Racko game

by Amanda Nettgen

(USA)

Game:
Racko
Game manufacturer:
Parker Brothers/Hasbro
Number of players:
2-4
Ages:
8+

Quick verdict

Racko is the card-shifting numbers game that’s entertaining for the whole family. It calls for your individual game rack to be organized to win.

The game and gameplay

The Racko game has been around for more than fifty years, but most likely you’ve overlooked it when shopping for a game for your family to play. I think you’ll find that it’s a clever little game that surprisingly fun for its age.

In the game, you begin by dealing ten cards facedown to each player. It’s their duty to carefully place these cards in the exact order in which they were received in the slots of their game rack, from back to front.

Everyone needs to resist the temptation to make sense of the chaos of numbers, as it’s the whole point of the game. The remaining cards form the STACKO, with the top card flipped over and resting next to the pile. This is all part of the set up.

Racko is played in rounds, with a final score of five hundred+ (for two players) to win. On your turn, you may opt to pick up the top card from the discard pile (next to the STACKO), or draw a fresh card from the tower.No matter the origin you select, you must now swap your new card with one in your rack, aiming to establish some order with each go (if you drew a fresh card, you are allowed to simply discard it, meaning you had an empty turn).

Green Prime cards also come into play any time you discard one. The game says these babies have “special powers” in which you can take an additional turn, mess up two of an opponent’s cards without looking, or get a free extra swap for your own rack. You’re forbidden from picking up a discarded Prime card at the beginning of your turn.

When a person succeeds in arranging his cards in succession from lowest to highest, he shouts “Bingo!” – oh wait, that’s another game – I mean,

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