Scout board game review – the card game I carry everywhere

Sometimes, I simply don’t have time or space for a big board game. As I approach my thirties, it’s only getting harder to get my friends around a table for an eight-hour strategy session. That’s where a game like Scout comes in. This pint-sized circus game may be smaller than a banana, but it’s made a big impact on my gaming habits. I can and do bring Scout everywhere, and it helps me squeeze short gaming sessions in on the regular.

Below you’ll find a full Scout review that explains why I’m so enamored with a basic card game. It’s not just me who feels this way, though. Thanks to the passion displayed by the rest of the Wargamer team, Scout has made the cut for our best board games and best card games for adults lists.

How do you play Scout?

Scout gets its name from its theme, which places you in the role of a talent scout for a circus. Your goal is to gather employees and create the most profitable circus in town – even if that means poaching performers from nearby competitors.

In terms of mechanics, Scout is a fairly simple set-building game where two to five players collect and play sets of cards with matching or sequential numbers. It shares plenty of DNA with classic playing card games like Rummy.

However, that doesn’t mean the concept is tired. Scout has found plenty of ways to innovate. This becomes clear from the moment you begin dealing out cards.

My personal ritual is to start a game of Scout by screaming “do not touch your cards until I’ve finished dealing them!”. It’s essential, as most card players love to gather their opening hand bit-by-bit, shuffling the cards around until they’re organized in a pretty or efficient way.

In Scout, this is strictly not allowed – your opening hand must stay in the order it’s dealt for the entire game. Your only choice is which end of the cards you’ll use, as there are numbers on the top and bottom. Once you’ve decided whether to flip or not to flip, play can begin.

On your turn, you have three possible actions. Firstly, you can ‘Show’, which means playing a set of matching or sequential numbers from your hand into the center of the table. These cards must be consecutive in your hand (as we said before, no moving them around to create sets).

If there are already cards in the center of the table, you must be able to play a set of higher value. Playing a higher number of total cards automatically equals more value, but you can also play the same number of cards if yours are more valuable. Matching cards always beat sequences, and sequences with higher numbers beat a sequence with lower numbers.

When you beat an existing set, you can claim those cards from the middle, storing them in a face-down pile nearby. When placed face-down, these cards represent dollars, or victory points that you’ll count up at the end of the round.

If you can’t or won’t play a set that can beat the current one, you can instead choose to ‘Scout’. This means you can choose one card from either end of the current set to add to your hand. It can be placed anywhere you want in any orientation. This is a great way to build stronger sets, but the person who played that original set will gain a victory point token as payment.

Finally, there’s the once-per-round ‘Scout and Show’ action. This allows you to perform both regular actions on the same turn in a fancy flourish.

The round ends when one player has no cards left in hand or a set is played that no opponent can outdo. Everyone tallies up their victory point tokens and cards, and any remaining cards in their hand are subtracted from that score. When you’ve played as many rounds as there are players, the person with the highest score is crowned the ultimate Scout.

Who is Scout for?

Scout takes roughly 20 minutes to play, so it’s ideal for board game lovers who haven’t time to set up a sprawling legacy board game. The flip-side of that card is that its simple rules may not appeal to lovers of heavy strategy board games.

However, a hobbyist can spend time in both camps. I love a crunchy eurogame as much as an easy card game, and my love for one does not diminish my passion for Scout.

Scout is recommended for players aged nine and above, and I’d agree this is an accurate estimate. Younger children may struggle with the fiddly setup premise for this card game, however simple its actual gameplay may be.

What’s good about Scout?

The major selling point of Scout is its surprising depth. Each round is a careful balancing act. Do you play a set early to get a head start on emptying your hand, or do you bide your time and Scout to create an unbeatable set?

Often, you’ll be dealt a bad hand, with no clear opening plays. This doesn’t ruin your chances of winning the round, though. Careful Scouting can pull you back from the brink – and even if it doesn’t, games are short enough that you’ll soon have another shot at the prize. Design-wise, Scout has all the balance of a trapeze artist.

Every point counts, so watch your opponents carefully. Who’s hogging high-value cards, and whose pile of victory points is growing particularly fat from others Scouting their sets? For a game with such a whimsical theme, things can get pretty tense.

The sum of these parts is a punchy, fast-paced game with an addictive streak. For a game that costs around $20 and can fit in a particularly large pocket, we’d call that excellent value for money.

What’s bad about Scout?

It’s not all grand under the big top, though. My biggest gripe with Scout is its two-player variant, which feels far less exciting than the standard game. With only one opponent, your Scouting options are seriously limited, and playing an unbeatable set feels far less explosive. There are fewer variables and fewer players to keep track of – which seriously dulls the shine of Scout’s simple mechanics.

The gameplay also feels fairly divorced from Scout’s circus theme. You’ll quickly forget that each card is supposed to represent an actual person, with their own name and circus act.

These are fairly minor complaints, though. Scout may not be my favorite two-player board game, but for larger player counts, it’s the perfect warm-up.

If you like to keep things simple, here are the best gateway games for beginners. Or, for something more complex, here’s how to play Dungeons and Dragons.

Source: Wargamer