Hoity Toity

Hoity Toity is the Spiel de Jahres winner from 1990, it's also known as Fair Means or Foul.

To win players must collect Antique cards and then display them to advance along the board. The players all make their choices simultaneously, whether to visit the Auction House where cards may be acquired or to go to the the Country Homes where advancement may be made through exhibitions.

At each location there is also the option to play a thief card to capture an Antique or valuable cheque - but the thief can, in turn, be defeated by the Detective card.

The simultaneous play makes this game a complex variant of scissors, paper, stone as the risks and rewards of the available options change as the game progresses.

The game is simple to play, is not spoiled by the presence of a weak player, and has surprising depth for what is also a good family game. A strong player will always do well but is by no means certain to win.

The game is also quick and easy to set up, plays quickly taking around 45 minutes or so, and is at its best with 4 or 5 players.

This is one of my favourite games ever.