Nirvana

Roll the dice, fill in your sheets and free yourself from all your cards. That is what Nirvana is all about. First you create your own cards by rolling and adding up, and then you throw them away as fast as possible. The first player with empty hands wins. The game falls into two parts. In the first part you roll three dice and all players write the values into a coloured box on their own sheet. You can steer the result a little, but not endlessly, so choose your moments well. Once everyone is done, you add up the columns and that gives the rank of your cards. Then the second part begins: one player plays one or more cards of the same rank, and the others play the same number but higher, or pass. This works according to a well-known Asian game principle where you keep trying to beat each other. Nirvana is a new version of an earlier Japanese game, with a completely new design. It also comes with an expansion of cards that change the rules a little each time. That keeps it feeling fresh, while a game takes only about twenty minutes. Ideal for an evening around the table with two to six players.