Klink Card Game Review

Thanks to our friends at Asmodee Canada, we had the chance to take the Klink card game for a spin. I’m generally not a huge fan of small box card games, but Klink hit a bit differently, or perhaps just at the right time, and I had a blast playing game after game with friends and family. A few months back we wrote an article about the best games to take camping, and I should go back and put Klink on that list. Let’s take a look!

In Klink, players are attempting to have the lowest score possible. There are cards in the deck from -5 points and above and on a turn a player will take two cards and look at one of them – the player then decides to keep the cards or offer them to another player. The other player gets to look at one of the two cards, and decides whether to keep them or not. If not, they pass them on as well. The final player has to keep the cards.

You might wonder where the strategy is. If your cards are high, you pass them on, right? Well, not quite. See if you have two cards of the same value, they cancel each other out. So you might want to keep a card with a value 10, if you have a value 10 card face down in front of you. Once a player has 10 cards in front of them, all the cards are revealed and players tally their points for the round. Whoever wins the most rounds wins the game.

There is another things to keep track of though – the Triad. When a player creates a run of three cards in a row – let’s say for this example it is 7, 8 and 9 – they get to perform the special ability of one of the three special ability cards in the centre of the table. There are quite a few of these to choose from in the deck, although only three are ever visible at one time. It’s an added layer to the game that might make someone think twice about giving you a high card as it might complete a Triad for you! These Triads can do a ton of different things, but they always create havoc for other players.

Klink is such a basic little card game, but it’s one you can get up and running really quickly. I enjoyed teaching this to a wide variety of people. Almost everyone agreed they would play it again. A few were less enthused, but still thought the concept and simplicity worked well.

And that’s really the key here – this is a simplistic game that can come out in almost any situation. Having drinks at a bar? Klink could work. Sitting around the coffee table in the living room? Klink could work. There is so little room required, very few rules to learn, and a nice small box makes transporting the game really easy.

There isn’t a whole lot to Klink so I don’t have a massive article to write. It’s a great, easy to play card game that is accessible to almost anyone, regardless of age. Shoot, I can teach this to my six year old no problem. If you are looking for something small yet fun, Klink is a good get at your local game store!