Off With Their Heads!

About the game

What is Off With Their Heads!?

Off With Their Heads! is a clever reveal-and-write game where players serve as loyal Card Soldiers tasked with keeping the mercurial Red Queen pleased. Influenced by a wide range of classic card games including poker, hearts, and euchre, players secretly choose and reveal cards from their hands to compete for position in each bout. The ranking of the revealed cards determines whether you place highest, lowest, or somewhere in between, and that result dictates where you record the card’s value on your personal score sheet. Each section of your sheet rewards a different strategy. Claim the highest card to mark the Meadow and complete mushrooms for points, land in the middle to carefully place numbers throughout the Woods while following the Jabberwock’s rule, or take the lowest rank to navigate the maze-like Keep where every number you record becomes valuable. Along the way you can earn bonuses, invite iconic Wonderlandians to your Tea Party, and manipulate your marks using helpful teacups. At the end of each round, two cards are set aside. After three rounds, those cards form a six-card pool from which players create their best five-card poker hand for bonus points before final scoring. The player who has earned the most favor with the Queen across their sheet wins the game… and keeps their head. —description from the publisher

How it plays

Mechanics

On the shelf

Categories

Questions players ask

Questions to bring to BoardGameBrain

• How do setup and the first turn work in Off With Their Heads!?
• When does scoring happen and what ends the game?
• How should the table resolve an unusual timing or rules interaction?