Barakka

In Barakka, you want to collect sets of beautiful Moroccan cards, ideally keeping your opponent from doing the same. To set up, shuffle the deck, which contains cards in five colors, with cards numbered 1-5 (and jokers) in each color. Reveal two cards to start two discard piles. On a turn, pick up the top card of either discard pile or the top of the deck. If you drew from the deck and don't want the card, discard it on top of either pile. If you do want the card, place it in a pile that contains only cards of that color; each player maintains their own set of card piles. Arrange the cards in each pile so that you can see how many cards are in the pile, but not the number or joker symbol on any card but the topmost one. Your goal is to get all five of the numbered cards (1-5) in each color, although a joker can replace any number, giving you bonus points along the way. If you place the fifth card in a pile, claim the matching colored token and place it on top of the pile to show that color is now out of play for you. When the deck runs out, you re-arrange the cards in each pile into a numerical sequence, and you score points based on the length of the sequence starting with 1. If a sequence has no 1, it's worth 0 points for you! Additionally, each joker in a valid sequence is worth as many points as the length of the sequence. Each colored token you collect is worth as many points as the number of tokens you collect. Whoever uses their memory well to collect valid sequences — while being cutthroat enough to block their opponent — wins. Barakka includes multiple variants that add new cards and tokens to the game.

Players: 1–2 best 2
Playing time: 15–20 min
Age: 9+
Complexity: 1.3 / 5