Bottle Imp – The Devil’s in the Details

“For the bottle was hard enough to sell at four centimes; and at three it will be quite impossible. The margin is not broad enough, the thing begins to smell of scorching—brrr!” said he, and shuddered. “It is true I bought it myself at a cent, when I knew not there were smaller coins. I was a fool for my pains; there will never be found another: and whoever has that bottle now will carry it to the pit.”

The Bottle Imp, Robert Louis Stevenson

Bottle Imp is a twisty trick-taking game for 2-6 adult players by Günter Gornett. It’s published by Matagot.

Gameplay

At its core Bottle Imp is a no-trump trick taking game. After splitting up the deck evenly and doing some face-down trades of cards, someone leads off with a card from their hand. The player to their left follows suit, playing the same color card if possible. Continue around the table. The highest card played, regardless of color, wins the trick.

But wait! This is only true if every card had a higher value than the card the Bottle Imp currently sits on. If even one card played is lower than the Bottle Imp’s value, then the highest card under the bottle value wins the trick. That player takes the bottle, placing it in front of them, on the card that won the trick. That card sets the new value for the Bottle Imp. The former bottle’s owner puts their card in their trick stack, and the new owner starts the next trick.

A player who already has the bottle might still win a trick this way. The bottle simply moves to the new winning card.

When everyone has played out the cards from their hand, the round ends. Players score the points on the cards they won (shown in a small bottle icon on each card) – unless they have the bottle.

The holder of the bottle loses points, based on cards set aside for the “Devil’s Trick” at the beginning of the round. The tricks they won don’t matter at all!

This is the way the game plays at 3-4 players. With fewer players, use the “Devil’s Eye” setup, with some cards in hand and some on the table.

With more players, you can choose to use two bottles, or to play in teams. In team play, if either teammate ends up with a bottle, both teammates will lose points for the round.

Play at least three rounds – every player should get to be the dealer at least once. Tally final scores, and the highest scoring player wins. Who can use the bottle imp’s cursed power and still successfully pass it on?

Impressions

It’s hard to put a twist on trick-taking that really feels new. Trick taking has been around for a very long time! Bottle Imp manages to find something new, but in a way that makes us work harder than we’d like.

Bottle Imp is a gorgeous game, with every card featuring abstract mandala-like art on both sides, and foil print on the back. The two bottles are acrylic tokens that look like bottles with little red imps inside.

The Bottle Imp’s value starts at 19; roughly in the middle of the card values. The publisher has helpfully included multiple player aids so it’s easy to see the numbers and color distribution for each value.

While it’s possible to win tricks without taking the bottle, much of the time the winner will be forced to take it, lowering its value. Of course, if the bottle’s value is lowered quickly, early in the round, players may have the chance to win many tricks with higher numbers, and avoid taking the bottle – as its owner gets more and more desperate to get rid of it.

But…

Trick-taking games with a twist usually take a few games to really understand how the mechanics work. Unfortunately, even after a half-dozen plays or more, we’re still struggling to get into the groove with this one. Trick-takers often have a luck element to them with the cards each player has to begin the round. They get around this by being relatively light games that move quickly and the stakes don’t seem too high.

In Bottle Imp, you’re constantly running two sets of numbers in your head (numbers under the imp’s value and numbers above the imp’s value, up to 37). This dual set of values doesn’t feel like a big lift, but what it does do is make the game feel heavier mentally without offering the satisfaction of a strategic win at the end of the round.

We also found saddling players with the imp feels incredibly punishing. It’s not just that they lose points based on the Devil’s Trick. They also lose any credit for the work they did to try to succeed that round. This simply doesn’t work in a family dynamic.

So, Who Is Bottle Imp Best For?

Bottle Imp will find its home with board gamers who are looking for a filler game between their heavier-weight sessions. There’s too much mental processing for it to be the light filler game we hoped for. And the gut punch of your entire round going to waste when you’re stuck with the bottle should only be inflicted on more experienced players.

We love the idea of bringing ideas from literature into the gaming world. We’re here for it and have been for a long time. Stevenson’s story provides fertile ground for a really interesting mechanic to explore in this game.

Unfortunately, the schadenfreude from witnessing terrible people face terrible fates hits a little too close to home for us as family gamers. Especially when we’re the ones staring the devil in the face.

You can find Bottle Imp on Amazon or at your friendly local game store.

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Bottle Imp from Matagot for this review.

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