One of the members of our gaming group recently picked up a copy of the card game Larceny. He got lucky and found it in a bargain bin at a local gaming store and now it is part of our groups ever growing collection of board games. We have played it several times since then and thoroughly enjoyed it. This one definitely gets a gold star from me.

So what is it about? Well it is a card game of the roving judge variety (think Apples to Apples). The Chief (judge) supplies the crew (players) with The Score as well as two obstacles to get it (The Catches). The players then use cards from their hands (The fixes) to alleviate the challenges of The Catches. The Chief then determines the best fixes and awards points to the players that provided them. First to a predetermined value wins. Sounds more confusing then it really is, I suspect an example might help.

The Score: Hope Diamond
The Catch #1: Arena Lighting
The Catch #2: World Weary Private Investigator

Player 1:
Plays their Fix card of Fire Extinguisher on the Arena Lighting (face down so the judge doesn’t see who played what) hoping that maybe The Chief will understand how the cloud from the extinguisher would block them from the Arena Lighting
Plays their Fix card of Friendly Smile on the World Weary Private Investigator (again face down), while not as good as a Tazer Gun would be it is the best they have for this in their hand.

Once all the players have placed cards, The Chief determines (while the players defend the cards) which one overcame each Catch. If the same person takes both Catch cards they also get the Score card as well boosting their points that round. The the judge passes to the left. Rinse and repeat until someone gets enough points to win.

We found this was a good game for both gamers and non-gamers alike, putting it in the category we like to call transition games.

Here are the official like game stats:
Larceny
Players: 3+
Length of Play: 15 Minutes
Ages: 13+