Braggart Review

Tagged as “A game of heroes, lies and unfortunate fish” this card game is a hilarious take on the outlandish tales told by heroes or wannabe heroes. Set in The Hero’s Return, a popular tavern among heroes and braggarts alike, you try to tell the most heroic tales to your friends. But watch out, your friends may just call your bluff, stealing your good cards in the process.

Designed by Kyle Daniel and published by Spiral Galaxy Games, Braggart is a must have for any group of friends wanting a good laugh.

Playing the Game

There are few steps to take when playing Braggart. First, you will need to draft some cards and hopefully improve your hand. On your turn you may play as many ploy cards as you like, then it is time to start making your boasts. To make a boast you must play two different types of card, a deed and a foe, resulting in some heroic deeds such as “I heroically slew” … “The undead king of the cursed crypt” or maybe something less heroic but far more amusing “I wet myself in front of” … “an unfortunate fish”.

Each card has different values so the aim is to make the boast with the highest value, but beware of your opponents, they may just call you a liar, switching one of your better cards with something from their own hand. To gain a higher overall card value you may also play a scene or an outcome (or both) improving upon your already heroic experience. Of course, you do not have to make a boast every round, you may opt to go to the bar instead, drawing three new cards that may just help you tell the most heroic of deeds on your next turn.

Other Cards

Besides the comical cards used to tell your story there are also a few other cards to help you win the game. Ploy cards are a great way to gain cards. These are simple to understand as you just do exactly what it says on the card. Some let you steal cards from other players, others let you go to the bar, these ploy cards are always played at the start of your turn.

However, there are also cards that can be played at any time during the game. Liar cards are used to replace an opponent’s card with something less valuable, by switching the card with something in your hand. Not only do you gain a better card and hinder your opponent, but you will have turned a heroic deed into something that will have you all in stitches. If you’re lucky you may get an outrageous liar card, allowing you to replace not one, but two of your opponent’s cards.

As of the Second Edition you can now defend yourself when these liar cards are played against you. Yes, I did! cards immediately cancel and discard the liar or outrageous liar card. Other players can also help you out by playing a witness! card, confirming that they witnessed that part of your boast. Finally, you can really change the game round by playing a bar brawl! card taking all the cards in play of one type, shuffling them and randomly dealing them back out to all players, potentially changing the values of every player’s boast, and again creating some incredibly funny scenarios.