Game: Rack-O

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bobe303 — 2008-09-21T20:40:23+00:00

Swedish box and content

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EndersGame — 2008-09-08T03:43:00+00:00

Contents

Thread: Rack-oed over the Coals

trebro — 2008-07-20T16:25:20+00:00

I think it's probably time to accept that I am absolutely terrible at Rack-o. I don't know if it's just bad luck with the cards or if I'm not good at putting my rack together, but I just seem to keep coming up short.

Here's the lowdown on a 570-230 shellacking I got from my girlfriend in the early hours of Sunday...

First hand--not too bad, a few cards away but Erica calls it first. Down 75-30.

Second hand--I'm working on a run of 3 for a bonus but it's not be as Erica not only goes rack-o, she's got a bonus on top. Now I'm down 200-50.

Third hand--might as well have just played the last hand over again. I try once more for a run to improve my score, but Erica shows me how it's done, and with only 30 to show for my rack, I'm in a big hole 325-80.

Fourth hand--nothing goes right for me as I can't get the low numbered cards I need and Erica makes short work of her rack. Now it's 400-100 and I'm about ready to pack it in.

Fifth hand--Another hand, another rack-o for Erica. Nothing special for her, and I do manage to hit 35 points. It's now 475-135. One more rack-o for her and I'm toast.

Sixth hand--I'm down to my final out in the bottom of the ninth, as it were, and manage to get some timely hitting. I grab a rack-o for 75, but how many points does she have? 25 will give her the game...she counts them slowly...but no! Only 20 points on her rack, and we go to one more hand, 495-210.

Now, at this point, we considered calling the game as she only needed 1 card, any card, to win with 500 points. But thanks to the bonuses for runs, I had a chance, albeit a slim one (as Ben Stein used to say), to win the game. On to the 7th and final hand!

Seventh hand--I have no choice but to play for a run of 6, as there is no other way to win. The cards are with me, and I have most of what I need to get a run of 5. However, like needing a few touchdowns to win and only two minutes on the clock, time ran out on me, and Erica called "rack-o!" for the 6th time that night and put my out of my misery, 570-230, as I only managed to get 4 consecutive cards for a measly 20 points in the last hand.

I really like Rack-o as an "end of the night" game as it plays quickly and easily, even if I am apparently terrible at it. Definitely a classic card game that still holds its value over the years.

-Rob

Thread: Re: 50 anniversary edition

Sub_djinn — 2008-07-05T21:26:41+00:00

I picked up a Racko at the thrift-store could you please break down the list of special prime cards for me when you get a spare moment so I can modify my deck. I don't need the exact card number, just the distribution of the actions. Thank you.

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Jan X — 2008-05-01T12:20:53+00:00

Rack-o

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eightbit — 2008-02-26T00:55:08+00:00

Box Side

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KrudgeWelder — 2008-02-20T23:29:58+00:00

Mid-90's packaging

Thread: Re: 50 anniversary edition

Khabbi — 2008-01-02T14:39:46+00:00

I just got this game for my wife for Christmas. We played it once when we found it in the public collection at the cabin. She told me how she used to play it when she was younger... so it was kind of nostalgic.

We've played this new version a couple times now. The prime numbers do have special functions - "Take Another Turn", "Switch Two Cards in Your Rack", "Switch One of Your Cards With Another Player's Cards", "Switch Two Card in Another Player's Rack".

My wife likes light games that she can relax while playing. This game is certainly that. But it's also a lot of fun. The new prime cards add a level of strategy to what used to be a fairly straightforward cards drawing game.

I'd recommend it for couples who enjoy playing light games together (like us).

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jwedel — 2007-11-27T07:55:57+00:00

Rack-O, 1966 MB Edition, inside the box

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jwedel — 2007-11-27T07:51:07+00:00

Rack-O, 1966 MB Edition, sample cards

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jwedel — 2007-11-27T07:50:24+00:00

Rack-O, 1966 MB Edition, the racks

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jwedel — 2007-11-27T07:49:08+00:00

Rack-O, 1966 MB Edition, box cover

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jwedel — 2007-11-27T07:47:09+00:00

Rack-O, 1966 MB Edition, the score board

Thread: 50 anniversary edition

kenjohns — 2007-10-12T19:28:57+00:00

Discovered details of this but never seen it.

Apparently the Prime Numbers have special abilities.

Any one played it - got more details?

