Customer Reviews

The Great Dalmuti

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a family and party-friendly card game based on medieval class structure...when life wasn't fair (is it now?). We enjoy playing it as a family: children aged 14, 13, 11, and 6. They all like it.

Each round of the game takes a short time to play, but you can play as many or as few rounds as you like. There is no score to keep, and there is no time limit. Who knows, you may be lucky enough to start out as the Greater or Lesser Dalmuti (royalty) who collect taxes (the best cards) from the Greater and Lesser Peons (in which case you won't be so lucky).

Game play is as follows. When you get ready to start playing each player is assigned a seat based on the card they draw from the deck: the person who draws the strongest card gets to start at the Great Dalmuti to the person who draws the weakest card and who starts as the Greater Peon. Once seated, the cards return to the deck, the cards are shuffled and dealt by the Greater Peon. The Greater Dalmuti then calls for taxes (the best cards from the peons), and play commences. The goal of each round is to get rid of your cards as quickly as possible. The person who goes out first during a round gets to be the Greater Dalmuti for the next round. The last person to go out is the Greater Peon. This goes on as long as you want to play. Oh, watch out for the occasional revolution - when a person is dealt two jesters they can declare a revolution...a way to level the playing field making it easier to dethrown a Dalmuti.

We have additional fun while playing this game by role-playing the social status you have each round. As the Great Dalmuti you can be either benevolent or oppressive. As a peon you can be submissive or defiant. And the merchants can try to schmooze with royaly. We also enjoy having friends over to play. We play a round, then while the new Greater Peon shuffles and deals, the rest of us hit the snack table. Anyway, it's a grand game.

The English language version of this game was out of print for at least a few years, and you could get copies only at on-line auction sites like e-bay. During those lean years an English language copy of the Great Dalmuti in good condition could run as much as $50/game, and I had to replace my lost English copy with an affordable German language copy. I'm extremely pleased to see that Hasbro has brought the English language version of this Wizards of the Coast classic back to the shelves!

I have been a Great Dalmuti player for nearly 10 years, and I look forward to many more years of good times with the Great Dalmuti.

This is definitely a 5-star game. If you don't have a copy, you NEED one! Christmas is coming.

I played this game for the first time: I was hooked. The game is fairly easy for any age to play. We had kids to the hold folks to play. My suggestion is to have a nice comfy seat for the Dalmuti to sit in: why? because its nice being there once you finally get there. The kids were laughing and crying over it. This is defintely a great card came that I will be adding into my bag of tricks for friends and family! It is VERY easy to learn for everyone

Thanks for quick shipping on this wonderful game. My adult children taught it to me and I love
it and want to share it here in TEXAS!

If you like your card games to involve a little more thinking and a little less luck, this one's for you. The Great Dalmuti plays a lot like "President" (a classic college card game that I'll let you Wikipedia for yourself if you're unfamiliar), in which the object is to be the first person to get rid of all your cards. There's a hierarchy to the game, and with each new round the individual roles are reassigned; those who did well will reap the greatest benefits in the next round (like medieval royalty), while those who did poorly receive penalties and will have to work their way back up the ladder (like peasants).

Perhaps the most interesting part is that the game has no defined ending; you simply play until you get bored. It's a great party game where people can jump in and out as they please, and there's plenty of room for adding your own rules/variations. One caveat: This game has a bit of a learning curve and can be a bit frustrating if you get keep getting stuck at the bottom of the hierarchy over and over and over again, but once you pick up on the strategy there's a lot of fun to be had.

This is such a fun group game. Easy to do with a group who does not yet know each other well.

Our grown married kids love to play this together - there are 14 of them with spouses and this games really entertains them. We are having a family reunion so I bought a deck of it. Everything came nice and new just like it was supposed to. Am looking forward to learning to play it.

The learning curve for the Great Dalmuti is not too steep but enough to require focus and thought. The play is varied and competitive enough to keep players interested in the game. There is enough skill required that players can improve with continued play and experience.

This is one of the best card games I have played. It's great when you have 5 people and can't play a regular 4-person game. Fun for all ages and a good learning tool for the younger ones.

We have been playing this game for a very long time and the kids never get tired of it. They recently introduced the game to their friends and now their friends are hooked and asked for this game specifically as birthday presents (15 and 13 year old girls). The game goes quickly and is a good game for introducing kids to probability. I ordered through an Amazon vendor and received it quickly at a reasonable price.

We made crowns and hats out of foam visors for the great dalmuti, the lesser dalmuti, and the peons. This makes the game even more fun. This a favorite game at home and at church.