Today's card can be lots of fun if you want to get into role-playing it.
The Riddle Game - Resource - Short-event
Riddling attempt. Playable during site phase on a character at the same site as
one of opponent's companies. Tap the character. Opponent chooses a character
from his company to play the riddle game. Each player makes a riddling roll (or
draws a #) modified by +2 if his character is a sage and by +1 if a Hobbit
(re-roll ties). The player with the highest result wins. He then names two
cards and the other player reveals his hand. If any of the named cards are
revealed, they are immediately discarded.
As I mentioned, this card can be quite fun if you and your opponent actually come up with riddles, or hiss the ones used in the books. However, this card isn't always as useful as it is fun.
This card can force the discard of some vital card in your opponent's hand, but with 669 cards currently and probably a couple hundred to come next month, it can be hard to guess a given card in 8 that your opponent has. That's why this card (along with Riddling Talk) is best played with a scrying card (i.e. one that lets you look at your opponent's hand). These include Mirror of Galadriel, Palantir of Amon Sul, or yesterday's card, Secret News. This card is also deadly if you opponent has just Far Sighted for The One Ring or has just moved to a site to play something, but arrived all tapped out.
Before you go guessing what card to get rid of, you need to win the game first. Bilbo is the only Sage Hobbit, so he's the only one who can get the +3 bonus. The +2 bonus for being a sage should be easy to get for either player, as most decks have a couple sages. Also, Wit will help you out with another +3 modifier. So with Bilbo and a Wit you've got a fairly good chance, and it also adds to the fun of the card.
As a last result, this card can be used as a scrying device, assuming you can win the roll you do get to look at your opponent's hand. However, Palantir of Amon Sul, Mirror of Galadriel, Secret News, or Palantir of Minas Tirith.
So all in all, The Riddle Game can be slightly useful (though not quite as much
as it's "companion" Riddling Talk) and quite fun if you get into "the game
within the game."
| Ratings for The Riddle Game: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 5.0 |
| Frodo: | 7.5 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 6.0 |
| Gandalf: | 6.5 |
| Legolas: | 5.0 |
| Strider: | 8.0 |
| Wormtoungue: | 5.0 |
| Samwise: | 5.9 |
| Average: | 6.1 |
Card names and text copyright 1996 by Iron Crown Enterprises, all rights reserved. This document copyright 1996 by Trevor Stone. Permission given to duplicate so long as no profit is made and the copyright notice is kept in tact, blah, blah, blah.