Review: The Bottle Imp

Introduction & Overview

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote The Bottle Imp on one of the Samoan Islands in 1891. In the story, Keawe, a native of Hawaii, decides to travel to other lands and sets off for San Francisco. Once there, he falls in love with a beautiful house whose owner, however, is an unhappy and solitary man. After showing it to him, the owner explains the reason for his sorrow: he possesses a strange bottle containing an imp that grants wishes, except that of extending life. But owning the bottle carries dire consequences: if the owner dies before selling it, they will burn in hell. To sell it, there is an absolute requirement: it must be sold for a lower price, and the buyer must know its secret. From this point onward, the adventures of Keawe and the bottle begin…

This is the premise behind The Bottle Imp, the short story by the famous Scottish writer that inspired the card game we are looking at today, designed by Günter Cornett (Kahuna, Hey, That’s My Fish!). The game was published in 1995 by Bambus Spieleverlag in a German edition. Since then, it has received several reprints. Among the many artists who have worked on this title, it is worth highlighting those responsible for the latest edition, Tuuli Hypén and Jere Kasanen, who previously worked on M.U.L.E. The Board Game and Dungeon Rush.

In our country, it is published by Mont Tàber in a Spanish edition (although the game is completely language-independent, aside from the rulebook). It plays with 2 to 4 players, with a recommended minimum age of 10 and an approximate duration of 30 minutes. The suggested retail price is €15.95. For this review, a review copy of the multilingual edition by Lautapelit.fi was used.

Important: if you already know the game and/or are only interested in my opinion about it, you can go directly to the Opinion section. The Content and Mechanics sections are especially intended for those who do not know the game and prefer to get a general idea of how it works.

Go to Personal Opinion

Components

Inside a two-piece cardboard box (lid and bottom) measuring 18 × 13 × 3.9 cm (a small box format akin to Morels or Port Royal), we find the following items:

• 40 Cards (58×88 mm)
• Scorepad
• Wooden Bottle
• Rulebook

How to Play

The Bottle Imp is a trick-taking card game based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s eponymous tale, where players attempt to score points by winning tricks while avoiding ending up in possession of the cursed bottle at the end of each hand. The match is played over an agreed-upon number of rounds. In each round, the deck is dealt and the bottle is placed in the center on top of the starting reference card. During each trick, the lead player plays a card, and the rest must follow suit if possible, or play a card of any other suit otherwise. The trick is won by the highest card that does not exceed the current value of the bottle, with its owner claiming the imp and lowering the bottle’s value to that of the played card; if all cards exceed the bottle’s value, the trick is won by the highest card of the lead suit without the bottle changing hands or value. When the hands are exhausted, players score points for their accumulated trick cards, except for the player holding the bottle, who loses as many points as the penalty cards are worth. After completing the established number of hands, the player with the highest total score is declared the winner.

Key Concepts

As in any good trick-taking game, the core element is a deck of 36 cards numbered from 1 to 37 (skipping the value 19). These cards are split into three suits: red (mostly values above 19), yellow (mostly values below 19), and blue (a balanced mix of values above and below 19). In addition to rank and color, each card displays a point value at the top center (represented by coins in amounts from 1 to 6), which are the points players will score when capturing these cards by winning a trick. The classic rule of having to follow the lead suit applies; however, there is no trump suit, meaning only the numerical values of the cards are taken into account.

The other key element of the game is the Bottle. At the end of the hand, the player left holding the bottle will not only forfeit all points earned from won tricks, but will also suffer a penalty determined by the cards set aside at the start of the deal.

The starting value of the bottle is 19, and this number dictates who wins the trick in any given round, depending on whether at least one card lower than the bottle’s current value was played.

That is enough to get started.

Preparación de la Partida

This setup applies to every hand of the game.

1. In the first hand, the starting player and first dealer are chosen randomly. In subsequent hands, the dealer will be the next player in clockwise order.
2. Take the card with value 19 and place it in the center of the table, setting the bottle on top of it.
3. Shuffle the remaining 36 cards and deal 12 to each player.
4. Each player must now choose one card from their hand to place face down under the 19 card as a penalty for whichever player ends up with the bottle.
5. Finally, every player selects 2 cards from their hand to pass to their neighbors (one to each side), and receives 2 cards in return, one from each neighbor.

We are ready to begin!

