There’s no denying that Flip 7 has absolutely captured the attention of the board game media. I can see why, it’s really easy to evangelize. You buy five copies of the game, toss it into every bag you own, and bring to every gathering just in case people want to play something quick. It’s approachable in that magical ‘anyone can sit down and start playing immediately’ kind of way. New and old gamers alike can gather around Flip 7, laugh at bad luck, cheer at risky plays, and then, once the game’s over, you can just hand your copy away as a gift and move on with your life, because it’s cheap enough to replace without much thought. That accessibility is a huge part of its appeal.

My problem with Flip 7 is that I’ve already been playing this game for over a decade.

I’ll recognize that there are SOME differences, but I’ve always been a big fan of Pairs, which operates on almost identical mechanics. I’ll get into those differences in a bit, but first it’s worth talking about what Flip 7 actually does, because clearly it’s doing something right.

Flip 7 is simple. Every round starts with each player receiving a single card, and then the dealer goes around the table asking the same question over and over: “Hit or stay?” If you hit, you get another card. If you stay, you lock in your points. The catch, of course, is that if you ever collect two cards of the same value, you bust and score nothing for the round. If you manage to get 7 cards of different values, the round ends immediately and the player who achieved the feat earns 15 bonus points for their boldness. It’s pure push-your-luck design. The score is based on the total value of your cards, and the first player to reach 200 points triggers the endgame.

Image Credit: Ed @MythiccRare via BGG

The clever wrinkle of Flip 7 is that the numbers in the deck aren’t evenly distributed. There are twelve 12s, eleven 11s, ten 10s, and so on all the way down to a single 1 and a single 0. That means that statistically some cards feel dangerous while others feel remarkably. The size of the deck and the speed of play makes it difficult to count cards and then players often act on instinct and vibes rather than actual probability. There are also a few action cards mixed in added flavour. Some score modifiers that can’t bust you, but don’t add to the 7 unique card bonus, second chances, and the flip three card that forces any player to flip three cards in a row with no opportunity to stop and bank your points between flips.

Flip 7 works because it’s incredibly easy to teach. You just flip a card and ask “hit or stay?” over and over until somebody groans in agony because they paired their 6 with another 6. It was a relatively safe move, but that’s the risk you tale. It’s a game your eight-year-old nephew can play with your ninety-year-old grandmother without any issues. And that’s a real achievement.

But let’s also be honest here: Flip 7 is a game of luck, not strategy. Sure, there are moments where you feel brilliant because you chose to stop, and then you see that the next card flip would have busted, that’s just luck. You didn’t know, nobody knows! There are no deduction mechanisms, no real information management, no meaningful strategic framework beyond deciding how lucky you feel in the moment and trying to remember if 3 or 4 of the 8’s have already come out of the deck.

Now, my biggest criticisms of Flip 7 is how it handles the end game, specifically as compared to Pairs. in Flip 7, at the end of every round you need to add up all all the numbers and add those scores to everyone’s running tally. It’s not onerous, but it does require a pen and paper, which is more than I might expect from a game that I just want to throw down and start playing.

And while I’m talking about score, I guess it’s time to talk about Pairs specifically in relation to Flip 7. Pairs was one of the first games I ever reviewed on this blog because I loved it so much. I literally bought six or seven different decks and handed them out like candy. It became my travel game. The thing I could bring anywhere. And this is really where the crux of my Flip 7 versus Pairs comparison comes into view.

In Pairs, the core game play is basically identical. You flip cards, decide whether to hit or stay, and bust if you pair a number. But the scoring is so much cleaner. Instead of totaling up a whole piles of cards every round, the player who busts simply takes the value of the card they busted on as points, and the first player to reach 21 loses the game. That’s it. It’s elegant in a way that makes the entire experience feel lighter. There’s no bookkeeping and it’s easy for everyone at the table to see how well each other is doing instead of asking the player keeping score how close everyone is to ending the game before deciding to take a risk or not.

That simplicity matters even more in the environments where these games thrive best: pubs, bars, coffee shops, someone’s kitchen table at midnight, and so on. Pairs feels perfectly engineered for those spaces. Flip 7 is good too, but not as good.

Also, the push your luck is more interesting in Pairs. In Pairs, when one player busts, they take a card for score, but it resets the round for everyone. Sure you might be sitting on an 8 and a 7, but if you can hold out until someone else busts, you get away scot-free! If the risk is too much for you, or you’re staring down really unfair odds, like if you have a 9 and 10, but the player next to you is holding a 1 and 3, you can choose to just prematurely end the round, and take the lowest card as your score instead, start a new whole new round. I find it more engaging and interesting.

I will concede that Flip 7 is dramatically easier to find right now. It’s available in every game store and Wal-mart across Canada and the US. Pairs feels niche by comparison, which is a shame because one of the things I adore about it is how many different themed decks exist. The cards are filled with artwork from different artists and settings, giving you something pleasant to look at while you play. Finding a Pairs deck that speaks to you feels custom and charming. Flip 7’s plain colorful-number aesthetic by contrast is utilitarian and boring. Sure, the big numbers in Flip 7 are perfectly functional, but Pairs has personality!

So part of me can’t help feeling a little sad watching Flip 7 become this massive commercial and critical success when, in my opinion, the better version of this game has been available on shelves for over ten years already.

And yes, I’ll fully admit some of my bias here is emotional. Pairs has collaborated with artists and created decks based on some of my favorite books, including Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind. Meanwhile, the CEO behind Flip 7 publicly defended his decision to vote for Trump. Fair or unfair, that factors into where I’d rather spend my money. I know which company I feel more excited supporting.

So I suppose this review is less my thoughts on Flip 7, even if it is pretty good at being a fast and easy card game. But I can’t help but get onto a tiny soapbox asking people to please, for the love of all things cardboard, look at Pairs instead. Because every time I see people discovering Flip 7 for the first time, I can’t help but feel like I’m watching an old friend get overlooked in the background.