I’ve been saying in previous reviews that tabletop games are a good way to spend our time with other people in person. That could be a family member, a friend or just somebody close to us.
Most of these games offers some interaction between players. Some people say that it is a good way to get to know other people as well, like how are they going to deal with the challenge from the game.
Sadly, not everybody can have that. Or sometimes, those people are busy doing their things and we only have ourselves to play alone.
We can try video games. However, for those who don’t want to get another exposure to the screen of our gadget, there are some tabletop games that are designed to be a solitaire game.
Finished! card game is one of them. It is one of the solo only game.
So, how do we play the game? How long will it take to play and finish the game?
In this article, I’m going to share with you my Finished! card game review based on my experience and what I can find from the internet.
Hope this helps. Is Finished! card game going to be the best solo only card game out there?
Click or tab on any sections from the table of contents to jump right to that part. Use the red arrow button on the bottom right corner of the screen to head back to the top.
Table of Contents
Overview
Game’s Title: Finished!
Genre: Card Game, Memory, Puzzle, Solo only Game, Hand Management, Office theme, Resource / Goods Management.
Designer: Friedemann Friese
Artist: Harald Lieske
Publisher: 2F-Spielle, Stronghold Games
Number of Player: 1
Playtime: 30 – 45 minutes
Age Range: 10+
Official Website: 2F-Spielle
Release Year: 2017
Price: $20
Content:
1 Rulebook
48 Cards (56 x 100mm)
10 Multi Colored Sweet Tokens
7 White Cups of Coffee Tokens
1 Glossary Book
About Finished! Card Game
Most people probably are familiar with the solitaire card game from their Windows OS, also known as klondike game. We can say that this Finished! Card Game (Fertig!, in the original German version) is a more advanced game similar to solitaire but with a bit of a theme.
Instead of sorting 52 cards of 4 different suits, there is only one suit here with 48 cards. Like the solitaire, at least the normal mode, each time we will get 3 cards drawn randomly out of order.
In this game we have to sort this cards in numerical order from card number 1 until card number 48. As a bit of the theme, we are an office worker with typical boring administration job that can makes us sleepy.
We need to manage these files, make decision whether to work on these files now, later or put them aside for now. They will keep coming back until we finish the sorting before the time runs out.
After 7 cups of coffee and we haven’t finished the job, we will lose the game. As the help, we will get a stash of sweets. What it does is, it helps us make decision faster based on what the files or in this case, cards are telling us.
Each of these cards has an action symbol that we can activate by spending the sweet. For example, it allow us to draw more cards or files, exchange files, or even get more sweets.
In klondike or solitaire card game, we have to go through the deck in always the same order. Sometimes from a single run through the deck we can only get one card.
The same experience can happen in Finished! Card Game as well. However, by using these actions carefully and how the sorting works, we can manipulate so specific card can come back sooner or keep them on hold for a while.
Currently, for those who are interested, the digital version of Finished! card game is available on IOS.
The designer, Friedemann Friese is a German game designer, who are known for a lot of games that starts with a letter F. The most notable one is probably Friday, and for the bigger one but doesn’t start with letter F is Power Grid.
The game was released originally in German via the designer’s publisher 2F-Spiele. Stronghold Games got the right to publish the English version of the game.
Somebody did complain about missing some of the card. The people behind 2F-Spiele replied that we can request the missing components. He said that we need to use the contact info on the last page of the rulebook but there is no specific URL for that.
This 2F-Spiele.de page does have a request page for missing components.
The next video is by W. Eric Martin from Board Game Geek where he played the game from start to finish.
Components
Finished! card game comes in a small box. The size is about 13.3 x 13.3 x 4.2 cm. The box art depicts an old computer monitor that represents the theme of office worker a bit.
When we open the box, we will find a sealed deck of cards and a zip lock plastic bag of wooden tokens. At the bottom we will find two books, one for the rule and another for the Glossary.
The inner part of both the lid and the box’s base has a silhouette of an office worker sitting down, working in front of his computer. The same art is used at the back of the card.
