Advert: This is a prototype gifted for the purposes of review through the UK Board Game Review Circle. Components subject to change. All opinions are ours.

It’s a moody Sunday morning, perfect for playing a moody solo game with cheeky magpies, curses and spooky spectres. One for Sorrow is a new witchy solo game based on that age-old nursery rhyme:

One for sorrow,

Two for joy,

Three for a girl,

Four for a boy,

Five for silver,

Six for gold,

Seven for a secret never to be told,

Eight for a wish,

Nine for a kiss,

Ten for a surprise, you should not miss,

Eleven for health,

Twelve for wealth,

Thirteen be ware, its the devil himself

Can you harness the power of the magpies and banish the Spectre of Sorrows before he curses the forest?

Key stats

1 player
15 minutes
8+ years

Publisher: Kev Makes Games
Designer: Kevin Newman
Art: Kevin Newman

Theme: Fantasy, Folklore, Birds
Key mechanics: Hand management, Solo, Move through deck, In-hand

Gameplay overview

One for Sorrow is an 18-card game that you play in the palm of your hand. To win, you must reveal and arrange all 13 magpies in order before the Spectre of Sorrows curses all the trees of the deck. 

On each turn you:

1. Turn the top card of the deck face up to reveal it (if it isn’t already face up).

2. Activate the revealed magpie’s power (this is usually optional). If you use the ability, you rotate the magpie (or keep it on) its ‘used’ side. If you don’t use the ability, rotate (or keep) the magpie on its ‘scoring’ side.

3. Move a set number cards from the top of the deck to the bottom, keeping them in the same order.

How many cards you move to the bottom is determined by the top card’s ‘fly number’ (shown in a black circle). If the card underneath the top card is also face up, you can choose to use that card’s fly number instead. If you start a turn with a tree on the top of the deck, you skip the first 2 steps and go straight to moving cards to the back of the deck.

The Spectre of Sorrows starts the game at the bottom of the deck. Whenever you reach a point where the Spectre is moved back down to the bottom, you must curse the nearest living tree. Trees start off as living, then ‘cursed and alive’, then ‘destroyed’ if cursed a second time – and with each cursing their fly number decreases. If there’s ever a point where there’s no more trees left to curse, i.e. all 4 trees are destroyed, then it’s game over.

Not all Magpies are helpful. Magpie 1 (One for sorrow) can also curse a tree if it’s face up on the top of the deck when a new round starts. But if a round starts and Magpie 13 (Thirteen beware, it’s the Devil himself!) is face up on the top of the deck, then you lose instantly.

To win, the magpies need to be face up and in sequence from 1 to 13, moving upwards through the deck (i.e. 2 above 1, 3 above 2, etc). Then, you add up the number of stars on your magpies and living trees to get your score! Will you become a Shadowed protector, a Warden of the flock, or a Savior of sorrows?

Our first impressions

• One for Sorrow is the first ‘in-hand’ game I’ve played and I’m so impressed with how much fun is packed into this game! It’s very puzzly and everytime I play I feel like my brain is getting a little workout (like those brain training games!).

• I love the folkloric theme based on (British) superstitions, told through a well known nursery rhyme. I also like that each line of the rhyme is included on the cards, alongside the mischievous illustrated magpies.

• Completing the game is very satisfying. I don’t tend to like punishing solo games where you’re supposed to lose a lot. For me personally, One for Sorrow struck a nice balance between being challenging but rewarding (I’ve won more than lost in standard mode, your mileage may vary).

• Every card has a marked corner on one side to help with card orientation/facing at set up, which is so simple but so helpful!

• Because you play it fully in your hand, One for Sorrow is one of the most portable games I own – and you know I love my portable games!

• As it’s all in one hand, there have been a couple of times when rearranging cards that I’ve fumbled, gotten muddled and forgotten what I was doing. This is fully a me-thing and isn’t a fault of the game, but I wanted to note it because it might be a consideration for others.

• While overall a straightforward game and rules, there’s a few areas where the rule sheet  would benefit from some extra clarifications.

Verdict

I’m so impressed with how much there is to this little 18-card palm game – it’s brilliantly simple and wonderfully clever, just like those magpies! It’s wonderfully more-ish and has a couple of different difficulty levels for when I want more of a challenge. And it now sits among my travel-bag essentials, with my other favourite solos. 

Kev will be at AireCon on Saturday next week with a retail version of this nifty solo. If you’re looking for a fun solo card game I strongly recommend picking a copy (I certainly will be!).