Old Chestnut Reviews: Skulls of Sedlec (& Expansions)

I know the title of this game sounds ghastly, and I suppose the theme of this little pocket game from Button Shy Games is a bit on the macabre side. In my defense, it's more macabre in the Day of the Dead kind of way.

The official description of the game is this:

"Sedlec Ossuary, 16th Century AD.

The Black Plague and Hussite Wars have overcrowded the graveyard. Help the Bone Collector, a half-blind monk, by exhuming graves and arranging the skulls inside the crypt.

You are novice monks, competing to create the best arrangement of skulls. Dig up graves from the graveyard to reveal cards, take cards into your hand to collect skulls, and arrange the cards from your hand into a stack. Whoever better honors the deceased’s last wishes will score more points. The Bone Collector will then declare one player's stack as the most exceptional."

For those who have never heard of this gaming company, Button Shy Games specializes in these clever little pocket games. By pocket games, they mean a full game that fits in your pocket. All their games come in these little plastic wallets that easily fit in the shirt pocket. I was skeptical when I heard about such things, but I got my daughter a little box game from another company called For Northwood for a long bus trip she was going on last year. That game was a delightful little solo trick taking game that was quite a hit on the school bus trip, or so I was told. If I can ever pry the game out of dark recesses of my daughter's room without having to buy another copy, I will try to review it at some future point. (That may not be until she goes off to college, and I can call in an airstrike on the room.)

The theme of Skulls of Sedlec reminded me of the classic historical fiction mystery novel, A Morbid Taste for Bones, which was of the fun Brother Cadfael Mystery Series from a few decades ago that were also made into a few small BBC TV mini-series with Derek Jacobi back in the early 1990s that were also excellent adaptations in their own right. So, the theme on the surface has that medieval ossuary feel to it. I usually don't care for dark horror themed games, and this is not really that. I'd more a game with overtones of Memento Mori than dread horror. 

The premise of the game is really simple. In fact, the entire rules fit into a little folded sheet that fits neatly into the wallet the games come in. The base game is designed for 2 to 3 players. There are expansions for solo play (Skulls of Sedlec: Monstrance) and up to 4 in the other expansions (Expansions 1, 2, and 3). I have never tried to play it with more than 2 players, and I think it works well, or as a solo, either with the solo expansion, or you can just play two-handed against yourself.  

Basically in the base game, there are 18 cards that you mix up and deal into 4 piles. You take turns taking a card and building a pyramid of 4-3-2 and then counting up points at the end. The highest score wins. There are various ways to make combinations of points because you are matching different types of skulls. In the base game, there are kings, criminals, peasants, priests, and romantics. Your

It sounds simple enough, but there are hundreds of different combinations you can pair or match to make points. For instance, a priest stacked next to a criminal scores 4 point. Or two star crossed romantics stacked next to each other scores 6 points, and so on. Player ends up with stacks that looks something like this at the end:

The above picture actually includes cards from an expansion. Each expansion pack has 18 cards, of which you can deal in 6 into the main base stack. Each new set of 6 adds a new type of person which adds all sorts of new player point combinations. For instance, Expansion Pack 1 includes Champions, Merchants, and Zealots. Pack 2 contains Executioners, Palace Guards, and Poets. Pack 3 contains Troubadours, Farmers, and Archers. The Archers add a wild kicker at the end where you also count how many paths an arrow can shoot, which is the most unique of the Expansion groups.

I am making this sound more complicated that it is. It remains challenging because there are huge numbers of combinations, and each game plays out differently due to who draws what card and how they play it. The rules are really easy to learn, but it is more complicated that you would initially think.

Overall, I find this a great little game to stick in your pocket, if you are going to be laid over at an airport and need something quick for a lunch break. You can easily play a game in under 10 minutes solo. The expansions are worth it, as each adds a different strategy to the game. It's a fun little diddy to try. 

Skulls of Sedlec is probably Button Shy's most famous and popular game, and they might temporarily be out of stock occasionally on their website, but they do frequent reprintings throughout the year. There is always the eBay if you want it right now and they are temporarily out of stock on the official website, though you probably have to pay a bit of a middle man mark up on the 'Bay.

The fun of Button Shy games is they are extremely portable and affordable. Each game is only about US $12. Shipping is reasonable from the main site as well. Button Shy also has several other games of various varieties that are also quite good.

It's a good little game. Nothing heavy, but portable and replay-ability is extremely high. Would also make a great stocking stuffer idea at Christmas time for your gaming kin. 

 So, something to consider.