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Players: 2 or more
Playing Time: Up to 30 minutes or more, depending on the game
At one point or another, just about every one of us has had to pick up the phone in an attempt to get a little technical support—and the task is usually daunting. First, you try to get through the automated system to get a real, live person on the line. Then you spend hours on hold. And when (if) you finally get through to someone, you’ll inevitably end up with the wrong department. Or you’ll get disconnected. Or the tech support person on the other end won’t know how to solve your problem.
Tech Support, the game, isn’t nearly as involved. To begin, each player gets five cards. No player can actually play a card from his or her own hand—unless directed to do so. Instead, when it’s your turn, you do three things. First, you pick a card from the deck and add it to the cards in your hand. Then you choose one card at random from one of your opponents’ hands. You then read the card, do what it says, and discard it. That can mean anything from looking at another player’s hand to losing a turn to the dreaded “Hold Music: Nothing Happens.” Or, if you happen to select the Guru card (of which there’s only one), you win.
The object of the game is to end up with the Guru card. If you pick it out of an opponent’s hand, you win automatically. Or, if you play through the entire deck of cards, and you can’t play anymore, the player left holding the Guru card is the winner.
The best thing about Tech Support is the artwork. The cards are creative and amusing—and often all too true. So it’s fun to pick up a new card and see what it holds. The game itself, however, is underdeveloped—and it usually lasts long after the cards’ amusement wears off. The Guru card isn’t easy to get—and there isn’t much strategy involved—so you usually end up just playing cards until they’re gone (or until you get sick of it—whichever comes first). At times, the game is just plain frustrating—especially when someone plays the “Disconnected” card. Whenever someone picks it, everyone has to put their cards back into the deck and draw and entirely new deck. At that point, any strategy you may have worked out is useless, and you have to start over.
Though the artwork is fun, Tech Support could use a little more development—because the game has the potential to be almost as frustrating as an actual tech support call.
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