Game Flow

A hand of The Bottle Imp is played over 11 tricks until every player has emptied their hand. Each trick unfolds as follows:

• Starting with the lead player and proceeding clockwise, each player must play one card from their hand into their play area.
• The lead player dictates the suit, and the remaining players are required to follow suit. If unable to do so (having no cards left in that color), a player may play any card from their hand.
• Once everyone has contributed a card, the winner of the trick is determined. Two situations can arise:
  • If every card played is higher than the current value of the bottle, the player who played the highest value of the lead suit wins the trick (all 3 cards played) and places them into their score pile.
  • If at least one card is lower than the current value of the bottle, the player who played the highest value among those below the bottle’s price wins the trick (all 3 cards played). In addition, that player takes the bottle and sets the winning card face up with the bottle on it, establishing the new price.
• Whenever the bottle’s value is lowered again, the card that previously marked the price goes to the score pile of the player who held the bottle (who might be the same player).

Once the 11 tricks have been played, one player will be left holding the bottle. That player will not score any points from cards in their trick pile; instead, they lose points equal to the total point value of the cards tucked beneath the 19 card at the start of the hand. All other players record the sum of points from the cards collected in their trick piles on the scorepad.

After this, a new hand is dealt, with the role of dealer passing clockwise to the next player.

Game End

The game concludes when the agreed-upon number of rounds has been completed or when a player reaches the target score established at the start. The player with the most victory points is crowned the winner.

Variants

• 2-Player Variant (Lopaka): A dummy player named Lopaka enters the game. During the deal, 11 cards are handed to each player (including Lopaka), leaving 3 leftover cards, which are placed under the 19 card as penalty cards. Card passing occurs only between the human players (passing 1 card to each other). Finally, Lopaka’s cards are revealed and arranged in ascending numerical order in a row. Lopaka’s decision algorithm is as follows:
  • Lopaka must always follow suit whenever possible.
  • If Lopaka cannot win the trick, it plays its lowest legal card (following suit if able).
  • If Lopaka can win the trick, it plays the highest legal card that allows it to do so (following suit if able).
  • The rest of the game follows the standard rules.
• 2-Player Variant (The Bright House): Each player receives 2 hands of 9 cards. During setup, players take one of their two hands, inspect it, tuck one card away as a penalty, and pass another to their opponent, who adds it to their active hand. The same procedure is repeated with the second hand. Then, after reviewing both, each player selects one hand to lay face up on the table, while the other remains hidden in hand.
  • In each trick, 4 cards are played—one from each hand—first from the open hands and then from the hidden hands.
  • All other rules remain unchanged.

Personal Opinion

Trick-taking games represent an entire subgenre defined by shared core principles that connect them. In my opinion (and that of many others), Tichu (here is its tocho-review) reigns supreme; if you have four players at the table, there is rarely any question about what should come out. But what happens when you do not have four? That is when the field opens up to countless options. The title we are examining today has quite a few miles on it and has returned to the spotlight thanks to a gorgeous production from Lautapelit.fi, brought to Spain by Mont Tàber. Let us see what makes The Bottle Imp so special.

As mentioned, it is mechanically straightforward. Once everyone has their final hand of cards (we will get to the pre-round setup in a moment), the lead player opens the trick, and all other players must follow suit—playing a card of the same color. After everyone has played a card, the winner of the trick is resolved. That winner leads the next trick. Play continues in this fashion until all hands are emptied, at which point everyone tallies their score.

Sounds simple, right? Hold your horses, because there are a couple of nuances that, while not overly complicated, inject tremendous tactical depth into the design. The first and most significant twist lies in how trick winners are determined. This is where the titular bottle enters the scene, serving as the thematic cornerstone of the short story.

At the start of each hand, the bottle sits on a card establishing its initial price (19 in this case, the exact median of the deck). When resolving a trick, players must reference the bottle’s current value. If every played card ranks higher than the bottle’s current price, the trick goes to whoever played the highest card of the lead suit. Standard trick-taking fare so far.

However, should at least one player play a card whose value is lower than the bottle’s current value, the trick will be won by the card closest to the bottle’s price without going over. In other words, if multiple players contribute cards below the bottle’s value, the winner is the one who played the highest value within that lower range. Consequently, any cards higher than the bottle are completely disregarded when resolving the trick.

Naturally, taking a trick this way—sweeping high-scoring cards with modest numbers—comes with a devilish catch. The bottle acts like a hot potato that everyone is desperate to offload as fast as possible. The problem? Every time you win a trick via the bottle, you not only claim ownership of the imp, but you also drop its price down to the number on your winning card.

The poor soul who ends up stuck with the bottle once all cards have been played will score zero points from their captured tricks. Worse still, they will receive a penalty equal to the sum of the three cards set aside secretly and simultaneously at the start of the hand.

It is a vicious system that gives the design a unique flavor and generates moments of peak tension. Consider a few examples. The first thing to remember is that, aside from the three cards tucked away as penalties, every single number is present in players’ hands. As a result, you must anticipate how many times you might end up taking a trick at the expense of dropping the price and taking the bottle.

