The Daily Parker

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Take my money!

CityLab just alerted me to a card game that I am going to order as soon as I finish this post:

The nail-biting drama of rush-hour congestion, shuttle bus transfers, and airport mix-ups—now in a deck of cards: It’s LOOP: The Elevated Card Game, developed by Chicago merchandiser Transit Tees. The game draws on the relatable pleasures and perils of using the Windy City’s elevated rapid-transit network, the venerable L; it’s a love letter to the joys of public transit, as well as an opportunity to mocking its abundant annoyances.

The gameplay is similar to UNO or Crazy Eights, but instead of matching numbers, suites, or colors, players match the L line or station. For example, if the top of the pile is a Brown Line card for the Washington/Wells station, you can play any other Brown Line, or another Washington/Wells card (as if you’re transferring lines in real life). The object of the game is to get rid of all of your cards first. The player who most recently used public transportation gets to deal.

Yah, total Daily Parker bait. There seems to be a lot of that lately.

Comments (3) -

  • David Harper

    11/30/2018 6:52:20 AM +00:00 |

    Are you aware of a board game called "The London Game"?  The board is a map of the central section of the London Underground (it covers zones 1 and 2).  At the start of each round, every player is dealt six cards depicting tourist attractions and their nearest Tube station.  The cards are dealt face down, so only the player knows which cards they have.  Players must then visit all six of the attractions on their cards, travelling on the Tube like a real tourist.  Players take turns to roll a pair of dice to determine how many stops they travel in that round.

    If a player needs to change from one Tube line to another, they must take a "chance" card in place of a dice roll.  The card may send them to a distant station, or it may allow them to take a free turn, or to send all the other players to the farthest station on the map, or a whole bunch of other hazards.  Players can also thwart the travel plans of other players by closing stations.

    It's a great game.  When I was a student living in London, I would play it with my friends.  I still have a copy of the original edition of the game.  I believe it is still available.

  • The Daily Parker

    11/30/2018 1:52:00 PM +00:00 |

    Yes! If this game is available at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden, I will return to Chicago with a copy after my coming Christmas visit. Thanks for the tip.

  • David Harper

    11/30/2018 3:16:05 PM +00:00 |

    I'm sure that the London Transport Museum will have the game.  You might also want to pick up a handful of the little fold-out pocket Tube maps that London Transport gives away at major Tube stations.  They have an alphabetical list of stations to help you find them on the map.  If you're playing the game with people who don't know the Tube system well, these will be invaluable, since the destination cards only give the name of the station you have to visit, not the Tube line(s) it is on.  One of the key strategies in playing the game is not to let the other players know which stations you need to visit, so it's awkward to have to ask "where the heck is Kensal Green?" Smile

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