After the unbroken killstreak of Spots, Lacuna, Daybreak, and Wilmot’s Warehouse, I was as surprised as anyone by CMYK’s announcement that their next big release would be Magenta, a series of four garish reissues of older card games. Although in the case of the first entry, “older” only hearkens back to 2022.

That first title, Fives, is a remake of trick-taking wunderkind Taiki Shinzawa’s The Green Fivura. We’ve looked at a number of Shinzawa’s trick-takers in the past, including (deep breath) American Bookshop, 9 Lives and Ghosts of Christmas, and Inflation! and Charms. Also in the non-card category, Tower Chess.

Compared to some of those offerings, Fives plays things relatively straight. You know. Relatively.

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