Guillotine (game)
Encyclopedia
Guillotine is a card game
created by Wizards of the Coast
and designed by Paul Peterson. The game is set during the French Revolution
, and was released on Bastille Day
in 1998. The goal is to collect the heads of Nobles, accumulating points. Despite the grim topic of the game, the artwork is comical and the tone light.
Guillotine won the 1998 Origins Award
for Best Traditional Card Game.
itself. This is mostly symbolic, though it can serve as a convenient indicator of the direction of the "line" of face-up Noble cards played on the game table representing condemned persons waiting to be guillotined. The Nobles cards carry points values and are collected by players after execution, while Action cards allow the player to perform various acts including rearranging the order of Nobles approaching the guillotine, steal Nobles or Action cards from other players, enhance the point values of certain categories of Nobles (see "Noble Types" below) and so forth.
Grey nobles, typically martyrs that have public sympathy, are worth negative points so the player's goal is to avoid collecting them if possible. Palace guards, in the red category, have a special value in that each guard is worth the total number of guards collected. Thus one guard is worth one point, two guards are worth four points, three guards are worth nine points and so forth. The other Nobles have values ranging from 1 to 5 points.
A typical turn example is a player using an Action card to move a Noble two places forward in the line, i.e. advance a high-point Noble from third position to first, collecting that Noble, then drawing another Action card to end the turn. Other Action cards allow the player to move a Noble one or more places backward, useful for moving a low- or negative-value card off the front of the line to collect a higher-value second-position Noble.
Certain Noble cards affect the game, including a "Fast Noble" requiring the player who collects it to also take the next Noble in line. A card symbolizing Maximilien Robespierre
(guillotined in 1794) causes the "day" to instantly end upon his decapitation. At the end of a "day" of gameplay (either by the collection of the Robespierre card or the exhaustion of the line), a new line of Nobles is dealt face-up and play resumes. After three "days", the player with the highest point total wins.
" action card.
, another Wizards card game.
In addition to being reprinted, Guillotine was featured as one of the playable games in Gleemax
Games Alpha on the Gleemax website. With Gleemax's demise, the game is now one of the online games at GameTable Online
.
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
created by Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
and designed by Paul Peterson. The game is set during the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, and was released on Bastille Day
Bastille Day
Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day, which is celebrated on 14 July of each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale and commonly le quatorze juillet...
in 1998. The goal is to collect the heads of Nobles, accumulating points. Despite the grim topic of the game, the artwork is comical and the tone light.
Guillotine won the 1998 Origins Award
Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...
for Best Traditional Card Game.
Overview
Game play, for two to five players, takes approximately 30 minutes. Game equipment consists of two decks of cards, "Nobles" and "Actions", and a small cardboard structure representing the guillotineGuillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
itself. This is mostly symbolic, though it can serve as a convenient indicator of the direction of the "line" of face-up Noble cards played on the game table representing condemned persons waiting to be guillotined. The Nobles cards carry points values and are collected by players after execution, while Action cards allow the player to perform various acts including rearranging the order of Nobles approaching the guillotine, steal Nobles or Action cards from other players, enhance the point values of certain categories of Nobles (see "Noble Types" below) and so forth.
Gameplay
The game is divided into three rounds or "days". Each day, twelve noble cards are dealt face-up in a row to be executed. A player's turn consists of:- Playing an Action card. This is optional.
- Collecting the Noble card at the front of the line.
- Drawing an Action card from the deck.
Noble types
The Nobles come in five categories, each with its own color border:- Church (blue)
- Military (red)
- Royal (purple)
- Negative (grey)
- Civic (green)
Grey nobles, typically martyrs that have public sympathy, are worth negative points so the player's goal is to avoid collecting them if possible. Palace guards, in the red category, have a special value in that each guard is worth the total number of guards collected. Thus one guard is worth one point, two guards are worth four points, three guards are worth nine points and so forth. The other Nobles have values ranging from 1 to 5 points.
A typical turn example is a player using an Action card to move a Noble two places forward in the line, i.e. advance a high-point Noble from third position to first, collecting that Noble, then drawing another Action card to end the turn. Other Action cards allow the player to move a Noble one or more places backward, useful for moving a low- or negative-value card off the front of the line to collect a higher-value second-position Noble.
Certain Noble cards affect the game, including a "Fast Noble" requiring the player who collects it to also take the next Noble in line. A card symbolizing Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...
(guillotined in 1794) causes the "day" to instantly end upon his decapitation. At the end of a "day" of gameplay (either by the collection of the Robespierre card or the exhaustion of the line), a new line of Nobles is dealt face-up and play resumes. After three "days", the player with the highest point total wins.
Strategy
The key to winning the game is to manage which Nobles one collects through careful use of action cards while forcing other players to collect low- or negative-scoring Nobles. Some Action cards allow a player to prolong the "day" (by adding new Nobles to the line), shorten it by allowing Nobles to "escape," or end it, by playing the "Scarlet PimpernelScarlet pimpernel
Scarlet pimpernel is a low-growing annual plant found in Europe, Asia and North America...
" action card.
Availability
After several years of Guillotine being out of print, Wizards re-released the game in 2005 alongside The Great DalmutiThe Great Dalmuti
The Great Dalmuti is a card game designed by Richard Garfield, illustrated by Margaret Organ-Kean, and published in 1995 by Wizards of the Coast. It is a variant of the public domain game Asshole, dating back to late Middle-Ages. The game was Awarded Best New Mind Game 1995 by Mensa, and was in...
, another Wizards card game.
In addition to being reprinted, Guillotine was featured as one of the playable games in Gleemax
Gleemax
Gleemax was a website whose alpha phase was released by Wizards of the Coast on October 10th 2007. Functionality was limited to basic blogging features and personal profiles. Wizards had plans to make it "the home for gamers" at some point in the future, with major functionality to be revealed...
Games Alpha on the Gleemax website. With Gleemax's demise, the game is now one of the online games at GameTable Online
GameTable Online
GameTable Online is a popular web game portal that specializes in online adaptations of board, card, and dice games. Their game platform offers both head-to-head play against other players or computer opponents for single player mode. As of September 2010 GameTable Online offers 28 games...
.
External links
- Guillotine review at www.thedicetower.com
- Licensed online version of Guillotine at GameTable Online website