This is a new card game from the inventor of Bohnanza and like that game it has introduced some new concepts into card play. The game is themed on Boot Fairs (garage sales) where you collect all manner of junk, sometimes including what you want, at other times a pile of rubbish.

Each player receives a set of cards which are numbered from 1-9 in 6 suits. There are two of each set and two super trumps which win all tricks, making a deck of 110 cards in all. Having looked at your hand, you have to decide which card to collect, and this is done simultaneously, so more than one player may try to collect the same number. You collect cards by winning tricks, but as in many other games, you end up with cards that you don't want as well.

Tricks are quite cleverly handled. The leader to a trick plays a card. The next person then has a decision to take if they cannot follow suit. The game allows a player to treat that card as a discard or as a trump, unless someone else has done this earlier in the round. This leads to some intriguing choices. Do you trump early and hope to get a card of the type you are collecting? Doesn't tend to happen and players tend to throw away cards of different values. Alternatively, you may choose to treat your card as a discard, but then you need to check that no-one else in the round might be collecting that card.

The reason all this matters is because of the scoring system. At the end of the game, which is at least 3 rounds, but depends on the number of players, you get one point for cards you declared you are collecting and lose one point for all other cards that you gathered when winning tricks. You may ask how you end up with a positive score, because you will mainly take tricks with cards that you don't want. This is where the second clever mechanism comes in. At the conclusion of the 7 or 8 tricks in each round you can discard a set of cards from your rubbish collection pile. This is two or three cards, and again depends on the number of players but in each round you can discard one set. These cards are reshuffled into the bottom of the draw deck. If you have more than the requisite number of discards in your set, such as 5 or 6 cards then the excess are treated as scoring points for you. Not only that they now become the new card you are trying to collect, replacing the earlier card.

Finally, at the end of each game you can discard two sets rather than one set.

The tactics of the game seem to revolve around taking cards that you already have in order to score a large set. You can refer to the cards you have collected already -- this isn't that kind of memory game -- but you should try to avoid getting cards of every denomination. That's ok for your tactics, but what about everyone else? Well, you should be trying to minimise the benefits you give your opponents, so if one person has been squirrelling away 5's, you'd be best not to use a 5 as a discard. Of course as the round progresses your options become more limited, and then there is the matter of card play, referred to earlier.

The super trumps are guaranteed winners of a trick. The last twist in this card game comes from when a person plays the identical card to one used earlier in a trick. The device used is that the second player can choose that it is just a dot higher or lower than the earlier card and thus might be able to capture or avoid taking a trick. I thought this was one of the best ideas to emerge from this game.

My reaction to the game is that is does feel like a boot fair -- the collection of junk certainly happens. Reaction of other players has been more mixed -- it feels like lots of things are going on and you cannot focus on so many of these aspects at once. I did not find this a problem, because I decided not to concentrate on all areas, but to focus on my own collection goals. The game has some good new ideas, so for that reason alone I believe the designer should be commended. Like so many games at the moment, unless it gets a universal hit amongst your game group you may play a game less often than it deserves. Schnäppchen Jagd may fall into this category, which is a pity because given a longer run at this game, I think it could turn into a hit as big as Bohnanza.

Here's a game for shrewd bargain hunters, with nine household appliances each represented twice in six suits. Declare the appliance (bargain) you aim to collect. In the trick-taking phase, everyone follows the lead color if possible and highest value wins. Discarding another card gives you the option to declare it trump, but this is often undesirable. Bargains won earn a point: other cards form your Junk Pile and cost a point. Highest net score at the end wins. You finish rounds by discarding one type of appliance from your Junk Pile, but you keep cards in excess of two (three players) or three (four players) as the new bargain to be sought. Examine your junk carefully and secretly plan how you might use the next round to convert losses to loot! Excellent with three players and almost as good with four, this bargain of a game offers a wide range of tactics and long-term strategies.

I bought this game for several reasons.

1 - It's about collecting junk which is what I am very good at.

2 - The maker of the game also made Bohnanza.

I am very happy I bought this game. It is very enjoyable and introduces several strategies not commonly found in other games. Sometimes you will focus on not collecting certain junk and other times you will focus on collecting all sorts of junk.

Have fun with this clever game.

One of the Holy Grails of gamedom is a good game for three players. Most games do not scale well to this number, since there is usually a problem of two players ganging up on the third player, or one player being the kingmaker in deciding which of the other players will win.

One of the few games that works well for three is this little gem. The translated name is 'Bargain Hunt', or something similar, and the game focuses around trying to make the most out of the cards you win.

The details of the game are described more than adequately elsewhere, so this is just a statement that this is an excellent card game from the same man that brought us the wonderful [page scan/se=0027/sf=category/fi=stockall.asc/ml=20]Bohnanza series, and that it is perhaps the best card game ever for three players. Highly recommended.