Paying close attention to the low cards in each suit is crucial, particularly in yellow (which contains 1, 2, and 3) and blue (home to 4, 6, and 8). If your opening hand is loaded with these danger cards, you must assess how the hand is likely to play out and adapt your stance accordingly. If you suspect that a miserable hand will inevitably leave you holding the bottle, your best play may be damage control: win as many tricks as possible purely to deny points to your opponents.

Conversely, if you are dealt a comfortable hand packed with high values and minimal risk, your goal shifts to shedding those low values as early as possible. This can often be done by seizing opportunities where an earlier player has already undercut the bottle’s price, allowing you to discard an even lower value safely, knowing the imp will pass to them.

There is another vital mechanism that rounds out the experience: the card pass. Much like in Tichu, players exchange cards with their neighbors before the hand begins. Unlike Urs Hostettler’s classic, however, the passed card carries monumental weight here. Because tricks are resolved single-card by single-card, you possess exact knowledge of at least one card that particular rival must eventually play. Drawing the two worst cards in the deck during the deal is actually a blessing: it lets you handpick which opponents receive them, practically dooming them to the bottle if you manage the tempo carefully.

You must also consider suit distribution across the table, because being short in a color implies that someone else is heavily loaded. If that player takes a trick and leads that suit repeatedly, you might be forced to follow suit with a dangerously low card. That can trigger a catastrophic plunge in the bottle’s price, instantly turning cards that once felt secure into lethal liabilities.

Finally, there is the memory factor—a staple of the genre that assumes paramount importance here due to the individual card play. Keeping track of which values have not yet surfaced (especially at the extremes) is vital for sound tactical play. Fortunately, the card pool is tight, and the game includes an excellent reference aid detailing the distribution across suits.

It is impressive how much gameplay is packed into 37 cards and a small wooden bottle. The game is tense, rules-light yet remarkably deep, where a single miscalculation can dismantle an entire hand, demanding keen risk management and forethought. Naturally, luck of the draw plays a role, and occasionally a harsh hand can undermine a player’s standing, but that is simply part and parcel of card games.

All of this comes with a caveat: the game has a steeper learning curve than most light card games. The underlying subtleties are hard to grasp on a first playthrough, requiring several hands before the tactical landscape reveals itself. This dynamic runs counter to what people expect from a fast filler and might turn players away after an underwhelming initial play. It is the type of game where a few pointers beforehand are essential to help newcomers understand the dynamics and enjoy the experience.

Another notable drawback is its player count flexibility. This design was clearly conceived for three players, which is where it truly shines. At two players, you must rely on clunky variants that drain much of the suspense and uncertainty, while four players introduces extra chaos through an opponent whose cards you know nothing about. Personally, that weakens the tension; I prefer the certainty of knowing that every rival around the table is holding a poisoned gift bearing my signature.

I also wish the rulebook had established a more standardized endgame threshold, even if leaving room for house rules. My preferred approach is having each player act as dealer twice, though that can encourage overly conservative play if a frontrunner emerges late in the game. Setting a target score is likely the better alternative; knowing that a typical hand yields 30 to 50 points if you avoid the bottle, playing to 200 points usually takes 5 to 6 hands and forces players to actively pursue points rather than coasting on a lead.

Turning to component quality, we get a compact deck of standard-sized cards boasting solid production (good cardstock, pleasant snap, and smooth finish). Since cards see heavy shuffling and handling, sleeving is strongly advised to prevent wear. The other key piece in the box is the wooden bottle—large, eye-catching, and tactile, though it does force the box to be slightly bulkier than necessary for a 40-card game. The rulebook is well organized and leaves no ambiguities.

Visually, I love Kasanen and Hypén’s artwork, with evocative vignettes depicting the bottle’s travels and its impact on its unfortunate owners. Having the value and suit icon printed in all four corners is also a fantastic touch, ensuring complete legibility regardless of how a player fans their hand. The box cover stays true to this visual style and looks quite appealing on the shelf—a welcome artistic effort for a genre that often defaults to generic numbers and symbols.

And let’s wrap this up. The Bottle Imp is an outstanding trick-taking game that shines brightest at three players, even if it accommodates two (via variants) or four. With minimal mechanical overhead, it achieves remarkable depth through subtle interlocking systems. That depth can be a double-edged sword on an initial play, as newcomers might overlook its tactical nuances and dismiss it prematurely. With proper expectations set, however, it hits the table effortlessly whenever three players gather. It is held back slightly by the lack of a defined standard game length, which keeps it just shy of absolute perfection. For all these reasons, it earns a…