We actually found it much better to have a maximum hand size (so you have to discard down to 5 cards at the end of your turn, or even 3 cards if playing in a large group), that really sped things up, because people didn't have to think too much about what cards they were going to use - and that makes it easier to play with new players too, who aren't familiar with the cards and have to think a lot harder. Then we made two other changes: discard and redraw all hands at the end of each day, and keep playing days until there are no more nobles in the noble deck. With this, once all the permanent cards are out, the game becomes both faster and more strategic in the later days - each player already has their advantages and disadvantages laid out, and know what they need to try to achieve. I think it improves the game greatly, and reduces the luck factor a little.

Thanks for this review Tom. Glad to see old games still given a chance to be reviewed. Always seen a copy of this at my store but didnt have any idea about it.

The game did so well they reprinted it with a colour Gullotine ,but I like my older copy.

Really enjoyed this game, simple and fun to play. When I first picked it up me and a buddy played over 10 matches in a row.

I like this game. It's very simple and very quick, but FUN

LOL you are right! And yes I love the game! It's one of those games that you can really annoy your opponents. I personally love small card games like Fluxx, Gloom, Munchkin and Guillotine (not in that order). The great thing of card games is that they are easy to take along. Disadvantage of Guillotine is that you do need a rather big table.

Ascension I often play on the iPad before going to bed. I like it that you build the deck as you play. I don't like Magic because you build the deck before hand. I haven't heard of the 3 games you mentioned. Gotta look into them. As you can see we usually play light quick games. Often we play when we are on the road in our travels. So you want something quick and easy. When it comes to board games, I am a sucker for cooperative games like Pandamic. But I also adore Ticket to Ride!

Regarding the possible "turnoff" of the guillotine theme... How is this more unsavory or gruesome than any wargame, or especially any Cthulhu game? Or zombie game? People die in awful ways in many, many games.

Have you done a review for the egg carton one?

I played this game a couple months ago and didn't like it. I had a couple problems with it: 1) No meaningful choices. You look at the cards you have and the cards in the lineup and just play the card that maximizes your points. Second, I was in a 5 player game the 5th player has an immediate disadvantage since you don't continue going in a circle for the 2nd day (the 2nd player gets to go first). There are 12 people to kill each day, so the 5th player gets less turns total.

This is the first game which i played which got me hooked into boardgaming. I had no idea of the theme then though. My friends just told me the aim was to recruit/collect the people worth the most points in the queue. haha

I'm a french guy and I remember playing this game once with a friend who's very fond of history (especially the renaissance and revolutionary eras) and he jokingly said "This the most historically accurate game about the revolution ever ! A bunch of fools having fun killing innocent people in the name of justice !"

I play this game all the time and it is quite fun. One thing we altered is that you can play as many action cards as you want on your turn, instead of just one. I suppose it does make the game drag on a bit, but also gives it more strategy

Much like Tom, I really enjoy Summoner Wars, but it's not really a "social" kind of game like most games you mentionned. I'm also quite fond of deck building games like dominion, ascension... But these are a wee bit on the heavier side. In very light card games though, I love Incan Gold, For Sale, Get Bit... But once again... I usually like heavier games.

I'm not a big fan of the other games you mentionned, but I still enjoy Guillotine. I like that it's simple but not totally brainless : do I go for the high point card or do I set up the next turn to hurt my opponent ? Just fun.

Head-lobbing? Game of Thrones fans will love this :D

I think it's important to remember the darker side of the revolution. I do not want to diminish it's historical importance, of course, but it really does serve as a reminder that everything comes at a cost. People's lives were ruined, and people took pleasure in that. Anyway, like I said, my friend said it jokingly, but there's a degree of truth in that. I think we have polluted Tom's comment area enough with historical debates though ! So, do you like the game ? haha

Tom is right, it's just a fun game.

I like that game too it is quick and fun. I don't really think about the guillotine because I'm just getting rid of cartoons. If the picture were more realistic then it would probably bother me.

Who in the world would take offense with this theme ?!

It looks like the game called Bergnein is also a copy of this. And I thought it was funny and original... :( (In it, you play as a bouncer for the famous club Berghain, and you also collect points based on how prestigious the guests are whom you let in)

Oh yeah. Pandemic and Ticket to Ride are definitely awesome. Other games I recommand : King of Tokyo, Survive : Escape from Atlantis, SmallWorld, Castle Panic, Formula d, Betrayal at House on the Hill, and then the heavier games : Shogun/Wallenstein, Descent, Puerto Rico... But these require more of a commitment haha !

A change was needed that's for sure. But I wouldnt call that justice. Just imagine, you're living your ordinary live, with no previous mention that you may be doing something wrong and suddenly, whatever it is you're doing becomes a crime punishable by death ! And most of these people didnt even get fair trials either. Being a SERVANT to a noble was justification enough for the death sentence. No matter how you look at it, it ain't right.

Ten times better than parade.

Gloom is very much the same, where you need to plan ahead. Fluxx Cthulhu is also something that you need to plan a bit more ahead. What (card) games do you like? Perhaps something for me to look into. I play quiet a lot of board/card games and hardly no video games.

Played it with a couple of friends, and they were bored with it. That session killed the game for me, and I sold the game very soon after that. Not sure if it would have been better if I played with another group.

Very good game! Played this game a while ago.

I have a shirt just like that but without the Fox characters

And with everything in live the revolution it's not black and white... Not completely bad and certainly also not completely right.

One of my favorite fillers of all time. Like that there are so many different cards in the game, I mean compare that with for example Abluxxen (2 different Cards in the whole game...). Such an amazing fun little game. Saddly only the german version (Amigo) has the nice looking cardboard Guillotine. (I built my own wooden one for my copy).

Well the fact is that these nobles were often born rich because their previous generations sucked up, or were of "royal blood" and they never seemed to bother about the extreme poverty in which most of the people in France lived. Many of them even instilled taxation on to the people. Very much like we see today with the EU. They suppress and tax the people and they themselves earn way too much. Perhaps a little revolution is in place, today as well ;)

maybe the theme doesn't bother you because the people you are executing are all french :P

Good game.

There was only 11 of them in the queue.

Fair trials... Well the church and the magistrate weren't fair and after the truth either. You can say, what goes around comes around. I am not saying it was right from a point of view of justice and like you said servants were beheaded too. However it did a lot of good for your country. Like I said I am hoping for a (less bloody) revolution against the EU too. Collect these people and banish them to Elba ;)

Most of these people were born nobles and took their birthright as a given. They had no reason to doubt them, most of them were completely oblivious to their crimes, if they actually did any. It's easy to paint all all revolutionaries as idealistic heroes and nobles as greedy monsters, but most of them were just ordinary men and women (not to mention children) who just happened to own land. More than 40000 people were guillotined. Were they all guilty of anything but being rich ?

Got is a stocking stuffer this year. Looks like a fun game. I didn't realize Wizards of the Coast did it however so I'm sure that when we finally open it Christmas morning we'll discover the quality of the cards to be utter trash. To this day I have never found a game as low quality as any Wizards of the Coast games. Betrayal at House on the Hill is the winner of worst components EVER. Anyway, I digress... Can't wait to try this one out!

I don't know that it should bother you more, Tom. You're killing people in many other games, like Memoir'44 which is also set in a very dark part of history.

This game always put me off because of the theme.