Something Wild! Indiana Jones: A Light, Speedy Whip-Cracking Card Game

Create sets and steal Indiana Jones to get ahead and win this card game of familiar characters and useful powers.

Published by Funko Games for 2-4 players, Something Wild is a light, casual 15-minute card game.

Gameplay

The deck of power cards is shuffled and placed in the center of the table. The top card is revealed, and the character figure is placed next to it. Each power card shows an ability, a character figure, and a color. Next, all the character cards are shuffled and three are dealt to each player. The rest are set in the center as a draw deck. Character cards are numbered 1-9 and come in one of five colors.

On your turn, you draw a card from the draw deck and then play a card face-up in front of you. The goal is to make sets of three in front of yourself, either three cards of the same number and any color, or three cards of the same color with the numbers in consecutive order.

After you play a card, if you played a card of the same color as the color shown on the current face-up power card, you then take the figure either from the center of the table or from an opponent. Next, if you have the figure, you may use one power: either a power you’ve collected or whatever power is currently face-up in the center of the table. Power cards have abilities such as allowing you to treat a specific number as any color card, or swapping one of your played character cards with an opponent’s if your opponent’s is of a higher value.

Next, if you have a set in front of you, you discard it and take the power card that is currently face-up in the center of the table and place it in front of yourself.

If, at the end of your turn, there are more than five character cards face-up in front of yourself, you discard down to five. It is now the next player’s turn. The first player to collect three power cards wins the game.

You can also combine Something Wild: Indiana Jones with other Something Wild games. If you do, you shuffle all character cards together, but you’ll keep the power decks separate and have a face-up power card from each power deck. In order to use a power, you must have the figure that goes with that card’s power deck, and you can only take one figure on your turn even if the color of the card you played matched multiple power cards in the center of the table. When you make a set, you make take any one power card from the center of the table.

Review

While we played Something Wild: Indiana Jones, all the games in the series seem to work more or less the same, and the result is a light, easy-to-learn, casual card game with the powers and figure elements adding just enough strategy to set the game apart.

You’re choosing when to try to steal the figure and when to use powers, both of which then play into which runs and sets you try to go for, since one card may get the figure for you but might not make much progress towards a set based on the other cards in your hand. Stealing the figure from your opponent can also be an important move, which makes it harder for them to score, since some of the powers can be quite useful.

It does feel like there are some extra layers added to the game when playing with multiple decks that you can’t get when playing with a single one. Choosing which powers and which figures to claim, and which figures to get away from other players, becomes more nuanced and offers a bit more depth.

There are some minor design flaws. The box is designed so that you can see the figure through a plastic window, and it isn’t easy to repack it that way. There’s also a hanger attached to the top of the box for stores, but this can also be awkward for storing on a shelf. A more traditional game box would have been preferable. Also, the rules are printed and folded in such a way that it’s not intuitive at first what order you should read them in. Finally, the iconography on the power cards is not intuitive either, so with no player aid cards you’re often consulting the rules as you learn the game.

Despite a few minor hiccups, Something Wild is an excellent, casual card game that works well for gatherings and families. The themes with all of the decks make the game more accessible to people who don’t typically play lots of games, and the little figure is an excellent touch.

Pros: Simple and easy-to-learn rules, the powers and figure adjust enough depth to keep things interesting without overcomplicating gameplay

Cons: A few component design flaws, you might want to buy extra editions for full game depth