The box itself has more than enough rooms to store all of the components. If they have expansion, they can fit in as well, not that there is any. I think the size is the standard one by the designer for most of his small card games.
That means even if we use sleeve for all of the cards, they will fit in as well. Considering how we use the cards in the game, I think it is recommended to use sleeve.
Unfortunately, even just one size, the size is 56 x 100 mm, which is not a standard size. From the forum, the suggested sleeve is only the one from Swan PanAsia sleeve, the Landlord: Standard size, 56 x 100 mm.
However, the same Geeklist page also says that for Swan PanAsia, we probably need a slightly bigger size than what the sleeve says. The next closest one would be 57 x 110 mm for Betrayal at the House on the Hill.
If anybody using Sleeve Kings, the closest on would be the new ones for Betrayal at The House on the Hill. Which has the size of 58 x 108 mm. Even that, we have to trim the length a bit.
Even though the title, rulebook and Glossary book can have different language version, the game itself is language independent.
Rulebook and Glossary
The official website of 2F-Spiele only has the digital German version of these two documents. Stronghold Games doesn’t even offer any file on their website.
Luckily, the publisher posted the files on BGG which can be found here. We need to create a free account to access the file. Also, there digital version has the additional page for rules clarification which is not available on the printed version of my copy.
The printed rulebook has 8 pages covering the objective, components, setups, step by step how to play, scoring and adjusting difficulty setting. While the Glossary only covers each of all possible actions that we can find from 48 cards in 4 pages.
Here are the table of contents for the rulebook.
Aim of the Game (Page 1). This explains the setting or theme of the game and what we will be doing in the game generally.
Game Components (Page 1). This has an illustration for each components of the game, except for the rulebook itself and the glossary book.
Game Preparation (Page 2). This part explain the setup for how many tokens we use and the deck of cards itself. The rulebook says that the sealed deck of cards is already shuffled and we can play immediately.
The Different Playing Areas (Page 2). This explains the tableau or how we use the table space. Essentially we will need a table space for at least 3 row of cards, room for tokens and a pile for sorted cards.
How to Play (Page 3 to 6). This explains all of the 8 steps that we will be taking in each round. The rulebook also include some illustration for each step with some examples.
End of Round (Page 6). This explains what will happen if the last card, card number 48 shows up that signifies the end of the round.
Game End and Scoring (Page 7). This explains how to win or lose the game and further explanation specifically for the last part of the final round. This part also explain the bonus FLIP BOOK.
Difficulty Adjustments (Page 8). This part explains what we can do to increase the difficulty level of the game.
Credits (Page 8). Some contact info about the publishers, except that there is no link to 2F-Spiele website, as the official website.
Additional Notes (Last 2 pages of the digital fie). Further explanations related to Drink Coffee, Scoring Cards and about Taking and Removing Sweets.
Glossary book. This explains all of the 11 different actions that we can take from the 48 cards. Each part also has a list of which cards that has this action.
I think the rulebook already does a great job in general but there are several things that they cannot cover about more complicated situations of the game. However, The additional pages from the digital file actually don’t answer the question as well.
Wooden Tokens
The next components we can find in the box is a zip lock bag full of wooden tokens. There are two types of tokens, the White Cups of Coffee tokens and the Sweet Tokens.
They are not just tokens with generic shape but really represent the shape of sweet and a coffee mug if not a cup. The size of the wooden cups of coffee token is 2.5 x 2.5 cm with 1 cm thick and about 2.5 cm x 1.3 cm for the sweet tokens with 0.7 cm thick.
I don’t know why but games manufactured in German production always use a very thick wooden tokens like this.
My copy comes with 10 sweet tokens each with a unique color, red, orange, yellow, purple, pink, black, blue, brown, green and beige. The rulebook says that the color may vary and the different colors are just for fun.
In the game, we will be placing the sweet tokens on the card to activate the action of that card. For the Cups of Coffee tokens, we only move them from the stash to the box.
So, the shape and color are more for production value, not really necessarily. We can always replace them with other game pieces.
