X code

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X code
Game data
author Kaspar Lapp
graphic Barbara Spelger
publishing company GermanyGermany Germany : Amigo
Publishing year 2018
Art cooperative card game
Teammates 2 to 8
Duration 15 minutes
Age from 10 years on

X-Code is a cooperative card game by the game designer Kaspar Lapp , which was published by Amigo in 2018 . In the game, the players have to jointly decrypt a 12-digit code by swapping cards, and they only have a limited time to do this. By completing the first training missions, further game options and rules are released in the game, which also gives the game a legacy component.

Theme and equipment

When X code is a cooperative card game that is played in real-time game. The aim is to jointly solve a 12-digit code by swapping cards. The time is limited to three minutes, whereby the time can be extended by playing time cards. Thematically, the game is set in the hacker scene , where the players have to get information from the Darknet .

In addition to instructions, the game material consists of 48 code cards, 12 time cards, 6 joker cards, a code plan, a time plan, 2 keys and an hourglass. A digital timer can also be downloaded as an app.

Style of play

Before the game, the code plan and the time plan are placed in the middle of the table. Three jokers of the cards are returned to the box and the rest of the cards are shuffled. Each player receives three cards, the remaining cards are placed face down on the schedule as a draw pile. The hourglass is placed on the space provided.

Actions per turn
  • Take a card
  • Discard any three cards
  • exchange a card with the neighbor
  • put down a set of 3

As soon as the hourglass or timer starts, the game begins. All players play at the same time and can perform one of four different actions as often as they want: draw a card, discard any three cards from your hand on the discard pile, swap a card from your hand with your left or right neighbor or discard a set of 3. During the entire game, players are never allowed to show each other their cards, but they are always allowed to talk about their cards and ask for specific cards to complete their sets.

When a player draws a card from the draw pile, however, he may never exceed his hand card limit. This depends on the number of players and as soon as a player inadvertently does this, he must immediately discard all his hand cards. When the draw pile is used up, the discard pile is shuffled and laid out as a new draw pile. In order to get rid of cards that the player does not need, he can discard any three cards face up at any time. Since players have to collect sets, they have to swap cards. Each player can swap cards with his left and right player. To do this, the player places the card that he would like to exchange face up between himself and his neighbors and the latter must either place a card face up next to it or reject the exchange. Only cards with an arrow pointing in the direction of the exchange partner may be laid out; the two arrows must therefore point in opposite directions. Once the two cards are between the players, both players can start the games. Jokers cannot be exchanged.

When a player has formed a set of three identical cards in his hand, he can place it face up on the corresponding code field on the code board and crack a number in the 12-digit code. If a player places a set of three time cards on the corresponding space, he turns the hourglass and thus gives the team new time. A joker card can replace any card, including a time card, but a complete joker set is not possible. All cards laid out remain on the board until the end of the game.

The players win the game if the players have placed a corresponding set of cards on all twelve fields of the game board within the given time. If the time runs out before you can play all twelve sets, you have lost the game.

When the players have achieved the first goal of the game (the first "training level"), they can play a higher level with additional rules and restrictions. In the second level, there are no jokers and the time cards are reduced to nine. In the third level there are only six time cards and the number of hands is reduced by one card. The fourth level is played again with six jokers, the time cards are reduced to three and the players have to form sets of four cards. Once the players have completed all four training missions, they can open a card compartment in the game box with a key to play the blue, yellow and red missions with additional rules.

Versions and reception

Kasper Lapp at the international match days in Essen 2017

The game X-Code was developed by the game designer Kaspar Lapp , whose game Magic Maze was nominated for Game of the Year in 2017 , and was published in 2018 by the German publisher Amigo . The illustrations come from Barbara Spelger .

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Game instructions X-Code , Amigo 2018
  2. ↑ X-Code , versions at BoardGameGeek. Retrieved January 19, 2019 .

Web links