Burning Cookies

“Revenge is sweet” is the motto of the new, fiery card game “Burning Cookies” from Piatnik. Players who skilfully use their hand cards and lure their opponents into traps with well-thought-out bluffs have a good chance of winning. However, special actions can quickly turn the tide and result in heaps of burnt cookies—which, of course, nobody wants. This keeps the cheerfully illustrated pocket game exciting right up to the end, delivering plenty of gleeful “take that” moments for 3–6 players ages 8 and up.

A little luck, good tactics, and the perfect poker face are crucial in this entertaining competition centred on burnt cookies—which you’ll want to pass off to the others as much as possible. As is typical for pocket games, “Burning Cookies” features simple gameplay. On your turn, you either choose to place one of your three hand cards into the communal display or challenge the most recently placed, face-down card in the row. There are rules for both actions, of course, but they’re straightforward and easy to learn. Six different special actions—depicted as symbols on nearly every one of the 80 cards—add the necessary spice to the game. The cookies, croissants, or gifts—which mostly look friendly—are quite the wild cards. They can tip the scales and determine victory or defeat. There’s also the blender: If a card featuring this is played, the stacks of burnt cookies from all players are passed clockwise to the next person. Anyone who plays a card with a package on it may immediately give one of their own burnt cookies to someone else and instantly lose one less penalty point.

In addition to special actions, you earn burnt cookies on a large scale primarily through “doubting.” Whenever someone places a card face-down on the display, the next player whose turn it is may “doubt” it. This involves both opportunity and risk : If it’s a well-disguised bluff—meaning the card was played according to the rules—the burnt cookies go directly to your own stack. But if the card doesn’t fit the sequence, the penalty points go to the player who played it. The game continues round after round until one player has accumulated eight or more burnt cookies. The game ends immediately. The player with the fewest burnt cookies wins this sugar-sweet treat to enjoy at home or on the go.