Preview: 16 Candies

As the summer comes to an end the fall season will bring in Halloween and the buckets of candy that children bring home. 16 Candies is a game all about candy and even has rules for using real candy as life markers. The markers that come with don't taste as good as the real thing. 16 Candies is part of a trio of games being released by Envy Born Games on kickstarter in September.

The heart of 16 Candies is set collection. Players will be drawing rotating and discarding cards to get the most candies of the same type on the top half of their cards. Each player starts with 3 cards and 16 licorice pieces. The game comes with cardboard tokens but we found using real candy was a little more fun. The cards all have a top half and bottom half with different candy types and penalty amounts on each half.

When a player takes a turn they will either call or draw. When a player draws they pick up either the top card from the draw deck or the discard pile. The player then discards a card to the discard pile. A player may call on their turn and to do this they say "I've got candy!"This will give all the other players one more turn to get the maximum amounts in their sets.

Each player will add up the biggest set of one kind of candy on the top half of their cards. The player with the lowest hand will discard or eat an amount of candy equal to the penalty icons on the top of their cards. There are some bonuses and penalties for calling "I've got candy!". If the player who called has the highest score they get 2 candy to their life pool. If they were the middle hand then they lose one candy. If they are the lowest they lose the amount of penalty candy on the tops of their cards. If the player who called ties for lowest hand then they lose one additional candy plus the total at the top of the cards.

If a player did not call "I've got candy!" they will not get any bonuses. They can however get the penalty total taken away from their life pool if they have the lowest hand. There is a way to instant win the hand. If a player has the 4, 5, and 6 of any candy type in their hand they instantly win the round. There is one last card of note in the game. There is a wild card that has 3 of any kind of candy. Wild cards are the same on either orientation.

16 Candies is a real quick and fun set collection game that is able to be played by younger players. 16 Candies is part of the Tiny Game Series being launched on kickstarter by Envy Born Games. The Tiny Game Series will feature 3 new games with 3 different themes and play styles. Sirens and Defrag will be part of the Kickstarter launch this September (2023).

Players: 3-4

Year Published: 2023

Recommended Ages: 10+

Time to Play: 20-30 minutes

A review copy of 16 Candies was provided to Bert's Tabletop Games for Review purposes by Envy Born Games. Final product may vary from what is depicted here.