Scrye Magazine
Alfredo Lorente
July 2003
USA

Out of the Box, the company that brought us Apples to Apples and other award-winning games, is at it again with Wheedle, a trading and negotiating game that's easy to learn, quick to play, and tough to win - the perfect combination for a card game.

The Mechanics are simple as you can get. Deal every card but the last. Play begins when the dealer flips over the last card. Players trade cards, give away some cards (if they can find someone to accept them), or even exchange the face-up card with a card from their hand. Since all this happens simultaneously, the situation is always changing. Furthermore, since the center card represents a bankrupt company, you want to have as few cards matching it as possible in your hand when the round ends.

A round ends when any player calls "Stop!" At that time, the player must check that he can score every card in his hand. If so, he gets a five point bonus, plus his regular score. If the player miscalculated, he gets a five point penalty and the round is replayed. Scoring is simple. If you have the most cards in a suit (er, "company"), you score one point per card. If you have all the cards in a suit, you score two points per card. If you have cards from the suit displayed on the table, you lose one point per card. After every player has dealt one hand, you tally the scores from each round and find the winner. Then you usually play again.

The game is close to the classic Pit, but the addition of the bankruptcy suit adds tension that's both unexpected and enjoyable. You're penalized for holding the wrong suit when the round ends, and rounds often end when a player trades a card from his hand for a card on the table. Of the nine suits, three contain only five cards, two have nine cards, and the remaining four have seven cards. Going out with a full nine-card suit is rewarding, but assembling such a hand means flirting with disaster. If you go out with a majority in the small suits, it's easier to avoid the penalty, but your scoring suffers.  

Unfortunately, the card design is not friendly to the color-blind and the game bears no relation to its theme. Each suit has a funny name and it's own color and logo, but since most people fan their cards to the right, the logos are mostly obscured. This isn't an insurmountable problem, but it is an obstacle for some players.

A lot less worrisome is that, while the game mechanics work devilishly well, they bear no relation to the real stock market. This is unlikely to be an issue for most people, but there are those who have a problem with the thematic disconnect seen in many imported games (Wheedle is an original game, but was designed by prolific German game designer Reiner Knizia).  

Although there are decisions to be made with every trade, Wheedle is still very much a light game. In a nut-shell, Wheedle is controlled chaos. If you're looking for a quick, simple game with lots of player interaction and the occasional tough choice, Wheedle is it.

Return to Wheedle reviews