Reiner Knizia is a German-born designer who is growing in popularity more and more with each new game he invents. His most recent success is Euphrat & Tigris, while Durch die Wuste is scheduled to be released soon and is already meeting with strong reviews. His trait seems to be games which present players with a series of agonizing decisions each turn and always leaves you wishing you could have just one more action in order to complete your master stroke.

High Society is one of his designs which was released several years back. It's components are simple: 16 cards and some play money. Yet what Knizia can do with these simple components is nothing short of pure magic.

In spite of my normal loathing (probably due to my consistent horrible play in them) of bidding type games, this one hits the mark. Players bid on cards one at a time as they are revealed. Card values range from 1 - 10, with several special cards. There are three 'X2' cards, which, if acquired, double the value of a players cards he has acquired. However, there are a few nasty cards, too. One halves the value of a player's acquired cards, another subtracts 5 from his total, while a third forces the player to discard one of his acquired cards.

As a card is revealed, players bid on the card. Bidding continues until all players have passed. The high bidder takes the card and discards his money. All other players retrieve the money they bid. If a 'bad' card is revealed, then the low bidder gets stuck with the card. In this case, the low bidder gets to take his money back while all other players lose their money bid.

There are four specially marked cards. When the fourth of these is revealed, the game ends immediately. Thus, no one knows exactly when the game will end and which cards will be revealed during the course of play.

The game has two other unique and neat money-managing features. First, when the game ends, all players total the amount of cash left in their hands. The player with the least amount of cash in their hands is out of the game, regardless of the value of his acquired cards. Thus, one is forced to manage his money carefully to insure that he has enough money left in his hand at the end of the game to keep himself in contention. Another Knizia design, Quo Vadis, uses a similar feature where-in the player who does not make it to the Senate is out of the game, regardless of the number of laurels he had collected during the game.

The second neat money-managing feature is that change cannot be made during the game. Each player gets a pre-set amount of cash in set denominations (1,2,3,4,6,8, etc. up to a high of 25). As the bidding progresses and a player lays a cash bid on the table, he must increase it from there without retrieving the previously laid bill. For instance, if I had played a 4 and the bidding gets around to me again and is at '12', I cannot pick up the 4 and lay down a 15. I must add to the 4 already on the table. Without being able to make change, this forces one to carefully keep an eye on what he has remaining in his hand. Otherwise, you may be forced to drastically overbid if you find yourself having already used all your low value bills. An intriguing concept.

Players must keep an eye not only on their own money, but on the money which has been spent by their opponents. Remember - the player with the least amount of cash remaining in their hand at game's end is out, regardless of the value of his acquired cards. In addition, one must also make tough decisions in regards to how much to bid on the cards, keeping in mind to hold enough cash to be able to bid appropriately so as not to get stuck with the 'nasty' cards as they are revealed.

The game is yet another in the long list of intriguing and agonizing games by the prolific inventor Knizia. He has had a few misses ... but not many. Put High Society on his 'HIT' list.