As of recently I've reviewed stuff that will hit you for a hundred plus bucks. It fit with my usual MO, but it still felt really weird to tell people that it was okay to sink two hundred plus bucks for two boxes.
This one is easy.
Kiri-Ai is 15 bucks. It's about two samurai dueling on a cliff. You have to get into a proper stance, judge your ranges, and read your opponent better than your opponent can read you. It's fast, intense, and psychological.
And it's amazing.
First off, the cards. They're really high quality and felt great in my hands. They're quite sturdy. I can't imagine needing (or wanting) to sleeve them. Yes, I think they're that good.
Second off, look at this carrying case:
This is so much more impressive in my hands than it is as a picture. It feels so freaking good. Someone really did their homework here. When Blake originally handed me the whole thing I actually gasped, coz normally something this small feels cheap. This don't feel cheap. At all.
Okay, so the production's nice. What about the rules? The rules are just as good as the presentation. They are clearly laid out and it didn't take much to figure them out. Look at the picture at the top of the post: there are range "diamonds". You start at opposite sides of the "battleground" card. You have two sets of five functionally identical cards, in red and blue varieties. These five cards are combined with a simple "stance" system, telling you when and how you can use the cards. You put down two cards, face-down, at the same time as your opponent, and then flip them up in order, simultaneously. The second card you played is left out on the table, and the other cards are brought back to your hand. This means that you don't always have all the resources that you used and puts you into all sorts of sticky situations. That card you had to leave on the table? Your opponent can see it. And you can see what they can't play either. Since you both have the same cards, you have a general idea of what they're capable of now and can figure out more or less what your opponent might do. I've played enough of this game to tell you that what your opponent is like as a person becomes very important. The options are just open enough to where reading your opponent becomes paramount.
"But Nathan," the astute will say. "Rock paper scissors only allows for a limited number of combinations. This is rock paper scissors with more combinations, sure, but that means that you've got a closed system. It's possible to figure that kind of system out. Even with leaving that card on the table, face-up." And you're right! And the game agrees with you! There's three special cards. They're very powerful, but they always have consequences in the game and they're gone when you use them. So not only do you have to be careful when trying to read your opponent, you have to be mindful of these two super-powerful cards, one of which you have no knowledge of, and the other one is yours but when you spend it is gone.
I cannot begin to tell you how much this screws things up.
The matches are fast, psychological, and intuitive, with consequences every time you act. The longest I've ever seen a match go is twenty minutes, and that is as long as you will ever get. Most of the matches are five minutes long and they play out like a samurai film. The tension just builds and builds and then washes over you as a blow gets through and everyone goes "OOH MAN!" coz you got hit once...
But what a story of you getting hit!
Get this. It's a steal for 15 bucks.
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