Five Crowns

Designed by: Marsha J. Falco

Published By: Set Enterprises Inc. (1996)

Players: 1 – 7

Ages: 8+

Time: 30 min

Unearthed by: Joe

Five Crowns is a five-suited rummy-style card game. Five Crowns features a unique double deck that contains 5 suits: spades, clubs, hearts, diamonds, and stars. This special deck makes it easier to arrange your entire hand into books and runs. The rotating wild card keeps players on their toes! The game begins with 3 cards and 3s are wild, the next round has 4 cards and 4s are wild and so on ‘til the Kings go Wild! Make the right combinations, be the first to go out, then watch players scramble as they get one last chance to cut their losses! Five Crowns is loved by everyone, easy to play anywhere and a game that you’ll want to play again and again.

High Society

Designed by: Reiner Knizia

Published By: Ravensburger (1995)

Edition Played: Osprey Games (2018)

Players: 3 – 5

Ages: 10+

Time: 20 min

Unearthed by: Ed

You are the cultural elite, true icons of the age. But competition is fierce amidst highborn and nouveau riche to assert your status and earn prestige in the eyes of your peers.  Show off your exquisite palette and excellent tastes, but don’t be caught penniless or be cast out as an impostor!

Each player starts with 11 money cards worth 105,000 Francs collectively.  Each round, players bid on a Status card drawn from the deck. Players bid by placing money cards face up in front of them. When you pass, return your bid to your hand. The winner buys the Status card, and starts the the next round.

If the auction is for a Disgrace Card, then player bid to AVOID the card, the first player to pass takes the card, and all players discard the amounts bid.

When the 4th dark green ‘Prestige’ card is revealed, the game immediately ends.  The player(s) with the least cash is cast out as a scandalous impostor! The remaining player with the highest Status is the winner.

Anti-Monopoly

Designed by: Ralph Anspach

Published By: University Games (1973)

Players: 2 – 6

Ages: 8+

Time: ~ 2 hrs

Unearthed by: Evan

The basic idea of the game is to end the monopolistic practices of the 3-company-combinations of the game board. The players are Trust-Busting lawyers going about the board slapping actions on the monopolies. The winning trust buster is the one who ends with the largest number of social-credit points when one of the players runs out of money.

Anti-Monopoly was briefly (1976-1982) published as “Anti” and “Anti-Monopoly II” was published as “Choice” whilst the company was forbidden to use the word “Monopoly”. In 1984 after prevailing in court the company used the names “Anti-Monopoly” and “Anti-Monopoly II” for its two games. In 1987, Anti-Monopoly was withdrawn and Anti-Monopoly II was renamed “Anti-Monopoly”.

The game we played was produced as “Anti-Monopoly” before 1976 and from 1984 to 1987. The game produced as Anti-Monopoly after 1987 is a different game, with the same name.