My husband and I had a game night tonight- waiting for a friend to drop off the bed we were putting together, we got out the copy of House Hounds that we just got from Amazon. While it seemed like an odd game- that you were going to play to buy houses- as we set the cards up and followed the directions (pretty easily)- we got the hang of the game quite quickly.There are really two main piles of cards you focus on- the worker cards and the house cards. You start with 9 of the worker cards in your hand and three houses that you can buy. Then each player puts four of the cards from their hand in front of them, as their top card piles. These are the cards you use to buy houses.A player starts a turn by discarding a card into one of their four piles- or buying a house if they can. Every time though, you must pick up a card (you always must have 5 cards in your hand). You can also use your turn to ask a player to trade with you- we never did this. We played that the only trade that can be made in the game- was a forced trade (and I’ll tell you more about this when I talk about the BOSS card below).To buy one of the houses, you need to have the workers needed (in your top card piles) to do this. For instance, one of the houses is called Fortune Falls and you need 3 carpenters, 2 plumbers and 1 electrician to buy in. So, when you get that number of specific workers (a 3 carpenter card, a 2 plumbers card and a 1 electrician card) in your top card piles, you can buy it.Each of the houses you can buy needs a different numbers of workers- for instance you could get a house that only needs 1 carpenter and 1 plumber (Villa on the Green)- however when you count the points of this card, at the end, it is worth five points- however the Fortune Falls house- which needed way more worker cards- and higher numbers of workers- is worth 25.This game reminded me a bit of Skip-Bo, where you had four piles (I think I remember it being that many) in front of you- and you would use the top cards on your piles to build number runs (if I am remembering the game right- I haven’t played it in a long time). Because, like Skip-Bo, playing this game too, you could only use the top cards in your four piles.For instance, when you have to buy one of the houses, the workers must be lined up in the same pile- like when you buy Fortune Falls, the 3 carpenters, 2 plumbers and 1 electrician- all had to be in a pile (but we played that they did not have to be in a specific order- just all three that you needed to buy a house, in the same pile and in a row- meaning no cards could be in between them that aren’t needed- like another plumber of carpenter card, in between the electrician needed to buy Fortune Falls).And every time a house is bought (remember there are always three out)- you take another card out of the house pile of cards (which is way smaller than the workers but needs to be)- and players get to work on building the workers in their top cards to buy that house now.It was a lot to handle in the game but my husband and I gave each other time. The one thing with my husband is that he has very bad sight- and nothing will help him to see better. So the necessary workers needed on the house cards weren’t visible unless he picked one up (to look at it closely), so we both took our time and helped one another- and this way of playing really helped us develop a better understanding of the game- if you take your time and have patience with the other players.The game gets to be even more fun- because of the BOSS card- which is one of the cards in the worker pile. This card can be used for two reasons- to force a player to trade with you (when it is your turn you can always ask a player to trade- and they can agree if they want but don’t have to)- or you can use the boss card to get out of an inspection.When it came on what to do with the inspection cards, we were a little mystified at first (as the instructions were a little vague on what to do- just said to lay it down next to the three houses that you could buy as a fourth card) so- my husband and I played that if an inspection card came out of the house card pile, we laid it down next to the three houses that you can buy (like the instructions said) and applied it to the three houses that were there.For instance, one of the inspection cards says, Faulty wiring- and you need one more electrician because of it. So, had Cambell’s Stoop (cute, right- a house worth 15 points) was out- which needs 1 carpenter, 2 plumbers and 2 electricians, if the inspection card was still there when wanting to buy it- you needed 3 electricians to get it. But, you now got 5 extra points when you pick up the house, with the inspection and at the end of the game, the directions say to add 20 points to the person who collects the most inspection cards (which was my husband who won by 10 points, I believe, and 30 with the 20 extra inspection points for having one more than me).My husband and I both agreed that House ...
