My passion for card games began with my great-grandmother, who taught me how to shuffle a deck of cards and play Rummy. In the classic card game you make sets and runs of cards by both drawing from a deck and picking up cards discarded by other players. It’s simple enough for a child to learn, but rewards paying close attention to what everyone else is doing so you don’t accidentally provide a card they need or try to build a set that will be hard to get. Enrico Vicario’s card game Sensu uses many of the same principles, combining them with gorgeous illustrations from Andrea Guerrieri to create an elegant game that’s easy to share with anyone.
In Sensu, two to five players compete to try to build Japanese folding fans in five different colors, each with their own detailed design. The pieces of the fans are represented by gorgeous illuminated cards printed on thick paper that makes the cards a pleasure to handle and look at laid across your play area.
Each player starts with two cards and can have a maximum of five in their hand. The numerical values of the cards range from 1 to 7, and there are some wildcards that can be used for different values like 1-3 or 3-5. You take turns either drawing two cards from the deck and then discarding one from your hand, or picking up a card from the top of any player’s discard pile. If you accumulate a set of cards worth exactly 15 points, you can play them to either start building a new fan or expand one you’re already constructing. It’s a simple goal, but the strategy comes from trying to be as efficient with your plays as possible.