Thread: Re: What's the point of the "Partners" variant w/ 4 players?

Chump — 2007-09-06T09:27:36+00:00

OK, after a brief discussion during a game with the Vancouver Boardgames Meetup Group, it dawned on me that indeed, partners would not be able to cooperate if they sat across from each other, but if they sat next to each other, one partner could feed the other potential card sequences. Let's say you've got 41 and 42, but they're not next to each other and/or in the right order, pass them on. Or you've got 41 and 43 right next to each other, pass 'em on.

The question is, how to signal your partner (assuming no table talk) when you want them to pick something up that you've just dumped.

Things that make you go "hmmmm" ...

Thread: 4-Player Bonus Rack-O

Chump — 2007-09-06T07:29:12+00:00

After our opening game of TransAmerica, the late-comers finished their food, and Naomi and her German exchange student friend their game of Heave-Ho! In the meantime, Kevin, Dorothy, Colin and I whipped out Dorothy's game of Rack-O. I remarked how Rack-O is so unassuming-looking, I would never have bought it off the shelf at a game store, but having played it, I'm always up for a game.

I got the first Rack-O of the game, but my lead was short-lived as Dorothy soon "racked-up" three Rack-Os in a row, putting her in a commanding lead, until, mid-game, Colin got the first Bonus Rack-O of the game with a sequence of three. Thereafter, Colin steadily padded his lead, and then broke out with the second Bonus Rack-O of the game, another sequence of three.

Eventually, Colin got to within striking distance of a win, and the only way any of us even had a chance of catching him was with Bonus Rack-Os; Dorothy and I needed at least a three-card sequence, and poor Kevin, sucking wind for the entire game without a single Rack-O to his name, needed a five-card sequence. Well, Dorothy did it! She managed a sequence of three Bonus Rack-O, which tied her up with Colin. Final scores:

Dorothy: 520
Colin: 520
Andrew: 415
Kevin: 260

Thread: Re: Online version of Racko Game

Chump — 2007-09-06T06:58:41+00:00

Above link no longer valid.

Thread: What's the point of the "Partners" variant w/ 4 players?

Chump — 2007-07-30T04:22:19+00:00

What's the point of playing partners in Rack-O, as opposed to everyone for himself? I can't see any way that partners could cooperate in this game ...

Any ideas?

Thread: 4-player, Bonus Rack-O

Chump — 2007-07-30T04:18:53+00:00

Al, Rob, James and myself wrapped up the game night with a game of Rack-O, at my suggestion. I was the only one who had ever played before, and when I showed them the old 1961 edition of the game, some were skeptical that it would be any good. But I assured them that Rack-O has aged well, and so we dove right in, using the Bonus Rack-O optional rules, every man for himself (as opposed to the partner variant, which doesn't really make sense to me, since I can't see how you could cooperate in this game).

Al took the first two Rack-Os, both Bonus Rack-Os, giving him an early commanding lead which he never relinquished. After, seven rounds Al was within striking distance of a win (500 pts), and the rest of us were in the 200s. We realized that we could only have a chance of upsetting Al if one of us went out with a Bonus Rack-O with at least a four-card sequence; Rob needed at least a five-card sequence. This round lasted a long time, as we all tried to build sequences, but Al managed to get a Rack-O before any of the rest of us was able to get a long enough sequence. All of us had Rack-O for a long time before Al did, however.

Well done, Al!

Thread: Re: Ups and Downs

Yuglooc — 2007-01-22T14:32:08+00:00

Once the kids outgrow this, they can move up to 10 Days in the USA, Africa, and/or Europe (which uses a similar principle - get 10 cards in the right order).

Thread: Re: Ups and Downs

robinh — 2007-01-22T12:51:00+00:00

I just started to play this with my son, he turns 5 today....

Thread: Ups and Downs

glsonn — 2007-01-22T04:57:15+00:00

Up Here

Rack-O is a light card game of numbers. The object is to get your rack of ten cards ordered from low to high by replacing what you've been dealt with new cards from the draw or discard piles.

The game is easy enough for children who understand ordering numbers to play. I have an old edition of the game that recommends ages 10 and up. It could easily be played by younger children than that, especially since the numbers are located further to the right on each card as they increase. Thus 1 is located at the far left, 30 is in the center, and 60 is at the far right.

