Game Overview: Surfosaurus MAX, or Potentially a Prehistoric Poker Partnership

by W. Eric Martin

In November 2023, I wrote about my positive (and negative) experiences with Surfosaurus MAX, a card game from designer Ikhwan Kwon and publisher Loosey Goosey Games that debuted at SPIEL Essen 23 — and now here I am talking about those positive (and negative) experiences, sometimes repeating what I wrote earlier, sometimes talking about different stuff, and generally going into more detail, with a sample game round played out in front of you to give you a taste for gameplay, should you be more of a visual learner or just like the idea of seeing cards played on a table.

Since writing that post, I've also tried the two-player variant, which adds a dummy player to the gameplay and which was far more enjoyable (and in the spirit of the game) than I had expected it to be. Two-player would still be my least favorite player count for this game, but I'm glad to see that the 2-6 player count holds up.

With that last 2p game, I've now played Surfosaurus MAX twelve times on a review copy from the publisher, and while I'd like to get it to the table more, once I post about a game, I rarely bring it back. New games are calling since it's unlikely that you'd want to read or hear me talk about the same game again.

As a hint for what's coming, I'll say that Die Patin — which I've played once each with three and four players — is brutal and engaging in-your-face beatdown as you try to expand your territory, take over industries, and bump out the opposition.

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