It is known that the fascination of the forbidden has always attracted man and the seven sins - or vices - capital have always accompanied him throughout the centuries.
This setting is the starting point for the new card game 7, the Sins, created by the new author David Spada and illustrated by Nicola Angius, published by GateOnGames and fresh from the press.
The game puts at the table from 2 to 5 players for about twenty minutes and is based on mechanics of storage of the cards passed, with a pinch of chance on how to play: in practice everyone will have to choose whether to accumulate as many sins as possible or if "lead a life more morigerate".
But beware, it is not certain that one choice is better than the other, because everything will depend on how others will play.
Suitable for everyone, it will reward those who have a pinch of memory more than others and those who know how to better manage the moments of play.
THE MATERIALS
Inside the box, very elegant, we find the dashboard "Abyss of the Soul", double face (English / Italian), on which will be placed the cards Capital Sin during the game.
Then we have the deck of cards that includes the Capital Sin cards (11 for each sin) and 3 cards Universal Judgement.
Each Capital Sin card bears the name of the sin and its "animal" representation: the lion for Superbia, a goat-headed woman for Lust, the pig represents the Gorge, the bear for Wrath, the wolf for Avarice and the donkey for Woe.
The 3 Universal Judgement cards, if placed in pairs, form the design of a staircase that starts from a dark place and advances towards the divine light.
Both the Capital Sin cards and the Universal Judgement cards have a differentiated back and are divided into 3 "epochs", with the 7th represented becoming more intense as time goes by.
The equipment ends with 5 scoring cards for player help, 10 gems of forgiveness (red) and 7 penitentiary cards, used in the advanced version of the game: they have on one side each of the 7 sins, while the back shows the drawing of the entire Last Judgement.
The illustrations are very close to the theme: the Capital Sin cards, with a black background, have something shady, but also persuasive, fascinating ... all very nice.
At the level of playability, some colors used for sins at first glance may be a bit 'too similar, but playing, however, you can distinguish enough.
From the point of view of the quality of materials has been done a great job: elegance and strength at arm's length.
THE RULES
The rules are very simple.
Depending on the number of players you will have to play with the appropriate number of sins (the 7 sins are used only with 5 players).
Based on the number of players, the number of gems to be used is selected.
Select the appropriate cards, you must divide the cards Capital Sin on the basis of their backs, you take the deck of the era 1, you distribute one card each, which each looks, but then positions covered in front of him, and reveal 5 cards.
At this point he creates the fishing deck, inserting the Last Judgement cards in the corresponding deck, and shuffling the decks separately, to go and compose a stack that goes from era 1 to era 3.
So we're ready to play.
You play around: at your turn, everyone can choose all the cards uncovered of the same sin and decide whether to add them, blankets, to their deck or place them, always blankets, on the dashboard of the Abyss of the Soul; in the second case, if still available, you can take a gem of Forgiveness.
You then restore the bank by drawing new cards, until you get 5.
If a Last Judgement card appears, it remains on the bank, reducing the number of Sin cards available.
The game continues until the third Universal Judgement card is drawn, which ends the game.
At this point the cards contained in the Abyss of the Soul are revealed and the points are added, grouping the cards by type of sin: considering that a set of 1 to 3 cards carries positive points (1, 3 and 6), 4 to 6 cards negative points (-1 to -6), while more than 7 cards accumulate 10 points.
The sum of the Abyss of the Soul is then verified: if it is less than 7, the player with the lowest score wins, while if it is more than 7, the player with the highest score wins.
The players' scores are calculated in the exact way in which the score of the Abyss of the Soul is calculated, on the basis of the cards contained in their deck.
Forgiveness gems can be used as jokers on any Sin Card, but only one for sin.
In case of a draw, the player with the most cards wins.
The Penitentiary cards add a variant of the game, which allows you to finish the round even after you have drawn the last Last Judgement card, so that all have done the same number of turns.
ENTREPRENEURSHIPS
The game is based on a nice idea, very close to the proposed setting: if you accumulate sins, you will probably increase your booty, but if everyone behaves in the same way, the Abyss of the Soul will remain with a few cards, so it will win the most morigerate.
Vice versa, if everyone is morigerated, the Abyss of the Soul will explode with sins - and therefore with points - so the "most corrupt" will win.
In practice it is necessary to check well how the game is going and it would be appropriate, but not easy, to memorize the number of cards you have in your deck and those finished in the Abyss of the Soul.
The scoring mechanism is designed to reward balance: a few cards carry a few points, but in addition to 3 points even become negative and to make them positive you need to accumulate more than 6 points.
And all choices depend on how the game is going, that is, how the opponents play, trying to guess - or rather to count - if there will be more or less than 7 points in the Abyss of the Soul.
From this point of view the game is very interactive, because everything is based on how everyone is playing.
You can try to bluff, trying to keep your balance at all times, so that you can direct your deck in one direction or the other.
Maybe having a Sin of which have accumulated many cards and some other that allows you to possibly get negative points if the deck of the Abyss is proving too impressive ...
The "moral" of the game is therefore not to abound in sins, me being too morassed may not pay.
Excellent proof then for this new author, who pulled out of the hat a fresh game, interesting and light enough to be proposed to all.