One of the central tenets of Major Fun Games is to keep an eye toward simplicity. We like our rules like we like our family reunions: short and uncomplicated. But Grandpa Beck’s Cover Your A$$ets seemed, at first blush, to take simplicity past its reasonable limit. Flipping a coin is simple but we’re not going to award it Major Fun.
Cover Your Assetsconsists of drawing cards and making pairs. There are 12 card values ranging from $5000 to $50,000. The cards depict 12 different riches such as Piggy Banks, Stocks, Jewels, and Homes, as well as two wild cards: Silver ($25,000) and Gold ($50,000). Each player starts with a hand of 4 cards. On your turn, you draw from the draw pile to replenish, or draw from the discard pile if you can make a pair using the top card in the discard pile and one from your hand. If you can, you lay that pair down to end your turn.
. The pair goes face-up in front of you and then you draw back up to 4 cards. Each time you make a pair, you stack it on top of the previous pair, thus amassing a pile of riches.
See? Simple.
The wrinkle (and from someone named Grandpa Beck we should expect at least one or two interesting wrinkles) comes in when you “challenge” another player. And by “challenge” we mean, “attempt to steal from.”
On your turn you may: draw from the deck, draw from the discard pile, OR try to steal your opponent’s top pair of riches by showing a matching card. If you show a card that matches the top of an opponent’s pile you can take their pair IF they do not stop you with a matching card of their own. For example, if I try to take my neighbor’s pair of Piggy Banks I show a Piggy Bank Card. If she doesn’t want me to take the pair (worth a total of $10,000), she must also play a Piggy Bank card from her hand. If we have multiple Piggy Bank cards (there are 10 for most of the riches) then we go back and forth like this until someone loses. Winner gets all cards involved in the challenge.
Wild cards can be used to match any of the riches. They come in handy for stealing and defending pairs, and because their point value is so high, exposed wild cards attract many challengers. Losing a pair of riches to an opponent is aggravating, but losing a wild card (or two or three) is grounds for a Great Depression.
The round ends when the deck and all cards in the players’ hands are exhausted. Card values are added. First player to ONE MILLION DOLLARS (insert Austin Powers face here) wins.
Play is fast, intuitive, and Major Fun. The cards are colorful and easy to read. The game even comes with a recipe for Grandma Beck’s Velveeta® cheese(ish) dip. That Grandpa Beck. He thinks of everything!
For 2 – 6 players, ages 8+
Cover Your A$$ets game by Grandpa Brent Beck. Art and design by aprylstottdesign.com. © 2011 Grandpa Beck’s Games.