Top Trumps: Top Gear Cool Cars (Top Trumps)

Member Name: stuleg

Product:	Top Trumps
Date:	14/03/09 (285 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, easy to learn, portable, fun

Disadvantages: Possible limited appeal if you don't like cars

Mankind has within the irrevocable need to play cards; it is something that has been hardwired into our psyche from the year dot. How else did Adam and Eve find themselves in the altogether if not as a result of a particularly vociferous game of strip poker in the Garden of Eden? Way back in the mists of time man didn't invent the wheel as some harebrained scheme to traverse large distances; he did it so he could turn it on its side and have a perfect round poker table! Sadly though as we grow into adulthood the choices of card games available become ever more limited; inviting a bunch of likeminded chaps around to drink cheap Scotch and play snap just isn't de regur nowadays. Nor is leaping to your feet in exaltation that you have Mr Bun the Baker in a high stakes game of happy families.

No, the sad fact is that adult card games tend to involve a deck of playing cards of the spade, heart and diamond variety. Or at least they did until now - step forward that classic game of yesteryear, Top Trumps; but with a distinctly manly slant. That most macho of macho TV shows - Top Gear - has licensed the ingeniously titled Top Trumps Top Gear Cool Cars game. Now us petrol-heads can recapture that feeling of misspent youth with a game that has been around for generations, and because it is based on the coolest of cool cars we can indulge our inner nerd as we revel in the stats and intricacies of a random selection of machines that three middle aged men on a BBC show have decided are cool.

So what's Top Trumps all about then

In its simplest form Top Trumps is a card trading game in which you try to outdo, or trump, your opposition. Any number of people can play; all of the cards are shuffled and dealt out equally amongst the participants. Then, looking at only the top card in your hand you decide which attribute of the cool car featured is likely to be better than everybody else's. The other players then have to read out the stats for the same item. This version of Top Trumps has six different pieces of information pertaining to each car - Top speed, Price, Power and Cool Rating are such that the higher the amount the better; while Stig Lap Time and 0-60 are obviously two stats where a lower figure is best.

The person with the best stats in the round gets to take the loosing cards from the other players, and adds them to the bottom of his or her own pile to use again when their turn comes. The winner then chooses again and the whole situation repeats itself. In the event that there is a tie (two players have a Cool Rating of four for example) these cards are placed in the middle and the tied players repeat the Cool Rating for the next car in there pile, this carries on until a winner is found, who then takes all of the cards in the pile and places them on the bottom of his or her stack. The person with all of the cards at the end is the winner.

So is it any good, as a game

It sure is; Top Trumps is a simple idea and I feel that it is that ease of use, and the fact that anyone can pick up the rules in a matter of minutes that makes it so appealing. The size of the cards mean they can be taken and played anywhere - be it on a train or car journey. Pricewise it is also a winner; this set cost just a couple of pounds, which in today's world of expensive games and toys is a very agreeable price. Sure, if you do not know one end of a cool car from the other, and think that a Dodge Viper is a reptile avoidance dance, then you could struggle a bit, but Top Trumps is as much to do with remembering statistics and noting a particular car's strengths and weaknesses as it is about prior knowledge. For those that do know cars there are a couple of unusual additions to this set - I for instance never thought I'd see a Vauxhall Vectra card nestled amongst the Astons, Porsches and Ferraris. One can only presume the chaps on Top Gear were having an off day when that particular car slipped through the cool net! For the most part though the cars featured are the stuff of boyhood dreams and Athena posters; cool, expensive and powerful as can be. Each car is pictured brightly on each card, and all the statistics are displayed clearly for ease of reading.

Final thoughts

Four stars out of five from me then; although this particular set of Top Trumps possibly has limited appeal for those not interested in cars and the coolness thereof, they are an engaging and interesting addition to the Top Trump family. An even more important factor though is that in today's world of consumerism it is a game that engages all generations, and encourages interaction in a fun, cheap and original way. Top Trumps Top Gear Cool Cars is a game that bridges the generation gap perfectly, and for a couple of quid you really cannot ask for more.

Summary: Cheap, easy to learn, portable, fun - but possible limited appeal if you don't like cars