Designed by Tim Fowers, Paperback fuses elements from two popular games: Scrabble and the deck-building king, Dominion. It was published by Fowers Games in 2014. I bought my copy myself; no review copy was provided. I’ve played it extensively since then, over multiple years.
Paperback is a delightful card game that cleverly combines word-building and deck-building mechanics. In Paperback, each player starts with a hand of 10 cards; half wilds (also known as victory point cards called “Fame”) and half letter cards (R, S, T, L, N). The turn is then split into word building and deck building stages.
During word building, players take their letter cards and play them to form words. The longer the word, the more cards are used, and the more points you should expect to score. See, it’s a bit like Scrabble, innit? There’s also a common letter (one of the vowels) out that anyone can use in their words to make it a bit easier, and some cards contain two-letter graphemes to add a bit of strategic depth.
Following on from word building, we have deck building. As players earn points from their words, they can buy newer and better cards from the stacks. Players can buy either letter cards or fame cards. Letter cards enhance the deck, allowing for more creative words to come from our letter combinations. Some letter cards also come with special abilities, adding an extra layer of strategy. I really like the double letter cards.
Fame cards don’t help with this. They’re wild cards, which help with flexibility, but they don’t generate extra points. Fame cards actively get in the way, really. They’re what give you fame at the end of the game, though, and this what wins you the game. It’s like buying estates, duchies, and provinces in Dominion. Yeah, you get points, but it also slows down that engine that you’ve built into your deck. Finding a balance can be tricky.
At the end of the game, fame is tallied up and whoever has the most is declared the winner. Woo and/or yay!
In terms of quality, I’m very happy with this game. The cards are of decent stock, with a nice finish. They are very simple in their design, with big, bold letters. That’s the key info, so it makes sense, I suppose. The fame cards are fun, pulpy book covers that inject a bit of colour and variety into the whole experience. The box is also nice and sturdy.
I don’t like Scrabble. I love Dominion. Thankfully, this plays more like the latter than the former and I do very much love Paperback. As deck builders go, this is a good ‘un. My wife doesn’t like it. She doesn’t find spelling easy and gets quite self-conscious playing the game. She’s not the only person with whom I have played who has had that same complaint. That’s just something to bear in mind; this isn;t really for everyone. That said, if you’ve got a group who like word puzzles and deck builders, this is a solid, fantastic little game.
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