Skullduggery Review

"With evocative artwork, quality components, and a theme dripping with treachery and ambition, it's no wonder my husband heard the siren's call and picked up the game at our local game store. Does the promise of bold moves and hidden information in a small package with a quick play time set sail for fun family game nights and bold board game marathons with friends? Unfortunately, Skullduggery walks the plank."

"You then go around the table, each player drawing a card and deciding whether to swap the drawn card with one of their own or with the player to their right or left. At the end of each turn, the player discards the one card which remains in their hand and everyone takes the action on the discarded card. In addition, each player also has two skullduggery tokens which may be used to replace a neighbor's card once."

Skullduggery is a 55-card pirate-themed game using numbers one through nine where the objective is the highest left-to-right numeric value. Each player starts with four face-down cards in a row and may look at them initially. Players draw cards, can swap with their own or a neighbor's card, then discard one card each turn and resolve the discarded card's action. Each player has two skullduggery tokens to replace a neighbor's card once. Play ends when three spy glass cards have been revealed and players reveal cards to total loot. Evocative artwork and quality components contrast with gameplay that, after several four-player rounds, felt pointless and like a shipwreck.

Read at Board Game Quest