Reviewed by Herb Levy
TIGER STRIPES: THE CARD GAME (Flying Meeple, 2 to 4 players ages 7 and up, 15 minutes; $15)
The transition between child and adult can be a challenging journey. We all know that very well. But it seems this challenge is not exclusive to people. Even tiger cubs have to prove their worth by capturing prey and earning their stripes in this design by Isabel duBarry: Tiger Stripes: The Card Game.
The game contains 4 Tiger cards (with room for 7 stripes tokens on one side to keep track of your scoring) and a deck of 50 cards consisting of Tiger cards and Prey cards. Tiger cards show a tiger and jewels of varying colors. Prey cards show various animals, one or more jewels and 1, 2, 3 or 4 stripes. All players begin with a randomly dealt hand of 2 cards (there is no hand limit) with five cards dealt face up to the center of the play area to create the Jungle. Remaining cards form a draw pile. The youngest player begins.
Two phases make a turn. During the first phase, a player may do ONE of three possible actions: He/she may take one card from the top of the draw pile OR take one Tiger card from the Jungle OR capture Prey cards. Capturing prey cards is how you earn your stripes and that’s where those jewels come in.
On your turn, one or more Prey cards may be captured by discarding cards in your hand (Tiger and/or Prey cards in any combination) that match the jewels shown on the Prey you are hunting. (Any excess jewels are lost.) Different shapes are used for the jewels which is a good thing as the blue and green colors are a bit hard to differentiate. Captured Prey go into your hand. 
The second phase of a turn involves cashing in sets of Prey! If you have 3 Prey cards of the same type, they must be discarded. Alternatively, if you have 2 Prey cards of a set, you may use any Tiger card in your hand to complete the set. The specified number of stripes (1 to 4) for a set (NOT per card) is tracked on your Tiger card with stripe tokens. Multiple Prey sets may be discarded on the same turn. (If there are less than 5 cards in the Jungle, they are now replenished.) The first player to reach (or exceed) 7 stripes wins!
Tiger Stripes: The Card Game distills the game mechanism of buying items with jewels used in such well received games as Sid Sackson’s Bazaar (a brain-burner originally published by 3M back in 1968 as part of their adult line of games and later reissued in a Discovery Games edition featured in the Winter 1988 issue of Gamers Alliance Report) and Century Spice Road (a more “forgiving” use of the basic mechanism, featured in the Fall 2017 GA Report). This time around, the game is even more forgiving, as this game is targeted for children and families with a quick playing time to keep players focused. The whole experience is helped by the charming artwork of Felicia Cano which, to my eye, is reminiscent of the style found in vintage Little Golden Books.
Isabel duBarry definitely knows her audience; she first designed this game with the first print run back in 2011 when she was a child herself; She is also the daughter of game designer Phillip duBarry (whose credits include Black Orchestra [Winter 2017 GA Report] and more), proving that the apple does not fall far from the tree. Tiger Stripes: The Card Game is a light, charming game that will give parents and their children a good reason to spend some time at the gaming table. – – – – – – – Herb Levy
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