So I just got my hands on Finnegans Cards yesterday. Heard about it from a friend who said it was simple, right? Yeah, right. Okay, let me walk you through exactly what I did, because honestly, it wasn’t smooth sailing at first.
First Impressions Were… Rough
Opened the box, cards looked nice, little bit shiny. Sat down at the kitchen table, all ready to go. Skimmed the tiny rulebook – it felt way too short. Like, okay, draw cards, play cards, match symbols or something to win points? Sounded easy enough.
Started playing against myself to get the hang of it. Boy, was I confused. Played a cheap blue card with a fish symbol. Thought I was doing good. Then played a green action card that said “Swap Hands” and bam, I totally messed up my own flow. Had no clue who was winning or what the strategy was. Lost track of points completely.
Seriously, felt like playing poker while blindfolded for a solid fifteen minutes. Kept forgetting if green cards beat red cards or if it was about the symbols on top. The symbols were everywhere! A fish, a net, an anchor… made my head spin a bit.
Okay, Deep Breath. Let’s Try Again.
Stopped trying to force it. Just took one pile of cards – the cheap starter ones, mostly blue and white – and shuffled them real good. Decided to forget scoring for a minute.
Focused purely on the turn-by-turn:
- Draw two cards first thing. Always two.
- Then play one card from my hand. Mostly played the cheap blue or white ones.
- Paid attention to the symbol on top of the card I played.
Instead of trying fancy plays, I just looked at what symbols I had lots of. Saw a bunch with the little fish. Played those down one after another. Suddenly, things started clicking a tiny bit.
Noticed that when I played a card with a fish, it somehow “powered up” my next turn if I played another fish? The rules weren’t super clear, but I saw the connection. Small wins!
Where It Actually Started Working
The big shift came when I stopped trying to save all the expensive looking cards (those bright red and purple ones!). Just played what I had. Got burned a few times playing a cool red card only to have its effect totally fizzle because I didn’t have the right symbols showing from previous plays. Wasted!
So I forced myself to build up first:
- Played several cheap cards with the same symbol in a row. Usually fish or anchor.
- Waited until I actually had a few symbols sitting in front of me.
- THEN played one of those flashy red cards that said something like “Gain 2 points per Anchor symbol”. Boom! Instantly got like 6 points because I had 3 anchors already there from my cheap cards.
That was the “aha!” moment. It wasn’t about the cool card itself. It was about setting it up!
What Finally Clunked Into Place For Me (Beginner Tips!)
After probably losing a dozen pretend games to myself, here’s the simple stuff that saved my bacon:
- DON’T hoard the fancy cards. It’s tempting! But they’re useless early on. Play your cheap cards first.
- Look for patterns in your hand. Got three cheap cards with the net symbol? Play those! Stack that symbol up.
- Watch the pile. Before you slam down that flashy card, count how many of the symbol it needs are already sitting out there (from your cheap cards!). If you only have one… maybe save the flashy card.
- Draw two, play one. Seriously. Don’t skip drawing. Ever. You run out fast.
- Point cards (mostly white ones) are safe plays early when you have nothing better. Get a point or two just for putting it down. Simple.
Honestly, once I stopped stressing about “winning” immediately and just practiced stacking cheap symbols to set up one big point play later, everything got way less chaotic. Took a few cups of coffee and maybe throwing a cheap card across the room once, but hey, I get it now. For a beginner like me? This feels much, much easier.
