genre. But I think it is an important milestone and has helped there he better games ahead.

Pros and Cons in Hand games

 Lately, I’ve been playing a lot of In Hand games. And by that, I mean even more than usual. For one reason or another, I just haven’t  had a table handy.

(And yes, I can play a vast number of games, solitaire and otherwise, on devices. But it is a different experiences and I am convinced that manually playing an analog game brings other parts of the brain on deck)

This has led me to the twin revelations of 1) There’s a lot you can do with the In Hand format and 2) Wow, is it limited.

The Zed Deck is a zombie horror survival game that even has a rudimentary combat system. Flipword is a honestly solid word/party game. Palm Island is a good  resource management game. Elevenses for One, um, is sorting cards but it’s good.

That’s just the first four In Hand games that came to my mind and each one is a pretty distinct experience. And I will argue each is a genuine game experience, not just an exercising in fidgeting. (I enjoy Down and Labyrinth Runner but I also think they are fidgeting activities)

But, while the Zed Deck does have a combat system, most zombie horror games have more developed, frankly better combat systems. And much more developed and immersive exploration systems. If I had the time and space and other players and a copy, I’d rather play Last Night On Earth, just as one example.

Palm Island is actually an impressively full Euro Game experience. You need to manage resources and improve your infrastructure to do even marginally well. But it pales in comparison to larger games that require a table.

One more example, just because it’s so crazy. The 2022 In Hand Contest has a tile-laying game called Little Dingy. But, apart from novelty, you can’t compare it to Carcassonne or Isle of Skye. Even if I am more fair and compare it to other micro tile laying games, Orchard or Sprawlopolis blow Little Dingy out of the water.

On the one hand, In Hand games have been developing a surprising range of gaming experiences. On the other hand, In Hand games are definitively not a replacement or substitute for games that use surfaces.

Post Script: While this doesn’t change the ultimate conclusion, if I used a clip board, pencil and some way of rolling dice, I could greatly increase the range of my table-free gaming. However, playing an In Hand game of Elevenses for One is a lot more discrete than playing a game of Yahtzee :D

King of the Gauntlet - not great but admirable

 King of the Gauntlet is an in-hand game, a genre that I’m currently fascinated by. It takes a race game and transfers it to nine cards and two paper clips. The theme is a parkour obstacle course but it is really just a race.

One card serves as the board, which is a simple sixteen space track. The paper clips serve as pawns on either side of the card. The rest of the deck is for movement and actions.

The abilities of the cards are on opposite corners so the active one will be on the upper left. That way, you can easily fan the cards and see all of the actions. On your turn, you perform two actions, choosing from the first three cards. Used cards are flipped and sent to the back of the deck. 

Whoever makes it to the finish line first wins.

The basic actions are just moving back and forth on the track but the advanced rules have actions that  let you rearrange the deck.  And, honestly, the basic actions are way too basic to keep the game from being monotonous too quickly.

I’m of two minds of King of the Gauntlet. On the one hand, it’s a game that is more about messing without your opponent than focusing on getting ahead. I feel like the game is a lot of countermoves and little progress. That can hurt the fun.

On the other hand, King of the Gauntlet takes a completely ludicrous concept for a game and made it functional. Part of my Print-and-Play hobby is looking for good games but another part is looking for weird, experimental projects. King of the Gauntlet, a reinvention of roll-and-move as an in-hand game, definitely qualifies.

I have to also note that I’ve come to be leery of in-hand games being too intricate. When I have to try and juggle cards in four different orientations and angles. Just having to fan the cards goes a long way to making King of the Gauntlet.

While Looney Lab’s Proton remains the best game I’ve found for standing in line, King of the Gauntlet is a nice addition to the mix. I’ve been playing an earlier prototype of the game but I’m planning on making the latest version. I’m not convinced it’s a good game but it is an interesting experiment.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2378534/wip-king-gauntlet-2020-9-card-game-print-and-play

Carrying In Hand games everywhere

Okay. I said I was going to do it and I’ve done it. I made a second fidget box, my pet term for a small, extremely portable box of solitaire card games. 

They live either in my bag or on my nightstand and the games are really more for fidgeting or taking mental coffee breaks than being the focus of my gaming life. You know, except when they are :D

One of the things had has haunted me when it comes to make these little to-go libraries is size. The first set of cheap plastic boxes I picked up are too small for larger cards and are slightly convex so the cards at the bottom have to be even smaller :P This second cover box is actually a plastic case that gum came in. It is longer and wider so larger cards can fit into it but it’s more shallower so fewer cards can fit :D

But it fits my big goal. I can fit the Palm Island PnP demo into it. 

While playing more Palm Island, which I am doing, is awesome, it was two of the prototypes from the current Nine-Card PnP contest that made me decide to make an In Hand box. Which means I’ll probably be making new copies of those games in a few months when they are further developed.

9-Card Circus has to using several different actions to sort the cards, creating runs and balancing symbols. I am still trying to grok it but I feel like it’s ambitious in its design and I like that. I want In Hand games to be more than just fidgeting. Even if I decide in the end that  it doesn’t work, I’m glad that it was tried.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2144072/wip-9-card-circus-2019-9-card-print-and-play-conte

On the other hand, Labyrinth Runner, which creates a maze of forking paths out of nine cards in your hand, is amazing for fidgeting. It’s been a great anywhere game. I haven’t bothered trying the advanced game, just playing the light one over and over.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2128436/wip-labyrinth-runner-2019-9-card-game-print-and-pl

In Hand and no table needed

While I have used the term surface-free for games that can be played while holding all the parts in your hand, I’m getting the impression that the term In Hand might be the preferred one. Although In Hand might just refer specifically to cards games where you hold all the cards.

To be fair, it’s not like there’s some governing body demanding a strict etymology for board game terms. It’s really more of a organic process. 

I have to admit that I have come to like In Hand solitaire games a lot over the last year or so. I’ve come to like solitaire games and I mainly play them as parent breaks (quick little mental breaks) So a game that I don’t even need a table to play and can play waiting on the car or lying in bed is awfully handy.

Now, from what I can tell, In Hand games have been around for a long time. Apparently sailers played them back in the day of tall mast ships. Even if that isn’t true, that’s too romantic an idea for me not go ahead and believe.

Palm Island is my current gold standard for In Hand games. It feels like a ‘full’ game with resource management and developing an infrastructure. Mind you, that depth comes at enough of a time price that it doesn’t work for a quick mental coffee break. But I think it pushes the boundaries of what you can do with a deck of cards that stays in your hands, as well as being a very good game. 

And I wonder if it is inspiring other In Hand games. I feel like I’m seeing more of them over the last year. There isn’t a flood but I swear there’s more of them.

I have a tiny box of solitaire games that I keep in my bag, my fidget box. And now I’m thinking of developing another fidget box that is nothing but In Hand games. I’ve seen more and more variety. And they work well for games on the go. 

For me, they are often a form of fidgeting.