Cardboard Corner: Review of Sleeping Queens

My son learned basic arithmetic not at school, but playing Karak. He needed to add the results of two six-sided dice to ascertain whether he'd defeated the monsters that pop up in the dungeons. Math was the way victory. That was two years ago, and now our daughter, age six, is also learning basic math. Monsters in dungeons are not really her thing, though. Queens, kings, wands, and potions fit much better. Enter our family's newest tutor, Sleeping Queens (2005).

Sleeping Queens is a card collection card game for 2-5 players. Twelve sleeping queens lie in the table face down. Each has a points value, somewhere between five and twenty. The first player to collect queens worth a total 50 points or five queens in total, wins. The question then is: how to get queens?!?!

Sleeping Queens plays with a deck of cards vaguely similar to a standard deck of cards. There are cards with numbers one through ten, but there are no suits and the face cards are different. There are Kings, but they are used to claim one of the face down Queens. That is the simplest way of getting a Queen. There are Knights, which a player can use to steal a Queen from another player. If the other player has a Dragon card, however, the theft is prevented. There are Potion cards which a player can use to put another player's Queen to sleep (i.e. return it face down to the middle of the table). If the other player has a Magic Wand card, however, the Queen remains awake and stays where she is. And lastly are the Jokers. When played, the player draws the top card of the deck. If it's a non-number card, they keep it and go again. If it's a number, however, they start with the player on their left and count around the circle based on the number drawn. The last person gets a Queen.

The flow of the game is very simple. On their turn, players play a card and take a card. They must always have five cards in hand. If they don't have any good cards to play, they can replace cards. For example, they can discard a card (singularly, in pairs, threes, etc.) and draw fresh cards based on the number they discarded. Players can also discard cards using mathematical combinations. For example, they could discard a seven, a two, and a nine because 7+2=9, then draw three new cards. This is where my daughter learned math. How to get more queens? Do the math!

For adults, Sleeping Queens is a light-hearted card set collection game with a fair bit of randomness and unpredictability. For families and children, however, those aspects shine. Yes, there are take-that elements (stealing someone's Queen), but this happens so quickly, not to mention on the next turn you might take it back with a card of your own, that it's difficult to be angry. You are the victim this turn, but it's not improbable you will be the one doing the same next turn. Tears of anger quickly become tears of happiness. But as a parent, the part I enjoy most about Sleeping Queens is the mathematics and basic logic skills. “If this..., then that...”

In the end, Sleeping Queens is a simple, fun game for the family. There is an element of chaos, which bring smiles to the table. For kids, it's the perfect introduction to set collection card games and basic mathematics. (If shot came to sip, however, I suppose it could also be a good drinking game for adults. Every time someone gets a Queen...)