Designers: Alex Jerabek, Jules Naujoks, & Annegret Nautsch

Artists: Jules Naujoks

Publisher:Cherry Picked Games http://www.cherrypickedgames.com

Players: 1-8 Players

Playing Time: 30-60 minutes

Ages: 14+

MSRP: $50.00 

Review copy provided by Cherry Picked Games

Hair of the Dog, from publisher Cherry Picked Games, is a new release by Alex Jerabek, Jules Naujoks & Annegret Nautsch.

In Hair of the Dog, you and your friends/ competitors are dog petting enthusiasts, and have decided to make it a challenge of who can pet the most dogs.  Luckily for you, there’s a bar around the corner that allows owners to bring in their pets, and you can pet them until your heart is content!  (Or until the dog is tired of being petted and leaves with their owner…)

How to play:  

The board/ playing area is made up from 12-20 double sided bar tiles, that include indoor and outdoor areas, a bar section which picture a variety of tables, bar games (pool, foosball, cornhole, etc.) outside areas, as well as a toy and treat area.  Dogs (3 cards per dog) numbering the number of players in the game are placed in the bar to start.  Players place their player pawn in the tile with the bar, get a beer mug with 8 sips (tokens used for actions) and are off.

A turn is made up of the following:

Take sips for actions

Toast (optional)

Move the server

Check for New dogs

On a turn, players can use as many sips as they have to do the following actions: Move, Take a treat or toy, Beckon (the waiter or a dog) or to Pet a dog (which ends a player’s actions.)

When toasting another player, you select a player that has sips in their drink glass, and propose a toast.  The more sips you use, the more they have to use, which will deplete them of potential actions on their next turn.  If you’re playing with a clever group, you can get some really interesting toasts!

Moving the Server moves the server one space in any direction, which will often be towards another player that may be low or out of sips, or away from you (since you might be low or out of sips!)

Petting a dog as an action automatically ends a player’s actions.  The first pet on any particular dog is free, but once a dog has been petted, they start to develop “pet conditions.”  Each player is only allowed to pet each dog once, and then must go on to pet a different dog.  Once you pet a dog, you chose a “place condition” or a “gift condition” tile.  This is a hidden objective that only you know about, but on their turn, other players may ask to see your petting objective (a gift objective might be the tile with the picture of the ball, and the next player to try and pet that dog must have the ball in order for the dog to allow them to pet it.)  You don’t have to let other players see the objective, unless they spend a sip to see it.

The goal of the game is to have the most points at the end of the game, and players get points for the following:

5 points for having pet 3 different dogs in 3 different ways (having a set):  Head Pat, Butt Scratch and Belly Rub.  

1 point for each dog card not associated with a set. 

Points for Fetch Quest cards, which are hidden agenda cards, something like, “+2 for petting the most dogs with curly or shaggy fur” or “+3 if you never beckon.”  Players are given 2 during set up and chose one.

Negative points for Shame tokens.  Players get Shame tokens if they are ever in the same space as the waiter and do not have any sips left in their mug.  

COMPONENTS: The components are made of good quality components.  The pet condition chits and the shame tokens are a good quality of card board.  Two places that the components really shine is the drink glasses/ beer mugs with the sips (action tokens) and the huge variety of cards with individual dogs on each.  (More on that in the art write-up.)

TIME, AGES & PLAYER COUNT: The 30  to 60 minute time is appropriate and the game doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.  Age 14+ may be a high number for suggested age, as it’s not an overly difficult game to play, and you’re probably safe to play with slightly younger players (11+). The player count of 1-6 works, and I admit I haven’t played solo, but find that the 2 player game is.. Ok.  But the game really starts to shine when you play with 4-6 players and have more players running around the bar trying to pet dogs and screwing over the other bar patrons.

ARTWORK: The game comes with a huge stack of 192 pet cards, 3 cards of each dog.  And the artwork on the cards of each dog is adorable.  That’s 64 different, very cute sets of dogs to chose from when playing the game.  

The artwork on the bar tiles is clever, and you could just sit around designing a variety of bars.  There’s a bunch of types of seating, indoor and outdoor spaces, games, etc.  

FINAL THOUGHTS: The first couple times I played, I played a 2 player game with my lovely wife, Traci.  The game is ok at 2 players, but as mentioned above, it really starts to get fun with more players.  I was able to play the game at the ReJuvenating Gamer Con in February, and everyone around the table was enjoying the game.  

There’s some Take That mechanic in the game with the waiter, and the Toasts, that make the game fun, without it being too mean.  

My biggest fault with the game, I think, is that a lot of the Fetch Quests refer to size of dogs, and unless you really know dogs, it’s difficult to tell some dogs and if they’re a large, medium or small dog.  

We found it better to leave someone on their turn with one sip (if you run out of sips, your turn ends) instead of fully draining their cup of sips, because if you start your turn with zero sips, you immediately go to the bar, refill your drinks and start your actions.  However, if you start with one sip, spend it, you are now out of sips and can no longer take an action.  

The game is fun, especially at the higher player counts.  The groups I had playing at RJGCon were fully engaged in playing, laughing, toasting and having the waiter screw over the next guy, given the opportunity. 

I have not yet tried out the solo play, nor the expansions that are included with the base game, that include puppies, cats, chameleons, small children and a cooperative mode. I will let you discover those on your own!

RATINGS:
I Love it!

I Like It. RJ Garrison,

Neutral.

Not for me.