Nujum Card Game Kickstarter Preview - Purple Plant Games

Nujum comes in a package that suggests a lot of thought went behind the presentation, with everything from the box the game arrived in, to the specially created star token that was obviously commissioned especially for the game itself, it makes you want to dive in and find out more about this abstract game which is based around guessing the movement of the stars at the beginning of astrology. 

Overview

Nujum is about playing cards in order to move the central star token up and down the track based on the number played from each player's card. Eclipse cards can be played to help change the outcome of the cards played. 

Mainplay

Nujum is aimed to sit in the lighter part of the market and the main turn is extremely quick to play through. On your turn, you'll decide a card to play, leave it face down. The other player will then decide their card and then the cards are revealed, with the opponent's card playing out first, followed by your own. Each of the cards will either move the star token towards the moon or sun a particular number of spaces. If you manage to play skillfully and the star token doesn't go out of bounds with your card then you get to keep that card towards your final score. Otherwise the card is discarded. The game can quite quickly turn into a game of second guessing your opponent and with the addition of the Eclipse cards, then sometimes your best laid plans can be turned on their heads. Eclipse cards are drawn if you manage to land the star token on the central point during your turn. You'll then draw a card and start the next round, keeping playing until all the cards have been drawn.

Winning 

Once no more cards can be drawn from the draw deck then the game ends immediately and the winner is the player who has the most points across their winnings pile. 

Looks 

Nujum looks wonderful with sumptuous line art on the main Nujum an Eclipse cards. You get the sense that there has been some real time spent on making sure that the presentation is as good as it could be. Nujum isn't a table hog by any means at all, but that doesn't mean it's not going to get some admiring glances when it is on the table. There's a certain amount of charm on show here, in everything from the main play board to the star token and it's very unique in its appearance in something I haven't seen since the likes of Shamans. 

Learning  

You won't need to refer to the rulebook after the first couple of rounds, but even with the game being relatively simple, the rulebook contains examples of play to make sure the bases are covered and even has a reminder turn structure on the back pages of the booklet so it gains healthy points from me.

Timing 

So if things were all sounding good so far, then here's where Nujum maybe needs to take a look at things. I've played Nujum a number of times and it seems to last just slightly over what seems to be the ideal point of stopping. On every round you only add one card to your hand, and so that is about fifteen rounds of back and forth, collecting points as you go. You get what the game is trying to achieve and I kind of get the feeling there would be a bigger sense of urgency if there were less rounds to play. That's maybe just me though. 

Final Thoughts

Everything about Nujum shouts that this is a project where there has been a huge amount of care and attention devoted to getting things to a point where Daniel Rosga was happy with it. The premise may be simple and the game doesn't come to the table claiming to be anything more than an easily learned, light on the mind and pleasant on the eyes game. Nujum is going to be a game that sits on a shelf in the living room as opposed to being stored in the big games shelf. It's probably the game you'll play when you've got thirty minutes to spare and don't want something that will burn your brain. It's going to be the game that you show your friends who aren't really into board games but will appreciate it for its ease of access, simplicity and above all, its simple enchanting presence.  

Any Tips? 

Be bold and try to cal the other player's bluff, as the opponent plays first, sometimes it is worth playing the bigger numbers because if you keep the star token on the board, it will be worth a decent number of points.

This preview is based on the prototype version of the game provided to us by the designer and publisher. We were not paid for this preview. We give a general overview of the gameplay and so not all of the mechanical aspects of the game may be mentioned. Quotations from this preview may possibly appear in relation to any marketing associated with this game. 

The majority of the games that we play are going to take a reasonable number of sessions and playthroughs to fully understand every possibility that they offer. We hope this write up gives you an idea of whether or not this game is something that you will consider playing or even add to your collection. Our Six Degrees of Expectation have been written to make it easier for you to find out what is important to you as a player. Even if we don't like something, hopefully it helps you to decide if it is something that you should find out more about. We always suggest you check out a gameplay video to give you a better understanding of the game as it is played. 

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