ANNO DOMINI
Publisher: Fata Morgana/Abacusspiele
Author: Urs Hostettler
Tester: Aaron Haag
Game Tested: Abacusspiele release 1998
The Game: Interested in historic events? Fluent in German? And you know if the stone
named Yogi became a TV star before or after fishes fell from the sky in Singapore? Or are you just
good at bluffing? Two to eight players are dealt nine cards each that describe historic events on
one side of the card and provide the date of that event on the other side. Players are not allowed
to look at the side of the cards that carries the date. The game starts with one card on the table
describing an event. Players in sequence may now play one of their cards and place it either above
or below the card depending on whether they believe “their” event happened later or
earlier in time. As the players play their cards the sequence of cards on the table becomes longer
and longer and the probability that the cards are not in their correct order increases. As an
alternative action a player may, instead of playing a card, challenge the sequence and turn over
the cards thereby revealing the dates. If the sequence is in fact wrong the last player that placed
a card gets three new cards and the game continues with a new cards from the draw pile and the
challenger to play the next card. If, however, the sequence was correct the challenger gets two
cards from the draw pile. The sequence is also restarted with a new card from the draw pile and the
player left to the challenger plays next. The winner of the game is the player who is the first to
get rid of all his cards.
Playing Time: The game can easily be explained in 5 minutes and played in about 30
minutes.
Similar Games: Nobody’s Perfect (Ravensburger), Ein solches Ding (Fata Morgana)
Westpark Gamer’s Opinion: More than half of the events on the cards are things you
never heard of let alone know when they happened. So playing the game is a mixture of clever
bluffing, showing self-confidence and cleverly selecting the cards to play. Keep those you are sure
about until the very end – once you are down to two cards the other players will try everything to
prevent you from winning the game! The nice thing about this game is that it works so well – every
player is constantly involved in the game. It plays quickly and is an ideal starter/finisher for a
gaming evening. There are several packs of this game available, each with a different theme (e.g.
“Nature”, “Lifestyle”, “Sex & Crime”) and each pack holds 336
cards – more than enough for an excellent replay value.
Aaron’s Rating: 7 (out of 10)
Westpark Gamers’ Rating: 7.0