Guys. Guess what? I won a giveaway!

Grandpa Beck’s is a pretty fantastic card game company. I love the “family feel” they exude, and I really love that their games come at such a great price point. (Our first introduction to Grandpa Beck’s was through a friend who gifted us a copy of Skull King, a pirate-themed, trick-taking game at its finest. I’m digressing, though. Let me leave that review for another post.)

Earlier this month, Grandpa Beck’s launched a brand new card game called 3-2-1 Countdown! I follow several board game accounts on social media, and three of them were offering giveaways prior to the launch date. I entered the giveaways with zero expectation of winning anything. (The last time I ever won a raffle was at a “Take Your Kids to Work Day” event with my grandma. I was 10.)

Well, the stars and the planets aligned for me or something because one of the Instagram accounts I follow messaged me: “Hello there! Guess what?! You won my giveaway for 3-2-1 Countdown! Congratulations!”

Eek! My 30-year “losing streak” is over, and I’ve won something so.majorly.cool. I’m all about games that are easy to teach, quick to learn, and fun to play. This checks all the boxes.

Speaking of boxes… Grandpa Beck’s games bring an added bonus: they come in small boxes! As a blossoming board gamer, I’m already finding that we’re running out of space for our growing collection. Compact games like this one score extra points in my book.

Keep reading if you’d like to check out some more details about 3-2-1 Countdown!

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Number of Players: 2-8 / Recommended Age: 7+

Playing Time: 15-30 minutes

Object: Reduce the total value of the cards in your hand to 5 points or less.

Rules: Get a general idea of gameplay below, or you can check out this link to Grandpa Beck’s “How to Play” video.

For 2-6 players, deal out 12 cards to each person. The rest of the cards go to the middle of the table. Form a discard pile on either side of the draw pile.

On your turn, you’ll do two things. Discard first! Place one of your cards on either discard pile. (If you’ve got multiple cards of the same number, you’re allowed to get rid of the entire set.) Secondly, draw a card from the other discard pile – or from the draw pile.

Take turns discarding card(s) and drawing a new card until a player has 5 points or less in hand. That player can yell, “Countdown!” and end the round. (Alternatively, you could win another way. If every card in your hand is the same number, you can discard all of your cards and call out “Blastoff!”)

All players will then add up the face values of the cards in their hands. The person with the lowest total receives 3 points, the second-lowest gets 2 points, and the third-lowest gains 1 point. However, you’ve got to be careful. If you call “Countdown!” but don’t have the lowest score, you get nothing. Zilch-o. Nada.

You’ll have to take some risks if you want to win big!

Ang’s Rating: 8.5/10

ANGELA15

Using the above coupon code when you check out will get you 15% off your order!