Ben Baldanza
United States
Fort Lauderdale
Florida
My son, Enzo Anthony, at an uncomfortable moment when 3 months old
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Bszzzz is a chaotic trick-taking game from Zoch and it is definitely not a kids game like most of their output. Each player gets three fly swatter cards plus a hand of cards that include "nasty" cards (flies and mosquitoes), "useful" cards (butterflies and bees), and spider webs. In turn players play cards to the table but there are no suits to follow or trump to consider. A "fly swatter" card played to a trick stops the trick, and the player who swung the swatter may score for the "nasty" cards in the trick at that point.
This sounds normal, until you learn that the "play in turn" is really only a suggestion since "useful" cards, spider webs, and fly swatters can be played out of turn by any player. The only rule is that one player cannot play two cards in a row. Since each player gets only three fly swatters, they will have at most three tricks to win in the round. But, if a swatter is played immediately following a "useful" card, they will only score the negative points of the useful cards. It's odd to think of the fact that nasty cards are good and useful cards are bad, but it makes sense since you’re "killing" the swarm with your swatter so you're penalized for killing the good with the bad. Spider Webs stop a trick and force all cards played up to that point to be discarded.
The result is a game with a very odd rhythm and with just three swatters to use it can be best to play early before many cards are played onto the trick. To make things even more bizarre, a variant rule suggests that any card can be played at any time by any player. This is called "Total Bszzzz" and that is what you must be to try it.
This review originally appeared in Counter Magazine.
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My son, Enzo Anthony, at an uncomfortable moment when 3 months old
