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smackitThe Santa Maria Group is actually a delightful husband and wife team who have found a good amount of success with their first card game, Smack it! Having initially printed 4000 copies of the game, they quickly moved every copy on Amazon is about 40 days. Priced at $9.99 and for ages 6+, Smack it! is a card game that mixes War and Slapjack. Cards are divvyed up between all the players, and players take turns playing cards to the center of the table. If a Challenge card turns up then each player plays a card and the highest number takes the pile. If a Smack It card comes up, then whoever slaps the pile first gets the pile of cards. Players are eliminated from the game if they run out of cards, but in a twist can still slap piles to remove the cards completely from the game. Last player standing wins.

Second Look - Boardgame reviews in depth. Check out that cat.The game is simple, quick, and my kids really seem to enjoy it. It’s easy to carry around, play a few rounds, and toss it back in your bag. So far it’s already taken the place of several of my kids’ other, similar card games. The frantic nature of waiting to slap, along with the “highest card wins” aspect of the Challenges, really seems to just click with them. Smack It! is by no means a gamer-game, or even a gamer-filler, but it just doesn’t matter. Fun is fun, and my kids are really having a blast with it.