For the sweet tokens, though, we might want to use a small pieces with rather long shape instead of square or circular. Otherwise it will take more space on the cards that may cover the illustration.
Also, we will be sliding the cards with the sweet tokens still on the cards. Usually, I find that the sweet tokens tend to got off the card when we slide the card.
The game suggests to put the tokens at the edge of the card or the lower part of the card. The sweet token size itself is bigger than the icon on the card. Usually we will tend to not put everything on the card.
Cards
This one deck of cards is the main component of the game or like the entire game. These cards represent the files that we will be sorting them out in numerical ascending order start from card number 1 up to number 48.
In the game we will draw the card blindly without knowing which card will come out and we try to sort them, cycling through the deck over and over again. Which is why the back of the card only use an art or we can use one sided sleeve if we want.
Each card has an illustration at the top, the card number in the middle and the Action icon at the bottom part.
The illustration does not contribute anything to the gameplay whatsoever. It is also meant to be a FLIP BOOK bonus whether we win or lose the game.
The illustration is about a lady as the office worker in front of an old computer. Because it is meant to be a Flip Book, the illustration is just slightly different from one to another to display a motion picture.
This next video by Solo Board Games YouTube channel displays how the cards can be a flip book.
Each card also have only one possible action that we can activate. There are 13 types of actions which we can find the explanation for each of them in the Glossary book.
Some of the actions are activated automatically right after we draw the card. The rest of them will require a Sweet token to be spent in order to activate the action.
In this game of sorting cards, everytime we draw the lowest possible number from the entire deck, we will take that card aside to create a FINISHED pile. Once the card enter this pile, we will not be able to use their action again.
So, we will be creating another deck but with sorted cards start with card number 1. We can keep cycling through the unsorted deck but there is a limit.
Everytime we find the final card, the number 48 and it goes to the bottom of the unsorted deck, we have to drink a coffee. In this case, return one coffee tokens to the box.
So, the final card also become a timer and the coffee tokens are the round counter. The interesting thing is that we can prolong the timer of each round by using the actions of another card.
Here are the details of each action we can do or that can happen in the game.
Start Scoring
(Automatic, #1)
The card number 1 is the only card with this action. What it means is, the moment we draw the card from the unsorted deck, we will score it. Scoring means put the card into the sorted deck or the FINISHED pile.
Without finding this card first, we cannot start the Finished pile. The card can be at the top of the unsorted deck or at the bottom right before the final card.
Then, after the first card, we have to score the next lowest possible number from the entire unsorted deck. We immediately draw another card as replacement for the card that went to the sorted pile.
So, there is an element of deconstructing the deck. We score the cards to win but at the same time, we will be removing some of the actions that we can activate.
Take Sweets
(Automatic, #3, #6, #10, #15, #21, #28, #36, #45)
These are cards with a single candy icon and a pink background in the middle of the action part of the card. What it means is everytime we draw this card from the unsorted deck or draw stack, we immediately get another Sweet Token to our Active Stash.
Even if right after that we have to score the card, we will still get a Sweet just by drawing the card from the Draw Stack and put them to the present area.
We will not get additional sweet by moving the card from the future playing area to the present area. However, there is an action (see EXCHANGE CARD action below) that will allow us to put this card back on top of the Draw Stack.
If that happens, we will get another Sweet in the next turn. The idea is we spend a Sweet token and get one again later but with the extra bonus of drawing a card.
From the entire deck, there are 8 cards that allow us to get 8 Sweet tokens. The problem is, the Sweet tokens are considered as limited to just 10. Also, when we spend the tokens and the card goes to the future area, there might be no more tokens in the Reserved Stash or general supply.
That means, there is an element of GOODS MANAGEMENT in this game. Not only we need to keep the supply in our ACTIVE STASH but we also have to make sure that the Reserved stash will have more. Otherwise, when we draw these cards, we are not getting any sweet tokens.
If anybody want to remember which cards has this action, start with number 3 then the pattern is +3 (6), +4 (10), +5 (15) ….. until +9 (45).
