Okey Dokey Review – I REALLY Want to Play Green!

Okey Dokey is a small box cooperative game that shares a lot of DNA with Hanabi. In both games, you’re trying to put numbered cards in order, and limited in what you can say. The big difference between them is in Okey Dokey, the cards in your hand face you instead of your teammates.

This leaves me to ponder, would reversing my cards be enough to reverse my negative review?

How to Play

In Okey Dokey, you’re working together to create five colour-coordinated rows, with the numbered cards in each placed in ascending order. But not in sequential order. So ‘1, 2, 3’ is a valid row, as is ‘2, 5, 8’.

During each turn, you add one card to a row matching its colour. Additionally, the card you add must be of greater value to the card on its left, and you must complete each column before starting a new column.

If you’re unable to perform a legal move, then you lose the game.

Therefore communication is the key to unlocking victory within Okey Dokey. It’s also restricted. You can only mention what suit you want to play, how many of each suit you have, and if you’d like to play a reset card.

These reset cards change the current value of the row back to 0. Allowing you to play an 8 early on and not immediately lose the next round. But these cards are as much a gift as they are a curse, as you must play one within each column. So there are times when you don’t want to but are forced to play these reset cards.

Otherwise, play continues like this until you succeed in completing all rows. Or somebody is unable to perform a valid move.

Watch out Tarantino

Okey Dokey is a light, fun game, that’s easy for anyone to pick up and play. Its quick playtime and cute animal theme mean it’s hard to take the game too seriously. So mistakes and failed game states are met with ‘let’s play again’ and not ‘you can’t do this to me’ ala Green Goblin.

Without this light-heartedness, Okey Dokey wouldn’t work. As a lot of the fun comes from having to play cards you’d rather not. Then watching the whole table groan at the error you were forced to make.

However, that’s kind of the game you’re playing. You’re given a strict set of boundaries, and rules dictating how you communicate. Of course, you’re going to make mistakes, but it’s how you work around these mistakes that make the game interesting.

It also leads to scintillating dialogue such as:

“I would like to play green”

“I too would like to play green”

“Yes, but I would REALLY like to play green”

Underneath this dumb conversation lies a couple of questions you must ask yourself. Do they have a better card than me? Can I play another card instead? While these aren’t the deepest of questions, they’re enough for you to doubt your decision, rethink, and keep you engaged.

Okey Dokey is an enjoyable game, but after you have your first victory, it’s easy to replicate it – even on the harder difficulties. So while it’s a nice little game, don’t expect too much replayability.