Zing a Zam!

Game 1 of our “Halloween Half-term Spooktacular” is…

“Zing a Zam!” played by myself, Jack(.8.) and Toby(5)

“Zing a Zam!” is a delightful trick-taking card game that may not sound too exciting when you read the rules, but we had much more fun playing it than we expected.

The general idea of the game is similar to games like Hearts, where players take turns playing cards, and the highest card in the trick wins. Each card has special powers, like a one beating an eight, a six allowing you to pick up a cat card for more points, or a seven making your opponent skip a turn.

What makes this game unique is that, except for one card in your hand, all your cards are facing your opponents, not you. This means you have to, to some extent, guess which cards you’re playing. The skill in this game involves counting your cards, understanding the likelihood of having the card you want in your hand, and using your powers to reduce that risk as much as possible.

While this may sound relatively simple, it requires a fair bit of thought, yet it’s simple enough that even a small child could play, even if they don’t quite grasp the full strategy.

The artwork in the game is of high quality, and the cards are as you would expect for playing cards.

I really enjoyed “”Zing a Zam!”,” and if you happen to come across a copy, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend picking it up. However, one slight issue is that the game is not readily available in the UK at the moment and would require importing to get your hands on it, which makes it slightly harder to recommend.