To be fair or Unfair?
Unfair is currently, and has been for probably a year or so now, my favourite game. Somehow managing to supplant Ticket To Ride (all versions) from the top spot that it had held for an number of years.
Unfair is so well designed that every single game you play is completely different. You may have a tactic in mind when you start a game (at least once you have got a few games under your wing) but what you draw, how the other players play, how many players there are and, most importantly, the theme packs you draw can all effect where the game will head.
While the game play of Unfair is what makes the game so good it is the theme packs, 6 in this the main game (Pirates, Vampires, Robots, Jungle, Gangsters & Ninja) and Good Games aim to release one pack for every letter of the alphabet, that make it so varied. Each theme plays in a slightly different way and you only play with one theme per player. This means there are many combinations with just this base set and the variety is only going to get bigger as more themes are released.
The game play is very simple but the strategy is more complex. The perfect games in my eyes are like this. They are easy to start playing but once you get to grips with the game you realise how much tactics can play a part in the game. If a game can be played as a light fun game but also be very strategic and 'Unfair' then that is a very well designed game.
To add even more variety to the game Good Games have even included a bunch of cards…