Whilst there has been a large number of new titles released in the strategic gaming market, it has been very slim pickings for players who prefer the traditional card market. I am happy to report that SET Enterprises have begun to fill this void and Five Crowns will be welcomed by many. When first playing Five Crowns I was hit by one very real fact - this game offers nothing particularly new in terms of a game concept. It uses the Rummy mechanics of acquiring Runs and Sets (called Books in this game) and then laying them down to win the hand. But before you stop reading I must point out that this is precisely the reason why Five Crowns works. This game aims for the traditional card playing market so a bevy of new rules is not desirable. What Five Crowns does do is offer a number of tweaks and clever twists that makes it an engaging game experience. Firstly the deck of cards adds a 5th suit - Stars. Then the game is given a time limit of 11 hands. On the first hand all players are dealt 3 cards, which means that making one Run or Book will end the hand. The next hand uses 4 cards per player and so on until the last hand, where 14 cards are dealt out. Because some of the hands will not offer players a nice number like 3, 6, 9 or 12 - some of their Runs and Books will require more than 3 cards. This is yet another diversion from Rummy. A number of Joker cards are also present in the deck and like most games they substitute for a card in the game. However rather than substituting for any card in the deck the Joker takes on the value of the numbered card that matches the hand number. For example in the first hand the Joker's will be 3's. On a player's turn they can take a card from the discard pile or the deck before discarding a card from their hand. If they can finish they do so and all other players get 1 more turn to do their best. If they can finish they also do so, but if not they lay down any Runs and Books they were able to create and the unused cards in their hand score bad points. The player with the lowest score after hand 11 will win.

Familiarity is the key to Five Crowns being an enjoyable experience. Anybody from 8 to 80 that has played card games will pick this up in under 10 minutes. Five Crowns is one of those games that will get plenty of play with family groups, including grandparents who prefer more traditional lines of play. I can see this being a huge hit at the summer beach house or holiday resort when the sun has gone down and the large number of players means nobody has to sit and watch. The cards are made from a quality card stock and are just thick enough to stand up to many plays without making them hard to shuffle. Highly recommended for players that don't want a rulebook that doubles as a paperweight or for a lighter intro game before heavier strategy titles are played.