Ace of Spades
The small town of Sweet Haven, Arizona, has fallen under the control of the terrible Lord Overkill and his band of yellow-livered coyotes. You are the last hope of the inhabitants to defeat the terrible demon, whose features are borrowed from the iconic look of Lemmy Kilmister, singer and bassist of the American metal band Motörhead. Your only weapon: your poker skills, which will allow you to eliminate his henchmen one by one before the final duel.
Largely inspired by the successful video game Balatro, Ace of Spades asks you to inflict damage on a series of increasingly powerful enemies using poker combinations (pairs, sets, squares, colors, etc.). Each defeated enemy allows you to obtain additional powers which strengthen your game for one move (add or remove two points from a card, etc.) or permanently (add a joker to the draw pile, for example, etc.).
With its dark, horrific and highly referenced universe (we find the mythical figures of the Wild West in demonic versions, from Clint to Yul, including John…), Ace of Spades will not please everyone. But its addictive mechanics and exponential difficulty make it a little gem of single-player games. Load your Colts, the duel awaits you.
Ace of Spades
By Benja Amorin, Devir/Iello, €20 | From 14 years old, 1-2 players
All-In. Predictions
In All-In, knowing the rules of poker is an asset: same cards, same value of combinations, same “river” (cards placed face up on the table and usable by all players). And your best poker face will help you too!
But here you have new tools to win the game. Each turn you must play a card from your hand or pass. The card played takes place in the river, and directly affects the game: you can exchange a card in your hand with another in the river, get an overview of an opponent’s game, or even draw several cards! The round continues in this way until it “fills” the river, which has a limited size. If you are happy with your hand, you can also go “all-in”, speeding up the end of the round but preventing you from playing again until it ends.
Whoever has the best hand at the end of the round wins points, but also those who bet on the correct winner. All-In offers a more dynamic and fun variation of poker, without money and accessible to everyone, ideal for a first approach.
All-In. Predictions
By Phil Walker-Harding, Next Move, €18 | From 8 years old, 2-5 players
