High Society Review – Appear Rich, Die Broke, and Win Anyway

A game of High Society begins with you holding a wad of 11 cards worth 106 thousand dollars. Now, the first thing you’ll want to do is get more money.

Except, that’s the neat part.

You don’t.

See, you’re a socialite with poor impulse control and no idea how to manage money. Instead, your idea of a good investment is to spend it in the most frivolous way possible. Because in High Society, it’s worth more to appear rich than to be rich. So to trade your money for glamour, you’ll need to compete in a series of auctions.

To start an auction you’ll need to draw the top card of the deck, and set the starting bid or pass. Then the next person will have a chance to bid or pass, and so on. This continues until all but one member has passed. That player then wins the card and the fame points associated.

Out of all the forms of auctioning in board games, and there are many, this method is my personal favourite. As it’s quick, but allows for the drama and stakes of the auction to ramp up quickly. Until it climaxes with the inevitable back-and-forth between the final two people. Wherein chasing the victory of the auction blinds them to the money they’re spending.

Once the fourth prestige card (special cards with green backgrounds) is drawn, the game ends immediately.

Before scoring though, you must first remove the poorest player – as they no longer belong in your group. Then the player with the most fame points is the winner.

Drink up, the champagne is on them!

Money is the root of all victory points

High Society has an interesting relationship with money. First, you start the game at your richest point, and from then on, you only lose money by spending it in auctions.

Then although you start with 106 thousand, that amount is broken into the weirdest denominations you’ve ever seen. And there’s no change!

This has massive implications on how you play these auctions, as you need to strategise your spending. Once you put a card towards an auction, you won’t be able to change it later.

For instance, you need to decide how long you should keep your smaller denominations. Holding onto, and deploying them later in the game, can put other players in a tough position.

Like if the current bid was eight thousand, and your previous bid was seven thousand, you could use your two thousand to increase the bid. Whereby if you’re in that same situation but the smallest denomination you have is ten thousand. Then that’s suddenly a lot tougher of a decision.

Remember, the player with the least amount of money at the end of the game is eliminated.

With all cards discarded facedown, you have no idea if you’re the richest or poorest outside of the number of cards each player has remaining. Meaning the entire game you’re tense, and sweating that you’re spending too much.

This, along with the unpredictability of when the game will end, makes High Society an excellent high-stakes board game about taking big risks and getting rewarded, or punished.

A new favourite card game

What keeps each game of High Society fresh is the prestige cards. Unlike other cards that provide you with straight point values, these modify your score in different ways. Some are good and double your points, others aren’t and can half your points or even get rid of them altogether.

Funnily enough, these negative cards are auctioned off in reverse fashion. The first person to pass keeps their money, and the card and everyone else has to pay their bid.

In a game filled with tough decisions, throwing these curveball prestige cards into the mix is enough to spice it up without drastically changing the game flow.

As it stands, High Society is a brilliant game and easily my favourite small box, and auction game. For a 20-25 minute board game, from start to finish you will be on the edge of your seat wondering whether you should keep bidding or pass. Then at the same time, think about what cards you’ll use to keep bidding.

But perhaps the best thing about High Society is it’s cheap and affordable so that even we chauffeur-less peasants can enjoy it without breaking the bank.