Schotten-Totten Explained

Subject Name:Schotten-Totten
Image Caption:Box cover of Schotten-Totten
Designer:Reiner Knizia
Publisher:Schmidt Spiele
ASS
Pro Ludo
PS-Games
Ubik
Players:2
Ages:8 and up
Setup Time:2 minutes
Playing Time:30 minutes
Random Chance:Medium
Skills:Strategic thought, Deduction

Schotten-Totten is a card game designed by Reiner Knizia, first published in 1999. The name is a portmanteau of the German words "Schotten" (Scottish people) and "Hottentotten" (Hottentots).

Gameplay

Gameplay in Schotten-Totten resembles simultaneous play of nine separate hands of poker, but where each hand has only three cards in it. There are nine "boundary" stones between players at the start of the game. Players vie to win five of the stones, or three adjacent ones, to win the game.

Other versions

In 2000, Schotten-Totten was rethemed and sold under the name Battle Line (published by GMT Games) with similar gameplay, slightly altered rules (such as a player's hand size, and cards ranking from 1 to 10 in each of the six suits instead of from 1 to 9), artwork consisting of drawings of ancient soldiers, and Tactics cards which "introduce that random element that makes war continually surprising".[1]

The 2004 reprinting of Schotten-Totten added the ten "tactic cards" from Battle Line, a few of them being types of wild cards and others allowing you to affect the game in some way outside of the normal rules.

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Pyramid Pick: Battle Line Card Game. Walters. C. Andrew. 2000-12-22. Pyramid (Online). 2008-02-17.