Weatherslam Card Game

Game Review

Reviewed by Kerry Lloyd

Designed by K. K. Corner
Renroc, Inc. po. Box 58632, Seattle, WA 98188
Released: 1982
Price: $8.50
Complexity: Intermediate
Solitaire Suitability: None
***

Weatherslam is a trick-taking card game involving the four seasons and various weather terms. It has its antecedents in Bridge, Spades, Hearts, and Pinochle, and can be a relatively interesting and quickplaying pastime for two to six players.

The game comes packaged in a 4 X 5 X 1 inch box, and contains a 56-card deck, a 32-page rules booklet, and a pad of game score sheets, each designed for a single player. The rules describe several versions of games for both partnership and individual play, with both trump and notrump, "open season" style variations. As many as six people can play in a partnership game, and as few as two can play a quick and interesting game.

The game is based on accumulating points from various weather cards in each of the four suits (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) by capturing tricks or "fronts." Each of the four suits contains 100 available points, and the winner of the overall game needs to accumulate several hundred points, the exact amount depending on the game style and the number of players. There are also two penalty cards in the deck, which players do not wish to take in a trick, since they cost 25 points each if garnered.

Weatherslam is a bidding game, and players are expected to evaluate their hands in terms of point strength and trick taking potential before bidding. A pass or "washout" prohibits a player from further bidding in a hand, and the high bidder gets to name the trump suit in the various trump games. if the group is playing one of the notrump versions, extreme caution should be exercised in bidding, since lower-valued cards will take tricks in this situation only if the suit has been set up and the player is on lead. Failure to make one's bid does not set the score back, but the scores of the other players are doubled on any hand in which the high bidder fails his bid.

Games go quickly, usually three to five hands, and a hand seldom requires more than five to six minutes for both bidding and play. Scoring is easy, since the point values of the count cards in each suit (Winter-black, Springgreen, Summeryellow, Fallorange; quite appropriate) are printed on each of the valuable cards. The score pad is handy, but not particularly necessary-any old sheet of paper will do as well, and is usually more readily accessible.

Those who appreciate strategy card games, such as Bridge, Pinochle, Spades, or Hearts, will like Weatherslam. it should appeal to many family players as well, since the play and scoring are simple and easy to understand for most people, even children (the suggested age on the box is 8 and above). The price is a touch high, but the game should not be ignored on this basis.

More Adult Game Reviews

Back to Table of Contents -- Game News #8
To Game News List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1985 by Dana Lombardy.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com