Product Review: Stupiduel By Richard Harrison

By Richard Harrison 
The Land of Make Believe 
Hudson, Ohio 

This game definitely deserves a review. The fact that so many people have said that Stupidue l is "the best game they've ever played" should make even the most lethargic game players take notice. 

So, what is Stupiduel ? The rules say it's "a combat of wits fought dishonorably with cowardice to protect nothing in particular." More to the point, it's a card game in which players battle each other with rather peculiar weapons of mass or minimal destruction. 

There are two types of cards: Items and Modifiers. Items range from the conventional (bomb, poison) to the sublime (chicken, pickle) to the ridiculous (garden gnomes, underwear) to the downright scary (mime, high-priced lawyer.) Modifier cards have words like "heat-seeking" and "electrified," or numerical values like "1000" on them, and these can be used in conjunction with your weapons. 

Want to send "10,000 ravenous hamsters" against your opponent? No problem. Or how about an elaborate ruse in which he receives an "acid-dripping cowboy hat" for his birthday? Yee-haw! The real weapon though, is imagination and story telling: using a single Item and as many Modifiers as you like from your 5 card hand, you challenge another player to a Stupiduel . You then come up with an elaborate story as to how you use this item to bring about his or her destruction. ("You were walking down the street one day.") The defending player then used an Item and Modifier(s) to create a cunning defense. ("Fortunately, I covered my body in super petroleum jelly so your evil mutant rope slides right off me!") 

Other players decide whether the attack succeeded or failed, based on the cleverness or lameness or the respective stories. A successful attack indicates the defending player loses one of his three life counters (jelly beans are recommended.) Lose all three and you're gone like the goose! 

This game is just as fun to watch or listen to as it is to play, especially with a really creative group of players, and the easy to learn rules are a pleasure to read owing to the game designer's off the ceiling sense of humor. So, I heartily recommend this clever little package, chock full of cards. After all, how often is it that you get to defend yourself against a giant spiked teddy bear with a flaming chicken?