by Tim Slumstrup Aunkilde & Henrik Krøjmand.
“Read ‘em and weep, chicken lickers!”, snickered the stranger. “4 aces.”
The stranger made a greedy grab towards the money, but was stopped by the feeling of nose against barrel, staring into the sheriff's revolver.
“Not so fast, partner. You are not the only one with 4 aces…”
Presentation
- Time: 120-150 min
- Players: 4 – 5
- Language: English/ Danish
The game is designed to lean on a classic game of Texas hold ‘em poker. The poker element has been minimized, though, and the main game experience is centered around playing the characters.
Ace up the Sleeve is a card game that revolves around a game of poker in a saloon in the old wild west.
You play a typical inhabitant of an archetypical western town playing poker, while they attempt to cheat and manipulate the game to their own advantage.
Since everyone is trying to cheat, there will be many more cards in the game than usual. Cards will change hands, vanish and magically reappear, and more shenanigans will happen.
All the characters you can play have varying abilities supporting the role. The role determines how you can attempt to manipulate the game.
The goal of the game is to be the one with the best poker hand at the end of the game. This hand however has to be legal within normal poker rules. Otherwise you have been cheating. And cheating is of course not to be tolerated.
The focus of the game is on the character play and fun, more than on tactics, since it is almost impossible to control the changes that will happen during the game.
Luckily you have one little piece of certain influence at the end. Since you will always have an Ace up the Sleeve.
The game is designed as a filler game, with short play time, high entertainment value, and elements of light roleplaying.
The game is turn based without long down time.
An Ace up the Sleeve is easy to play, but hard to master.
Knowledge of Texas hold ‘em rules in advance will let you recognize elements of the game, but it is in no way necessary.
It is estimated that you can play 3 or 4 games during the time slot.
About the designers
Henrik has been part of Fastaval since 2005. During the years, he has been in charge of all the electricity, part of the main organizing group, and been on the board game jury. When Henrik has the time during Fastaval, he mainly enjoys playing board games, though he plays the occasional roleplaying game. Henrik’s current favorite games are “Frosthaven” and “An Ace up the Sleeve”.
