Mojo is a seemingly supernatural power, influence, or ability. Do you have mojo for certain things? I’m not sure if I have a mojo for anything. Except maybe getting things off high shelves for my wife. She says I’m good at that.
In the other definition, Mojo is also the team for a Cuban marinade containing garlic, olive oil, and sour oranges. It’s actually quite delicious.
In tabletop gaming terms, it’s a new shedding game from 25th Century Games. Play cards, try and go out, and avoid points.
Gameplay Overview:
Mojo comes with a deck of 79 cards divided up into 5 suits. The suits have an uneven breakdown, for example, there are 8 blue cards (4 each of values 0 and 1), and there are 18 yellow cards (6 each of values 5, 6, and 7).
Each player starts with a hand of 8 cards and on your turn, you must discard a card. Then, one of 3 things will happen:
- If the card you discarded was lower than the faceup card on the discard pile, your turn ends and the next player goes.
- If the card was equal to the card on the discard pile, you get to take another turn.
- If the card was a higher value, you must draw a card from the deck, and then your turn ends.
As soon as a player has 3 or fewer cards in their hand, the game switches to “Mojo Time”. That player places their remaining cards face down in front of them in a row. The rest of the players continued to play normally, but when it gets back to that player’s turn, they flip over one of their facedown cards. As soon as either a player has gone out, or the player flips over the last of their facedown cards, the round ends.
This is where things get a little tricky. Whichever player caused the round to end (either by going out or flipping over the last card) takes the Mojo card. Then players tally up their scores. They keep the highest value card from each suit they have and add them to get their score for the round.
If you have the Mojo card and your score was the lowest of all players that round, you score zero for the round. If you weren’t the lowest, you get your score, +10 additional points.
Then cards are collected and a new round begins. The game ends when a player reaches 50 points. The player with the lowest score is the winner.
Game Experience:
Despite my wordy overview above, Mojo is a pretty straightforward game to play. It kind of has an Uno-like feel to it where you are trying to shed cards, and want to take advantage of playing matching numbers for extra turns.
Yet when your hand gets low, things can start to get a little tricky. If you have a 10, 11, and a 3 in your hand, you probably don’t want to start the round timer as a score of 24 probably won’t win you the Zero mojo card. You’d be better off playing higher cards to be able to draw a new card and extend your turns a bit.
So you need to be careful of which cards you shed and when. Ideally, you’ll want to dump your high cards first. But the timing of that can be risky as if it’s higher than the card on the discard pile, you have to blind draw a new one, which could end up worse than the one you just discarded.
The main thing to know about Mojo is that luck is going to be a decent factor in the game. You start with 8 random cards, and if you happen to get a lot of low numbers, you are set up for a good low score. Or if the player before you consistently plays a card you can match, you’ll be able to shed your hand much quicker (or if you get dealt a bunch of matching numbers).
That all being said, I still enjoyed the game and thought that the scoring and how the rounds end kept things interesting. The game reminded me a bit of another shedding game I recently reviewed, Lucky Jack, yet this one feels a lot more polished.
Final Thoughts:
There isn’t a ton to say about a game like Mojo. If you like shedding games, or “family night” card games, Mojo is a great option. The rules are simple, the card plays quickly, and the scoring helps keep things interesting. For a small box game with an affordable price point, I think it hits all the right marks.
Final Score: 3.5 Stars – An easy-to-learn shedding game with a few rule quirks that help keep it interesting.
Hits:
• Plays quickly and is easy to learn
• Choices to make as your hand gets lower
• Colorful cards!
Misses:
• Can be prone to swings of luck
