Families and card games go together like peanut butter & jelly, campfires & smores, Cory & Topanga, nutella & a spoon.

Often one of the first games you’ll teach kids to begin their exciting future of card games is Uno. It’s simple mechanics and understandable “get rid of all your cards” goal, it’s a great place to start. Yet as you get older, it looses it’s luster.

The Deadlies is a new game that brings a fun spin on this old classic that’s perfect for those who enjoyed Uno, yet need a bit more now. But can a game themed around the 7 deadly sins be a good match for the family? Let’s find out!

How Do You Play The Deadlies?

The Deadlies is a card game where players win by eliminating the cards from their hand three times. Each time a player plays all the cards from their hand, they draws a new hand with fewer cards.

On your turn, you’ll play as many cards as you can, playing all of the same suit, number value, or a run, in your quest to empty your hand. Each suit has a specific action attached to it that players must follow. You take the action of the top suit of the cards you discard.

The Deadlies is themed around the 7 deadly sins, Lust, Greed, Pride, Envy, Sloth, Wraith, Glutton; these make up your suits. Each suite’s actions are themed around that particular sin.

For example, the Greed action starts a mini push your luck game; if you push your luck just enough, you can eliminate your hand – but you could also get stuck with a handful of cards. The sloth action has you sitting stagnant till your next turn, while the glutton action allows you to take more cards to go again.

Each player’s starting hand begins with 6 cards. When you successfully empty your hand and manage to keep it empty till your next turn, your new starting hand will be two cards fewer than before. (6, 4, 2, 0/win) Manage to do this 3 times and you win!

What do you we think?

In terms of card play, The Deadlies is simple to learn and play while providing players interesting options on their turn. Do I play the combo that gets rid of the most cards, or a specific card effect? The card effects often result in little mini mind-games. Greed has a push your luck effect, Lust’s effect has two-players in a prisoner’s dilemma, and the Wrath effect can create a take-that duel where players go back and forth making each other draw cards until one gives up.

The theme of the game is excellently executed in the card effects of each suit. From the Envy effect allowing to trade hands to the Sloth effect doing nothing. This is a fun improvement to a classic style card game as they most often come themeless. Uno, 6nimmt, No Thanks, Llama, are all great games, but all themeless. Deadlies feels unique in this respect.

I found it very smart that the game made players have to empty their hands three times. It prevents a lucky early win by one player who gets an excellent first hand. In one game, I was able to get rid of all my cards in my first two turns but still lost the game! Drawing fewer cards after each time you eliminate your hand is also helps speed up the game. However, having fewer cards doesn’t always mean you’re closer to going out. It’s fun to watch the game swing back and forth from a player looking like they’re about to go out to then having a fist full of cards. Sometimes even having a full hand is a bigger advantage – more options!

Is it family friendly?

Let’s chat about the theme.

Sin isn’t something you’d think should be family friendly, and indeed, I was disappointed that this was the theme, especially after playing the game and seeing how much my kids loved it.

While they could have really gone a “devilish” route in the art and copy, Deadlies truly looks family friendly in its design. The artist did a great job creating more whimsical representations of the sins rather than scandalous. Our kids often refer to the cards by the animal they played instead of the sin name. The first game did lead to a couple interesting moments though:

“Mom, what’s Lust?”
“That’s an interesting question for another time; it’s your turn, dear!”

After playing several times with our kids, (they love it,) I didn’t find the theme distracted me from the fun. Each card incorporates their sin well, but it doesn’t hit you over the head with the “sin” nature of it. I would have had more issues with it if the theme felt pasted on just due to having seven suites.

I’m not sure if the theme is what landed it it’s 10+ age recommendation or not, but our 6 year old is able to play just fine!

Summary

The Deadlies is a fun card game that does an excellent job of combining classic card game mechanics in a new way. The Uno style of play is perfect for families while the special actions of the suits provide interesting choices and strategies for players to explore and enough take-that to be devilish without once feeling mean. Although the seven deadly sins would not have been my first choice for family friendly theme, don’t let it stop you from playing this enjoyable card game!

The Deadlies can be purchased on Amazon or directly from Smirk and Dagger!

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A special thank you to the folks at Smirk & Dagger for sending us a copy of Deadlies for review. As always our thoughts and opinions are our own.

Game Info:
Title: The Deadlies
3-5 Players Ages 10+
Designer: Paul Saxberg
Artist: Leah Fuhrman
Publisher: Smirk & Dagger Games

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