I bought Guillotine on a whim one day - thinking we might play it occasionally. I was very surprised to see that my family loved the game - and wanted to continuously play it, over and over! So when I saw that Draco and Co. was compared to Guillotine, and that it was designed by my favorite game designer, Bruno Faidutti (with Michael Schacht) I immediately snatched it up.

So is Draco and Co. worth buying? The short answer is: Why not? It's cheap and very fun! The longer answer follows.

First, a short description of the game: Each player place a card with a picture of a castle in front of them. Each castle is a different color - indicating what color that player is. Then, each player takes the two character cards of that color (characters are amazons, goblins, gnomes, and rogues), and places them in a pile with 3 special characters (Brother John, Aunt Sarah, and Zork). This stack is then shuffled and laid onto the table in a circle. The circle starts with the Draco card (the leader of your motley crew). The Draco card is two sided, and shows him toasting with his right hand on one side, and his left on the other. The card starts with him toasting the right.
Then, a deck of action cards are shuffled, with five cards being given to each player. A pile of silver and gold coins is laid in the middle of the table (the bank), and each player receives one gold coin to start the game (one gold coin = 3 silver coins). One player is chosen to start, and the player to his right takes the little wooden Goblet and places it in front of themselves.
The object of the game is simple - maneuver your two characters so that they are on Draco's "good" side - the side that he is toasting on, and avoid his "bad" side. Each turn is made up of three parts - play an action card, drink a toast, and draw an action card. Drinking a toast is optional, the other two options are not. At the end of a player's turn, if they have had the goblet in front of them for one round, they place it back in the middle of the table. Most of the cards change the positions of the characters on the table. Some strategy is involved in shifting the characters back and forth.
A toast can only be drunk if the goblet is in the middle of the table. Whenever a toast is "drunk", the four characters on Draco's "good" side get 4,3,2, and 1 silver coins respectively. The two characters on Draco's bad side must pay 2 and 1 silver coins to the bank, respectively. After a player drinks a toast, they place the goblet in front of them. Thus, when someone drinks a toast, you have to wait until one entire round before anyone has a chance to drink a toast again.
The game ends when the last action card is drawn - and whoever has the most money wins!
Zork, Brother John, and Aunt Sarah are special characters - and have special rules governing them. Zork is a skinflint, and is hated by Draco. Because of this, Zork gets no money on Draco's good side and is charged double by Draco if he is on Draco's bad side. But since Zork is a penny-pincher, he won't use his money, but take money from the person who's character is next to Zork. Everyone hates Zork! Brother John is a nice chap - he doesn't care about money. Therefore he gives any money he gets from being on Draco's good side to the person who's character is next in line. However, John is also broke, and so when he has to pay the bank, the player next to John must pay for him. Aunt Sary is a mystical person. Whenever a toast is drunk, the characters sitting next to her get an extra action card for their player. Occasionally, Aunt Sary also can be controlled by a player.

Comments on the game:

1). Guillotine: The inevitable comparisons are there - and the simple fact is, they're true! It's certainly a little more complicated, but feels the same, when playing. I like Draco and Co. better, but people who like very simple games would like Guillotine better, I'm sure.

2). Theme: The theme works very well - it feels like you are at a big after-looting party. Everyone has a blast getting on Draco's "good" and "bad" sides.

3). Components: I love the compenents of this game. The blue wooden goblet is nice, and the wooden silver and gold disks used for coins are of great quality, and can take a lot of play. The artwork is superb - with very nice pictures for each character - every character has a different drawing. The action cards did not please me quite so much - they used the same picture on two different cards, which isn't as nice as a different picture per card. The box is small and very sturdy, and it fits everything in it very easily.

4). Price: It's a Blue Box Game, which means it inexpensive and easy to buy.

5). Rules: The rules are very easy to explain, and are only 4 small pages to read. The rules are full of examples, and are very thorough and detailed.

6). Strategy: As with all of Bruno's game, there is a great deal of chaos in the game. So much happens between your turn and the next, that you really can never control what is going on. This game really falls into the "party" game atmosphere, as one plays the game more for fun than to win. There is some strategy in shifting your characters around, but nothing that a 6 year old couldn't pick up. I don't feel that this detracts from the game at all - but if you are going to be playing for blood, this game probably isn't for you.

7). Fun: The fun factor! Is this game fun? And the answer is a resounding yes! It's fun to flip Draco over and have his good and bad sides switch. It's fun to see Zork make someone pay double money to the bank (except when it's you.) It's fun to move both of your character to Draco's good side, and move your wife's to the bad side. When we play this game - everyone has a good time.

So, I highly recommend this game. It, like all Blue Box games, is easy to pull out, teach, and play quickly. It's worth the price and is a lot of fun to play. It will make a great addition to your collection!

Tom Vasel

Zork doesn't take money from the player next to him. He gets his money from the richest player. Brother John gets his money from the player next to him, but gives as well as he gets on Draco's good side.