Memory, Monsters, and Finding the Perfect Moment to Scream!

Can you keep your camp safe and the least scary, while beset by aliens, werewolves, and other horrors?

Published by Bézier Games, Scream! is a 30-minute card game for 2-5 players, with a horror movie theme. It is a standalone sequel to the game Scram! — but does it really stand on its own?

Gameplay

Each player is dealt six cards, five of them face-down and one face-up. Cards have values 1-13, with cards of value 5 or higher having a special ability. When first dealt, players may look at their face-down cards and arrange them in a line in any order, but otherwise, players may not look at their cards except when a card ability allows it.

On a player’s turn, he may either draw the top card of the draw deck, draw the top card of the discard pile, or choose to scream.

When a player draws from the deck, he looks at it and then may choose to discard it face-up, play it for its ability (such as peeking, discarding, or exchanging cards), or swap out one of his cards with this new one. When taking from the discard pile, it may only be swapped out. When adding a card to his collection, a player keeps it face-up or face-down, depending on how it was facing when it was drawn. When swapping cards, a player may swap with one single card, or multiple cards of the same value. When swapping multiple cards, a player may select cards that are both face-down and/or face-up, and he may choose to bluff the value of the face-down cards. The other players may then decide if they wish to challenge the claim.

If there is a challenge, and the active player is bluffing, he does not get to swap out his cards and flips them all face-up. He also has to add the new card to his collection, and the challenger gets to discard one of his cards. If a player is challenged, and he was not bluffing, the challenger must draw a card from the deck and add it to his collection, and the active player gets to discard an additional card.

A player may scream if he has two or fewer cards. Everyone else gets one final turn, and then all cards are revealed. Players want to have the fewest points from the combined value of their cards. If the player who screamed has the lowest value, he scores zero points. If he doesn’t, then he scores 10 points in addition to the value of his cards. The round can also end if the draw deck runs out, in which case everyone simply scores points equal to the value of their cards.

The game ends after three rounds, and the player with the fewest points wins the game.

Review

Scream! is an enjoyable card game with a mixture of bluffing, memory, and push-your-luck. Do you think you can get away with a scream now? Do you want to bluff your cards in an attempt to discard even more? Of course, you might think you’re telling the truth, but you’ve forgotten where your cards actually are.

It has a nice pacing to the turns. Players get to make meaningful choices on their turn, but those turns also move quickly, so there’s not a lot of downtime. Players are also involved when it is not their turn, as they try to track what cards players are swapping out or considering when to call a bluff. Also, since points accumulate over three rounds, there’s always a chance to come back after a bad, high-scoring round, further keeping players engaged.

The cards are a little thin, but the artwork is fun, with lots of horror movie references. It leans into its theme in an enjoyable way, and we did have a good time seeing how different players approached the scream when they wanted to end the round. This would be an excellent Halloween game.

This is a remake of Scram!, and it’s a great twist on it. With bluffing added and team mode removed, it makes the player count more flexible and the bluffing adds a fun element to the gameplay that complements the other mechanics nicely. We enjoyed this one. It’s a solid, light card game. Recommended!

Pros: Fun use of theme, bluffing mechanic blends well with memory mechanic

Cons: Cards are a little thin

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.