Rules
Bull in a China shop is a game for 3-5 players. To start the game, hand out one Pass card to each player along with one Money card. Also hand out 1 of the 5 numbered China sets to each player. Players will place the China face up in front of them.
The goal of Bull in a China Shop is to score points by collecting China cards. The China cards are numbered 3-8 and come in red, green, and blue suits. Players will take China cards to increase their scores and keep the cards in front of them for all players to see.
To balance out the game, there are Bull cards which destroy your China cards.
This picture is for the original version of the game which used elephants instead of bulls, but the point of the card is the same.
When a Bull card is taken, it destroys China equal to the icons on the card. Each small colored icon destroys one China card of the player's choice. Each large colored icon destroys all the China of that color. Each small gray icon destroys any one China of the player's choice. Large gray icons destroy all China cards with the matching numbers, regardless of color.
Shuffle up the China cards and lay them out in piles of 10. Place a Scoring card under each pile and stack them all together to make the China deck. There should be one Scoring card after every 10 China cards. Shuffle up all the Bull cards and place the Bull deck next to the China deck. Flip over the top 5 cards of the China deck and the top 5 cards of the Bull deck.
On a player's turn, a player has the choice to take a China card, take a Bull card, or use their Pass card. If the player uses their Pass card, their turn is skipped and their Pass card is used for the entire game. If the player takes a China card, they must pay in 1 Money card. Therefore, if a player does not have a Money card, they cannot take a China card. If the player takes a Bull card, some of their China may be destroyed. The player receives a Money card as compensation.
Once all 5 Bull or China cards are taken, 5 more are dealt out. When the last China card is taken and a Scoring card is on top of the deck, the round ends.
At the end of each round, players will score in one of 4 different areas. Since there four scoring rounds, each area may only be scored once and all 4 must be filled. The four scoring areas are:
Highest in all colors - Total up the highest number in each color
Lowest in all colors - Total up the lowest number in each color
Total in one color - Total up all your cards in any one color
Total of all cards - Totall all your cards
After the four scoring rounds, the player with the highest score is the winner.
Components
Bull in a China Shop is a card game. Everything in the game is cards. Bull delivers the goods with high quality cards. The cards are slightly smaller than normal playing cards but they stock is of good thickness and the cards have a great textured semi-gloss finish. The artwork in this game is pretty minimalistic on the China and Bull cards, but the illustrations on the money cards and the Pass cards are cute. Its a fun sort of artwork which makes the game seem more accessible and easy going, although its more cut-throat than it first appears.
I believe this cards will last a pretty long time. I've seen many a card game cost a lot more and have worse card quality. Happily, Bull delivers where it really counts in the component area.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Bull in a China Shop is based largely around timing. On a player's turn, the choices are to take a China card, take a Bull card, or use your Pass card. But the choices are compounded by the cards present on the table.
If you don't have a Money card in your possession, your only choices are to Pass or take a Bull card. Your Pass card can only be used once per game so using it at the right time is very important. The Pass card is generally best used in the later portion of the game when you have a large collection of China that will be decimated by a Bull card.
Taking Bull cards is essential to the game because taking them is the only way to get Money cards. To keep people from just taking Money in the early game, there is a rule stating that players may only have 2 Money cards at one time. So if you already have 2 Money cards, your options are to pass or buy China. The key to taking Bull cards is taking them when they will do the least damage to you. Very often you will find yourself in a situation where you can take a Bull card that will not affect you at all. This is a terrific situation because you don't lose any China and you get a Money card. Bull cards can also be used strategically to help you in scoring. In a round when you need to score the "Lowest in all colors" area, you can use the Bull cards to eliminate lower numbers thus increasing your score.
Buying China is easy, but determining when and what to buy is the hard part. You need to pay special attention to what's visible in the Bull row, especially if the purchase will leave you with no money. Sometimes its worth taking a Bull card just to make your opponents turns harder.
And thats the true essence of Bull in a China Shop: "take that" gaming. There will be plenty of opportunities in which you take cards that you know your opponents need and leave them with less than favorable outcomes. Timing what you take and when you take cards to maximize your score and minimize your opponents is the name of the game.
Luck has a big part in this game. No matter how well you play, you can be forsaken by the luck of the draw. This happens in all card games at all levels of play and is certainly present here. Since Bull is a short filler game, this shouldn't be too much of a problem.
The game is very easy to teach and plays pretty quickly. The strategies may not be obvious at first, but after a few plays, players will see the underlying tempo and current that exists in the game.
Compare it to...
In some ways, I can see how this is comparable to Schact's other creation Coloretto. Both games rely on a mechanic where player's sometimes need to take something they don't want just to get something they need. Coloretto works a little differently, but the idea is present in both games. I really dislike Coloretto because I feel like the negatives aren't harsh enough. It doesn't really feel like you're being penalized. Bull does a better job in that respect because when you get hit, it can be devastating.
The scoring mechanism of this game is very interesting. There are 4 different scoring options and each one must be completed during the course of the game. This adds to the depth of choices because you will have different goals at different times of the game. Other players may be vying for the same goals which creates pockets of competition amongst different players. I think the best thing about this system is that it stops a runaway leader problem. Its probably the best part of the game because it allows each player to be flexible and creates equal parts of strategy and tactics.
Overall
Bull is a fun little game that has a lot more depth than is first visible. You should be able to teach and play a 5-player game in about 30 minutes. I think the sweet spot is 4 but I suspect that 5 works okay as well. 3 is almost too easy. I like the interesting scoring options and I think that really helps to keep you in the game and prevent a runaway leader.
This review shows a lot of positive things about the game, but for some reason, I don't feel overly compelled to play this game. Its fun and it has its place in my collection, but I'm just not super thrilled. I enjoy the game and am willing to play, but its not a burning desire like I have for Great Wall of China. Still, the game is good enough to get a 6/10.
So Schact once again comes up a bit short for me. I continue to be unimpressed by his creations. Bull is decent little game if you can get it for the right price. There's fun to be had if you don't mind some of the randomness. Still, there are other games I prefer. I'll keep this one, but its not a favorite.
Posted Thu Jan 17,2008 05:09 pm
