No Thanks!

If you didn’t want it, then you should have put a chip on it
– Beyoncé Knowles, attrib.

No Thanks! is an incredibly simple game. Thirty-three cards, numbered from 3 to 35. A bag of chips, eleven for each player. And only one decision on your turn – take the card, or put a chip on it.

To begin, nine cards are removed from the deck, not to be used in this game. The first card is then flipped over, and players in turn start making that choice – throw in a chip from his limited and hidden supply, or take the card and any chips that have accumulated. If you take the card, play stays with you for the next card – take it or chip in. If you have no chips to throw in, you must take the card. And so through the deck until the cards are exhausted.

One very important wrinkle – a run of cards is only worth the value of the lowest card. So if you have 12, 13, 14, and 15, you’ll only be taking a hit of 12 points.

From these very simple rules comes a short, brilliant game. If you’ve taken the 33 and the 35 appears, do you risk taking it and the bunch of chips on it, in the hope of the 34 appearing later? Remember, there are nine cards not in the game, and if it doesn’t appear that’s a lot of points you don’t want. But if it does appear, do you then risk throwing a chip in and passing – a card so high is unlikely to be grabbed by anyone else early, so you can use this opportunity to amass a few more chips. Unless, of course, someone at the table has no chips left – they’re hidden, remember – and they have to take it. Or maybe they’ll take it through sheer malice…

No Thanks! claims a playing time of twenty minutes, but that’s enough to fit in three rounds and teach the game. Like Kakerlaken Poker and For Sale, it’s a short and easy game with incredibly simple decisions hiding psychology, brinkmanship and luck management, and can be easily taught to non-gamers. Everyone should have a copy.