There is some strategy involved in planning which cards you really need to replace. You can also play with the option for bonus points earned for runs, which are three or more consecutive numbers (in the proper order). The strategy involved here is whether to purposely try to get a run while going for a win. (Rarely a run will fall into your lap.) You can also decide to go for the bonus points even after you've got your whole rack in order.

Down There

Other than the bit of strategy mentioned above, there isn't much for strategy-lovers in this game. Especially with three or four players, there is a large dose of luck involved, since you are not likely to "see" every card in the deck; that is, some cards you think you need may never become available to you because someone else has discarded them, and the next player has already covered up that discard before the play comes back to you.

Neither Here nor There

In the two-player game, you get to "see" every discard, so you can play a little more freely than with two or three opponents. To counter this, there is the rule that only 40 of the 60 cards should be used. (Only 50 are used in the three-player game.)

Rack-O could be used to reinforce ordering numbers (or maybe even teach ordering) for those children at that stage of learning.

Thread: 4-Player Bonus Rack-O

Chump — 2006-09-06T21:15:57+00:00

I was all set to start up a game of Basari with a bunch of newbies (Colin, Jill, and Naomi) when Derek saw it and wanted in. I offered to let him teach the game, and I took his place in the Rack-O game that was about to start instead. I recently acquired Rack-O in a batch of games I purchased via eBay, and have been wanting to learn how to play.

Erin explained the rules to us (Steve and Hilco completed the foursome), and we were off in a shot. Hilco started off strong, with two Rack-Os in a row, which gave him a big lead which he managed to squander late in the game when Steve came on strong with two Bonus Rack-Os in a row, and then another Rack-O shortly thereafter. Erin and myself played well, but we were never quite able to rise to the top, alas.

Final scores, after eleven hands:

Steve: 505 (2 Bonus Rack-Os, 1 Rack-O)
Andrew: 465 (1 Bonus Rack-O, 1 Rack-O)
Hilco: 375 (3 Rack-Os)
Erin: 350 (3 Rack-Os)

A couple of rules issues were discussed:

We were shuffling the deck every time the discard pile ran out, but apparently you're only supposed to turn the discard pile over. This makes a difference if you can keep track of the cards that are discarded, and adds that extra strategic dimension to the game.

Also, there exists a contradiction in the Hasborg edition rules that we played. Under the Bonus Rack-O section, it says, "The player who goes RACK-O receives bonus points for every perfect run of three to six cards in the rack", yet the Note below it says that "you receive a Bonus for only ONE of them". I checked my older Milton Bradley copy (1961), and the rules support the latter interpretation included in the Note. The Note is the same in both editions, but the wording of the rule in the 1961 edition reads: "The object of Bonus Rack-O is for a player to score 50 to 400 extra 'Bonus' points by including a sequence ... of 3 to 6 cards ... "

Thread: Raise Your Hand If You Really, Really Stink at Rack-O

OutpostGamma — 2006-06-17T14:23:16+00:00

Yep, my hand is raised. We played some Rack-O at our latest game get together of the Victory Base Baghdad Gamers. It was a filler until Family Business kicked off and right after Pirate's Cove.

I like to play Rack-O with my family but I'm horrible at it for some reason. I understand the basic mechanics (draw/pick a card and put it in the rack) but I rarely get a Rack-O during a game to 500. And to make matters even worse, it's my experience that the same people always do well at Rack-O. I wonder if they have the Rack-O gene.

Anyway, Saturday night was no different than any other time I've played, just a different person hollering Rack-O every five minutes. Happy Heather was a Rack-O whiz. Who knew? And Jukin' Joe and I stink (I think he's worse than I am). Stupid game, why or why do I keep dragging it out?

Well, until I get something better to fill in the time between games, I guess I'll take my lumps at Rack-O and grin and bear it.

Take Care,

Gene Z

Thread: Online version of Racko Game

Maraud — 2006-05-28T16:41:27+00:00

Here is a link to an online Racko varient. Simple and mindless fun for a few minutes!

http://www.scenicreflections.com/games/tower_blaster.html

Thread: Session Report - First Play

snoozefest — 2005-08-14T21:16:13+00:00

A friend of ours had found this at some thrift store - for 99 cents or something like that - and let us have it after realizing neither I nor Mary had played it. Well, that friend (Mike) wasn't here, but we did have Brian and Sarah, and it was the end of the evening so we decided to give this a whirl.

