Corgi Pileup Review: A Family Friend Trick Taking Game | The Gamerheads Podcast

Price: $20.00

Where to buy: https://gamehead.com/products/corgi-pileup-gamehead

Family game night is always something to look forward to, but games can take a long time to learn. Corgi Pileup is an easy to learn game that takes twenty to thirty minutes. And it’s fun! It’s a great game to introduce in your next game night.

Corgi Pileup is a trick taking game that is played in rounds, with five tricks in a round. There is a board with fifteen corgis in a pile that the players will move up. Each player must play a card higher than the last one played, and if they can’t, they have to play their lowest card. The most important trick however, is the final trick. On the final trick, the players move the number of spaces on the board that matches the card they played. To add to the chaos, there are certain cards that have special abilities; for example, playing the three-card forces everyone to play their highest card. The goal is to not exceed fifteen. The game ends when the first player goes over fifteen, and whoever has the next highest score wins. It’s not about getting to the top first, but being strategic about your moves.

In the early rounds, if you can force players to play high cards in the first few tricks, they'll score low in the last trick. However, in the later rounds, forcing them to play their low cards early on leaves them with only high cards and forces them to go over.

To give you an example of what strategy might look like in the game, let me tell you about one of our sessions. I was playing with my dad and my brother, and my brother was at thirteen points. On the second to last round, my dad won the trick with a six, and if a six wins a trick the trick winner chooses someone to discard a card and draw a new one. My brother had to discard his card, which happened to be a one, and draw a new card, which happened to be a ten and forced him to go over fifteen. Needless to say, my father rejoiced in the circumstance, my brother, not so much.

Final Grade: A

People who enjoy games that are a mix of strategy and luck would enjoy Corgi Pileup. It can be played with kids seven and up and is enjoyed by all ages. The game is relatively small and would be easy to take along, making it a great selection for your next game night.

Review unit provided by GameHead