It’s a humorously-themed, light card game for 3-6 players (player vs. player or team play), ages 7+, with an average play time of 10-15 minutes. No one is going to confuse Hipsters and Hamsters with a Euro or complex worker placement game, but it makes a great, fast paced filler for game groups or family game night.
To begin the game, each player receives four cards. In a unique twist, players can win the game in either of two ways:
Hipsters shun material accumulation. A player wins as a Hipster by having no cards in their hand at the end of their turn. Hamsters, by contrast, are born hoarders. A player wins as a Hamster by having eight cards in their hand at the end of their turn.
Players don’t declare which character (Hipster or Hamster) they’re playing as and can switch between characters at any time, as many times as they wish, adjusting their strategy on-the-fly in response to draws and opponent actions. All in-game action is dictated by the four card types:
Comeback Cards can be played on Calamity Cards, and it becomes the turn of the person playing the Comeback Card. Depending on the Comeback, the person playing the card will either take the action on the Calamity Card, or ignore it.
Calamity and Comeback cards ensure minimal downtime, as every player has the potential to be engaged on every play of the game.
Despite being easy to pick up and play, Hipsters and Hamsters offers rich strategic decision making, as opposing sets of victory conditions lead you to flip between playing styles in response to cards you’ve drawn or had played against you – all while attempting to control turn order to alter the flow of play.
The Advanced game variant is played in rounds, with each player declaring in advance which character they’re playing as. Players are still free to switch between characters and can end the round by meeting either set of victory conditions. However, ending the round as your declared character awards twice the points (20 versus 10). The first player to reach 50 points wins the game.