Trails On FIre – Card game review and cash

If you pass a group of people playing cards, and they all take turns pointing fingers at each other and muttering incomprehensible numbers, you are very likely to see Tails On Fire.

The gameplay of Trails On Fire

But why do they do this and what is Trails On Fire by Thomas Sellner (Heidelbär Games)? Basically, the principle of the game is very simple. Up to six players attempt to win one of the desired fire cards in the middle of the table using their hand cards. For this to work, the player’s card must still be on top of the deck when it’s his turn again and – boom – he wins. This sounds quite simple, but it’s made tricky for gamers with some tricks of the rules.

Play the hand cards appropriately

First of all, hand cards. Each player has a total of ten digital cards at their disposal. But he can only play three of them per round. The object of desire, the fire card in the middle, provides numerical value. This is between one and nine. In order to play, it must serve the value of that card and each card players place in a clockwise direction must increase its value by exactly one. You can also pass, but you can re-enter if it’s your turn again.

Changing values

The trick is to lay out your hand cards in such a way that you can lay them out as often as possible and in such a way that the next players can’t get rid of them anymore. But how is that supposed to work when the hand’s cards only go up to nine? There is a card with a value of +1, which turns nine into one (otherwise increasing the value of every other card by one). This also needs to be included in the planning.

The fire is burning

but this is not all. At the start, each player already has a small fire in which they must reveal one of their hand cards. So this card is out of the game for now. If you win a fire card at the end of the round, you place it in front of you and place the hand card you won with fire on top. In this way, cards that are not currently in the battle for fire cards are always visible to all players.

Even cards that have been used without success by all players are not returned directly to the hand, but face first on the table. You can only use it again in the next round but one. So those cards are out for now. And it so happens that after the fire card is revealed, everyone first plans what course of play can play, including the locked cards that are face up. But, as is often the case, things often turn out differently than you think.

The fire is moving

Other meanness: If you win a fire with a certain number card and another player already has a fire with the same card number in front of him, you steal the fire from him. So there is still back and forth before the ninth round all the fires are dealt and the winner is decided. Various numbers of flames appear on the edge of the Fire Cards. Whoever has the most of them wins.

Some myths and tagged

But why is the title Tails On Fire? The editors at Heidelbär actually gave the abstract card game a theme that uses the mythology of the Mexican people in the Huicholes. According to legend, one day, an evil iguana stole fire from the village and took it to his refuge on top of a steep mountain. So steep that no one can get to it, but an opossum can. And by a trick, he managed to steal fire by sticking his tail into the flames and, as it were, like the flame of an animal, returned fire to people. Which, by the way, is why the possum’s tail is exposed to this day. In keeping with another Huicholes tradition, their fabric made of colorful threads, the cards are equally colorful and, of course, designed from opossums.

Turning a useless opossum in Trails On Fire

Anyone who has counted the cards in their hand above will notice that I misappropriated a card that hasn’t actually been used in any of my rounds thus far. It is about building an opossum. It actually only has the function of separating the three hand cards selected for the round from the rest. However, so far we have found it more practical to place cards that are not chosen face down on the side.

An entertaining hunt for fire cards

Thomas Sellner is a fun chasing game of fire cards. The stage at the beginning, in which the players all try to calculate which hand cards offer the greatest chances of winning and how to proceed to the further possible course mentally or with the help of the index finger, is entertaining. You just have to agree at some point when to start the extension. Perhaps a timer will come in handy here so that you don’t have to think too much. Of course, gloating also comes into play when the opponent’s tactics don’t work and you unexpectedly win, or you steal a fellow player’s fire. It wasn’t clear to us when to consciously pass and plan for this as part of your own strategy. But we will definitely find out.

Arcade game with green soul

Personally, I like brightly colored graphics, but this is also a matter of taste. You can read the full backstory of the Trails On Fire card game on the Heidelbär website, including some background information about Huicholes. Plus, with your purchase, you support the Trees for the Future organization and plant a tree with every game. Another good reason to buy this card game.