Ding! (The Board Game)

In a word: Easy. But if I were to describe the directions that came with it the word would be: Useless.

The directions are full of words like "tricks" and "play a ding" and the meanings of these words and phrases are not given. I ended up having to search online for how to play the game. Apparently it's a common problem. But, enough of the bad, there are some good things. It is 3-8 players so it accommodates to almost all families. The amount of time it takes to play is also perfect, being about 30 min. long you can play 2 or 3 games if you want a longer game or if you don't have much time, it is short enough where you can finish 1 game and do what you need to do. The game board is simple as are the pieces. There are no tiny, tiny, pieces just waiting to get lost. Here is how the game goes.

1. Each player picks a piece and the matching "in" "out" and puts their piece at the "start"
2. The dealer gives everyone 5 cards and turns the top card in the deck over (Like a discard pile)this is called the "Trump Suit". Players look at their cards and decide if they have a good enough hand to be in for the round. If you turn your token to "in" then you play the round if you change it to "out" you sit through the round without losing anything.
3. Starting to the dealers left players can ask for up to 3 cards to replace bad ones. (You must give the dealer your discards before you are handed new ones)
4. After everyone has their hand the player to the left of the dealer begins the game by laying down one card. (If possible you must lay down a card that is the same color as the trump suit) If you don't have a card that is the trump suit color then just play what you have. Play continues clockwise. The card with the highest number wins the "trick" (A trick is one round of everyone laying down a card.) If you win the trick you move one space ahead.
5. If you don't have a card that is in the trump suit and you have a wild card then you must play it. The wild card is higher than all the other cards.
6. If you play a card that is a letter than it is worth only 1. However if you have the letters to spell the word Ding then you win all 5 tricks in the round and you move all 5 spaces ahead. (A ding must be played before the first card is played for the round.)
7. If you choose to be in on a round and don't win any tricks then you move back the number of spaces that the board says.

There now you have a little reference guide. Read the directions that come with it and these might help to clarify some things. The game is fun, easy, quick to get out and put up, and requires only a small amount of strategy. On a scale of 1-10 I would give this game a 7. The reason(s) being: It is easy for all ages, it is easy to get out and put up, and there is just enough strategy involved to make it fun for everyone. Again the only downside are the directions. Get this game, figure it out. You will probably enjoy it.