135: No Thanks! | Cult of the Deep | Taxi!

Welcome to Which Game First where we boldly explore the hilariously huge world of board games. Did we unearth any hidden treasures you’ve been missing out on? Let’s find out! First up: We try to pass the trash to the next guy in the hot potato style card game No Thanks!Next up: Cabalists, High Priests, and Heretics make Thursday game night wild in Cult of the Deep  Lastly: We duck in and out of traffic while dodging the fuzz in our rush to get to the airport in Taxi! No Thanks! Designed by: Thorsten GimmlerPublished by: AMIGO (2004)Players: 3 – 7Ages: 8 & upPlaying time: 20 min No Thanks! is a card game designed to be as simple as it is engaging. The cards are numbered 3 through 35, of which 9 cards are randomly removed from the deck, and you play with the remaining cards.  And everyone starts with 11 chips. Turn over 1 card from the deck at a time, and the auction begins. Each turn, players have two options: * Play one of their chips to avoid picking up the current face-up card* Pick up the face-up card (along with any chips that have already been played on that card) and turn over the next card Each card counts for a number of points equal to its face value. Runs of two or more cards only count as the lowest value in the run. Each chip is worth -1 point, at the end of the game. The LOWEST score wins. The victory is entirely yours … no thanks to the other players! Cult of the Deep Designed by: Sam StocktonPublished by: B.A. Games (2021 – Kickstarter)Players: 4 – 8Ages: 13 & upPlaying time: 45 – 60 min Cult of the Deep is a hidden-role dice game where you are a cultist trying to establish your faction’s rise to power.  It is also a social deduction game where you are trying to figure out which players are on your side, or against you and your faction. You have to try to deduce this based on the actions of the other payers – more specifically, who are the other players attacking and who are the defending. But beware the all powerful bluffing abilities of the other players. Paying attention to what the other players are doing on every turn is the key to this deduction. The High Priest is the only role that is known at the beginning of the game.  * High Priest – Kill all Cabalists, kill the Heretic, and survive.* Cabalists – Kill the High Priest.* Faithful – Kill all Cabalists, the Heretic, and the High Priest must survive.* Heretic – Kill the entire cult, yourself included if necessary. A player will take a turn by first rolling their dice up to 3 times. They then decide where to commit their dice: to rituals to gain altar effects to temporarily empower themselves, finish a ritual in order to gain its powerful effects permanently, stab other cultists, gain life, or give life to other cultists. If your character gets killed, you become a Wraith. As a Wraith, you can haunt your enemies and allies with special dice and abilities of your own. Players also receive one Secret sigil card, which gives each cultist a once per game power. The game ends when any of the victory conditions are met. Taxi! – The “Drive as you Please” Traffic Game Designed by: (uncredited)Published by: Selchow & Righter Co. (1960)Players: 2 – 4Ages: “For the Whole Family” In Taxi, you play the role of a taxi driver whose goal is to pick u...