Today I want to look at a new game by one of my favorite designers. Let’s all step back in time and take a trip back to grandma’s house as we explore “That Old Wallpaper”!
That Old Wallpaper is a card game designed by Nathan Thornton and Danielle Deley that is for 2-5 players. It is published by AEG Games and plays in 15-30 mins.
Overview
In That Old Wallpaper players compete to match the most shapes and colors in designing their best memories of the way the wallpaper patterns go together. Using your best memory and mementos from the past will help you score the most points and make your grandma proud!
Gameplay
The game comes with player cards numbered 1-10 for each player along with recall tokens designed to determine break orders. There are also 109 Wallpaper cards that are shuffled and prepared for the game.
Each card has four sides, two long sides and two short sides that feature a pattern of one of the four colors. Each color has a big and little pattern that only match up to their correct side. Some cards have mementos that act as set collection for the different shapes.
Each turn a new card is added to a column and sometimes multiple cards are added if a red oval is included. Players then secretly bid a card from the 5 in their hand and picking order is determined by lining those in numerical order to the columns. Sometimes ties will occur and these players have “bumped” each other. Place the cards on their side so they take up multiple columns and look at the Perfect Recall tokens to resolve the bump. The player who has a token closest to the front gets the row and everyone else gets a Hazy Memory card that acts a single side wild for scoring at the end.
Once three rounds are completed sets are scored by adding up all of your big and little pairs and get two points for every pair. Mementos are scored based on how many different ones you get and you lose points or gain them based on having the least or most of the red ovals.
The player with the most points wins and makes their grandma proud! The game plays with a small change at two players but otherwise plays about the same from 2-5 players.
Impressions
I love a good card game. The ease of this title hitting your table and getting played it going to be one of the biggest reasons you will love to play That Old Wallpaper. The game takes only a few minutes to teach and then you are ready to go right into the game play together. I haven’t had a problem teaching this to a variety of people and experience levels in gamers. The fact that it is only numbers and symbols make it an easier game to get played with younger kids also which can be a bonus for some of you gaming with your own sidekicks!
The game best compares in strategy and thought to other titles like Point Salad and Lanterns. Similar to a game like Lanterns you are trying to best make patterns and line up choices that score you the most points but you can sacrifice one area to hope for something better in another. The choices are simple to make but still require some strategic play to know what the other players at the table are doing or looking for when you bid for your sections of wallpaper. I appreciate a game that gives me choice and strategies but doesn’t overdo it just to make up for the size or length of play. This game gives you the right amount of fun and thought process to really feel like you have a hand in your movement and card pickup.
I love the art design and the descriptions here for the wallpaper styles. This does throw me back to my grandparents house and the crazy patterned wallpaper they had in the halls. That wallpaper had a felt-like finish and gold foil to accent it. The gold foil on cards here in this game speak right to that core memory for me. It’s the little touches like that one that really make this game pop for me.
So if you are looking for a relatively short card game with strategic thought this may be the game for you. The barrier to learn is low and is an easy one for most players to jump right into. This is a game I can see being a great one to take out to dinner and play while waiting for your food. That Old Wallpaper is sure to be in rotation for our family game nights for some time to come!
Be the first to comment