Cookie Jar

Modern (crime)
Post World Games
2011

Well, randomly selecting a game to review seemed to work out pretty good last time, so I did it again. This time I will be looking at Cookie Jar, which at just over 500 words is the shortest game I’ve reviewed, and my shortest review to date.
Cookie Jar is a game of crimes, or rather the accusation of, denial of, and concession to crimes. And while it may be a very little game, it’s definitely an interesting little game.

Mechanics: 3/5
Each player starts with fifteen d6—yes, fifteen. Gameplay primarily involves accusing other players of a crime and denying accusation against you. Both accusing and denying require players to spend 1 or 2 of their dice which go into an “accusation pool.” At any time a player can attempt to force a confession my spending 3 or 5 dice—which are removed from play rather than added to the accusation pool—which requires the accused player to roll their remaining dice versus the accusation pool, with a player who successfully forces a confession being the winner. As the accusation pool is continuously growing, the longer one waits to make their move the better their chances of success and risk of being targeted themselves. Additionally, the high cost of attempting to force a confession leaves a player vulnerable if the confession fails, leading to a game with a fair bit of depth for how simple it is.

Writing: 3/5  [•]
Overall well-written, it was definitely written with the conciseity and clarity in mind. Which makes for an easy reading and rules-learning experience.

Presentation: 2/5
The game is nicely formatted into a single three-column page. A heavy use of emphasized text—large, red, all caps—is used through to highlight important terms and such, which makes the concepts easy to pick up even if you’re not reading too closely. However it is definitely formatted for substance over style, and does look a bit lackluster as a result.

Final Remarks
While not incredibly nuanced, Cookie Jar is a decent little game to play if you have some time to kill—and several dozen d6s.

Base Points: 5
Character Creation: N/A, Mechanics: 3/5, Presentation: 2/5
Adjustments: +0
Setting: N/A, Writing: +0, Content: N/A

Overall Score 50% (5/10 Points)
Colonel Mustard, in the study, with several dozen d6.