A few years ago my boys’ friends started talking about Minecraft. After a few months of hearing this we installed Minecraft on our computers, and my kids’ addiction to Minecraft started. They starting incorporating it into their schoolwork, and they bought the toys with their allowance, and then a few months ago my boys discovered there’s a Minecraft card game, and they HAD to have it and add it to our board game collection. They managed to sucker their aunt into buying them the game to play together, and it wasn’t all that long before they’d pulled it out and played several rounds.

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Setting up your Minecraft card game*

In the middle of the table set up a four rows of crafting cards cards that you can build with the crafting side up. Besides it are five rows of resource cards (I was just double checking the rules, and my son taught me the game wrong, they’re dealt face down, not face up like we played them, nevermind reread the rules and they taught me right), you know all those little blocks they spend time digging out when playing the game. Actually, I don’t know a thing about it because I get motion sickness watching Minecraft. Minecraft is the only thing that causes it for me. Go figure.

The fun keeps building with the Minecraft Card Game! Based on the hit video game, players have the opportunity to mine, craft or reserve to win. Players mine Resource Cards of Wood, Stone, Iron, Diamond, or Gold, and then use those cards to craft Craft Cards for points. The fun keeps building with the Minecraft Card Game! Based on the hit video game, players have the opportunity to mine, craft or reserve to win. Players “mine” Resource Cards of Wood, Stone, Iron, Diamond, or Gold, and then use those cards to “craft” Craft Cards for points.

1. Minecraft Card Game is designed for 2-4 players and is intended for ages 8 and up. After playing a few games with my 9-year-old daughter, I would say that age rating is just about right, give or take a year. With two players, it plays in about 15-20 minutes. The game presents players with five randomly distributed face-up piles of Resource Cards.
2. The fun keeps building with the Minecraft™ Card Game! Based on the hit video game, players have the opportunity to mine, craft or reserve to win. Players 'mine' Resource Cards of Wood, Stone, Iron, Diamond, or Gold and then use those cards to 'craft' Craft Cards for points.
3. The purpose of this memory game is to memorize the locations of the cards in the game and to make pairs of cards by turning them over 2 by 2. When the 2 cards match, it's a pair! You win the pair and have the right to play again, otherwise the cards are automatically turned face down and you have to make a new try.

Each player gets a small plastic card holder, you’ll see what you do with it during your turn in just a moment.

How your turn goes during the Minecraft game

On each turn you get two actions. There are three possible actions:

• mine- choose a resource, usually they go into your hands, but there are a few special cards
• craft- build something, trade in the resources you’ve collected and put them in the discard pile in exchange for the item
• reserve- choose a crafting item to build in the future and put it in your plastic card holder, you can only ever reserve one item, and you have to build it before you can get a new one

The special cards are wild card (self explanatory), TNT (clears the board and you get two resources), and creeper (everyone discards a card, boo)

How you win

Remember how you’re crafting stuff, each of those items has a dual purpose. First, they give you points, next they let you perform special actions like being immune to a creeper or get some extra resources.

My tips and tricks for Minecraft Card Game

This is a resource management card game. It’s a great way to start your kids learning how to count cards. Not that I do that or anything…..

Be careful about reserving an item, if the resources to build the item are in the discard pile your reserve spot is going to be tied up for a long time.

It’s better to use the special ability than to save it for “just the right time”.

Honestly that’s it, it’s a fun simple game you can play in just a few minutes. I love that kind of game because I can play with my boys and then go work on dinner.

Some more fun card games

One more quick tip

Ravensburger Minecraft

I’ve been working on our board game storage, and I figured out putting giant rubber bands* around my card games help keep these smaller boxes together. Our My Dwarves Fly boxes are practically falling apart, and this keeps all of the pieces in the boxes.

I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve wasted building a house only to have it explode because of some cheeky little creeper. Fans of the game know that I’m talking about “Minecraft”, because the only creepers in real life are those who haven’t figured out what boundaries are. “Minecraft Card Game?” tasks players with crafting items and earning points by drafting materials from a central pool.

Minecraft Card Game?: 2-4 Players, Ages 8+, Average Play Time = 15-30 Minutes

Components

The game includes 25 Craft Cards, 24 Wood Cards, 11 Wild Cards, 9 Stone Cards, 8 Iron Cards, 7 Gold Cards, 6 Diamond Cards, 5 Creeper Cards, 5 TNT Cards and 4 Card Holders.

Setup & Gameplay

Simply put, each player receives a card holder which allows them to reserve a card should they wish to craft it in the future. The twenty-five craft cards are shuffled and put into four even stacks (tool side face-up), with the one remainder card placed off to the side to form a discard pile. The resource cards are shuffled and put into five even stacks.

On a player’s turn they can take a total of two actions. These two actions include drawing a resource card from one of the five stacks, taking a craft/item card by discarding the appropriate resource cards, or reserving a card. Resource cards come in various forms like wood, stone, gold, diamond, and etc. with each listing a number indicating the quantity of that material. Each craft card lists a recipe along with the number of victory points they’re worth.

There are some cards among the five stacks that effect players a bit. TNT, when revealed, must be played immediately. The active player takes the top card from the other four piles, chooses two to keep, and discards the rest along with the TNT card. The creeper, when revealed, forces players to discard material card unless they have a crafted sword that they haven’t used yet to negate the effect. Each craft card has a one-time use ability, though you retain the victory points on the card.

The first player to reach a certain point value (depends on the number of players) wins the game!

Editor’s Note: The above doesn’t cover all of the rules found in the manual, but should give you an idea as to how the game is played.

The Review

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Which Minecraft Edition Is Right For Me? » OnMSFT.com

“Minecraft Card Game?” reminds me a lot of “Splendor”, what with the central mechanic of taking resources and then using said resources to acquire cards with victory points being the same. The reserve a card mechanic is similar too, though “Minecraft Card Game?” is much more simplistic. With that said, I enjoyed playing this one because A) I like “Minecraft” and B) I enjoy playing “Splendor”. Sure, it’s not on par with games like “Agricola”, but sometimes a simple card game is all you’re looking for on a busy weekday night. I bought it for about $12 on Amazon, making it an easy recommend for any child or gamer family who enjoys playing “Minecraft”, “Splendor”, or both.

Minecraft Card Game Walmart

Final Verdict: 8/10

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