Brief rules (we did not score points; only played 1 hand):
-shuffle cards (numbered 1 to 50, I think)
-cards are dealt to each player, 1 at a time; place card into rack from front to back
-flip card over
-random starting player
-on your turn, take face-up card from discard pile, or top card of draw deck; exchange it with one of your cards if you like; discard your extra card
-first person to arrange rack in ascending order wins

I've played 10 Days in Africa, and heard that Racko was very similar (but more simplified, of course). There's not really much to report on in game play. We went round and round, drawing and discarding, until I managed to complete my rack and call "Racko!" for the win. It's a simple little game, not as interesting as the 10 Days series since initial setup is totally random, and the sequence is very fixed (much less flexibility). There'd be more to the game if you played it out for points, since in that case there should be more strategy in terms of how you arrange your rack - you get points for having the front of the rack in sequence, for having sequential runs, etc. Played as a single round until someone calls Racko is OK filler fun, but not very interesting, really. I guess I might try it again, played for points; but it'll likely be a while - there are much better games out there!

Thread: I can't believe I won

Odat — 2005-07-29T20:43:10+00:00

Terence: 540
Marisue: 230

I must admit that I was not at all pleased when the Random Game Selector randomly selected Rack-O as the game to play this evening. Historically I do very poorly at this game, although I'm not entirely sure why.

This game however, was some sort of turning point in my luck as a Rack-O player. This is also the first time we've played using the extended scoring where runs allow for points (we don't play this game very often).

I don't know the reason, but I just seemed to be extremely lucky pulling the cards that I needed in order to not only racko, but consistently have runs of three. Normally I score 20-30 points per round as I try desperately to not pull all high cards to replace cards in the middle of the rack.

With all of the Racko-O's and runs, I managed to win for the first time in quite a while.

Thread: Re:Session Report

Eric Brosius — 2004-04-19T23:55:41+00:00

RaffertyA (#32611),

We play this using a reduced deck: 10 cards for each player plus one additional card. Thus, for 4 players you'd use 41 cards. The dealer hands the 41st card to the player on the left, who uses it to replace one card from the rack, which is handed to the next player, and so forth. If you don't like the card, you can just hand it one, but if a card goes all the way around the table without being put in a rack, the original person has to stick it back in and pass a different card.

We call this "One Card Rack-O," which sounds like an oxymoron, but really means there's just one card not in a rack at any time.

With this variant, no card can be buried in the discard pile, so it seems there's more skill.

Thread: Session Report

RaffertyA — 2004-04-09T22:40:27+00:00

Played with 3 HS students that'd never played before. One had 'Racko' at the end of the first deal. The next hands were completed quickly as someone was always only 1 or 2 cards away after the initial deal. As a kid I thought the game required a degree of skill, now it's almost trivial and essentially the luck of the first few card draws after the deal. The young people saw no point to the game and are now even more enamoured with the simple Euro's they've played such as Blokus. Probably never play this museum piece again.

Thread: User Review

Mommica — 2003-05-24T22:50:11+00:00

Rack-o is a game not neccessarily for the most mature gamers. The box indicates ages 8 on up, and that is very accurate.
You begin the game dealing cards until your rack is full. Putting the cards in order of dealt is very important. Your turn consists of drawing a card from either the stack or discard pile, and then discarding one card. The one you draw replaces the one you discard and no other cards are allowed to move. The game ends when one player gets all his cards in chronological order. You can also play with advanced rules to where after someone calls out "Rack-o" you then see how many cards are in perfect order. That is better for an adult game.
I don't usually play this game very often, not very much interaction and not very challenging. The only reason I ever play it is because it's easy to explain and I like numbers. I wouldn't go out and buy rack-o but I got it at a thrift store for dirt cheap.

Thread: play Pacal with Rack-O

tklemme — 2002-12-02T19:43:02+00:00

If you own a copy of Rack-o, you can download the rules for Pacal here on the Geek and use the Rack-O cards to play. Pacal uses 50 cards numbered 1-50. I believe Rack-O has cards numbered 1-60, so set aside cards 51-60 and have at it!

Todd

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Tery, Sarah, Radonna

Very old, mostly luck based, and very light card game. Players start with a rack of 10 numbered cards, placed in the order they were dealt. Players take turn discarding and drawing cards, trying to achieve "rack-o" by having all 10 of their cards in order from lowest to highest.

Also played, Lord of the Rings (a second time), Ultimate Outburst x2, Show Manager, Liar's Dice