21x Card Game Review

Jim Gamer
7 hours ago
3 min read

21x

WBG Score: 7

Player Count: 1-6

You’ll like this if you like: Math at school!

This is a free review copy. See our review policy here.

I previously previewed this game here. The game has not changed much since that preview so I wont go over the rules or set up again, you can read that in my preview. But I wanted to show of this glorious final special edition. Its gorgeous!

The game works just the same as the preview copy I have. But this final, special edition, comes in a larger box, with three decks. The three difficulties are separated, and there are also some new golden bordered "Celebrity" edition cards, with a new difficulty level added in.

As a refresher, or if you have not clicked back on the link to the preview, the game works much like Pontoon. Each player is dealt two cards, and you have to try to make 21. You can draw more cards from the deck, up to five. But unlike Pontoon, this is not simply adding up the number on the face of each card. No. Here, each card has its own algebraic calculation. And your job is to set the value of X, which could be present on more than one of your cards, but must always be constant, so that your cards collectively add up to 21.

You get these handy player aids to remind you of the laws of math, so you don't get the order wrong! But one genius addition to the game is the inclusion of N.

N is the number of cards you have. So, at the start, N would be two. But if you draw a third card, N now becomes three. This affects all cards in your hand with N present.

The cards are set to three main difficulties, with the simplest having triangles on the top right. These include integers and simple expressions, including negative numbers, addition, subtraction, and multiplication. The second level with the square and triangle adds in division, brackets, indices, and powers. And the final level with the pentagon added has more complex division and the new celebrity cards such as the below.

What do I mean by celebrity? Well, these cards have been designed by famous math celebrities. People who wanted to get involved in the game and design their own cards for it. You can find out a little more about this, the game, and the included celebrities here.

If you enjoy math puzzles, this will be a great little addition for you. If you don't, then this will not feel like a game for you. It can be confusing and simply not enjoyable to people who do not enjoy math. However, I find the difficulty levels a great equalizer, and I have enjoyed many games of this with people who come from all sorts of backgrounds in math, and also ages. You can simply make the game more balanced by giving different people different levels of cards to even it up. And trust me, even the most advanced mathematician will have some trouble with the level three cards: 3x-V over Y, where V is the number of games of 21x you have won this session plus 1, and Y is whatever you want it to be as long as it is a positive number! Come again?! Its genius.

This game is such a wonderful project; I adore that it exists. I am so pleased to own it. I won't always play it, but when I do, I see it being three to five games per session, in a "best of" scenario. Generally with my son, who is far better at math than I am. And when I do play it, I feel I am training my brain in a way my phone can only pretend and lie to me about!