42. In Vino Morte

First Player Token

In this episode, we try to figure out if our opponent put the poison in our glass or in his glass in the game In Vino Morte!

In Vino Morte is a 2016 game designed by Chris Anderson with art by Ben Toz and published by Button Shy Games. It’s inspired by that classic scene in The Princess Bride where the Dread Pirate Roberts and the scoundrel Vizzini face off over a couple of glasses of wine, one of which is poisoned. In Vino Morte takes that basic idea and scales it up to a 16-card game for three to nine players. I love In Vino Morte because it’s dead simple, it always leads to lively if nonsensical play, I can teach it in about 30 seconds, it plays in like 5 minutes, and it handles a bunch of players. We do, however, call the game “Grape Juice and Poison” when we play with kids…

In this episode, our viticulture correspondents (ages 9 and 10) review “Grape Juice and Poison” along with another great Button Shy wallet game, The Boy Who Cried Wolf. If you’re looking for a quick-to-teach, quick-to-play, kid-friendly game that’s more social than strategic, either of these games fits the bill.

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Music: “Open Road” and “The Concept,” https://www.purple-planet.com/.

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