Drink Coffee
(Automatic, #48)
This is the final card and as mentioned earlier, it serve as the timer. Everytime we draw this card, put the to the present area and eventually move them into past area, we have to spend the Coffee Token, remove them from the game.
We have one less round to go through. If there is no coffee token left and we haven’t finished the game, we lose. However, as mentioned earlier as well, there is a way to prolong the round.
We only have to spend the Coffee Token IF this card is moved from Present area to Past Area. There are several actions that might prevent that.
We can send this card to the future, either with ONE CARD INTO THE FUTURE action or ALL CARDS INTO THE FUTURE action. Alternatively, we can also use the EXCHANGE CARD action and put this final card back to the Draw Stack and deal with it on the next turn.
At a glance, we might think at first that there is no way around it but this is where the tactical play will come. The idea is to make sure there is another card with the mentioned actions along with this final card.
So, when we draw card number #48, we need to have a lot of Sweet Tokens and hopefully there will be at least a card to let us draw more card. We also need to make sure that these combination of cards will appear again together later alongside this final card while trying to sort out the lower number card.
On the other hand, there are several actions that we have to avoid activating when card #48 is in the Past or Present Area. If we use CARDS INTO THE PAST or BELOW THE STACK action, we will immediately have to spend the Coffee Token, losing a round.
That is not the worst. We clearly have to avoid using CARDS FROM THE PAST action if this will bring back #48 to the Present Area. The reason is because we will have to spend the Coffee Token again once we have to move the #48 to the Past area again.
As a last resort if somehow there is no other useful cards alongside #48, we might want to sort the card not in numerical order but either at the end or at the start.
This is in the hope that the previous 3 cards have better actions, which is why we need to pay attention to cards in the past area. If they are also not good, we might want to put the #48 at the back, hoping there will be better cards next turn.
Usually, after this card enter the Past area, CARDS INTO THE PAST or BELOW THE STACK action can be handy.
Another trick with this card is, since this card will not go score until the end, maybe it is not a bad idea to not put it in numerical order. More like we should put this one card adjacent to other card with certain action. Like near EXCHANGE CARD, ONE CARD INTO THE FUTURE or ALL CARDS INTO THE FUTURE.
It will be better if there are two of those cards and we always put #48 in the middle. So, when we do draw #48, it will be alongside one of them at least.
Draw a Card(s)
(Standard, #2, #9, #14, #20, #27, #31, #34, #46, #46, #47)
This is the first type of action where we have to spend a Sweet Token to activate the action. Each of these cards have a green background color for the action with a card, a number and a hand.
What the illustration means if we activate, we can draw 1 or more card. Only card #2 allows us to draw 2 cards with just one Sweet. Also, only card #47 allow us to activate the action three times by spending 3 Sweets.
In general this action can be a double edged sword if we activate recklessly. That is because the more cards we draw the faster we cycle through the deck and the sooner we reach the final card.
Also, we are probably wasting the Sweet for just drawing one more card. Usually once I have no more sweet in the reserved, I will probably have to consider activating one of these.
Of course, if I have to activate at all, other action will grant better benefit than just 1 Sweet for drawing 1 Card.
There are other actions where drawing a card cost nothing like the EXCHANGE CARD action. Or, with a single Sweets we can get more than just 1 card like CARDS INTO THE PAST to get 2 cards or ALL CARDS INTO THE FUTURE and get 3 cards.
With that in mind, the best use of these cards is after we push the final card into the future. Another good use of this action is if we want to make sequence of at least 3 cards. But that is if we know for sure that the cards are adjacent to one and another where we just need to draw one more.
If it was a successful, then we will get 2 Sweets for the cost of 1, not really bad. So, there is a bit of push your luck element here.
The best use would be towards the end, when we only have 10 cards or so left to score. Assuming we have enough Sweet Tokens, by spending all of them can probably win the game immediately.
Usually there will be times when we have several cards with this action in the Present area that we can activate. Which one we should activate first can matter considering we have limited amount of Sweet Tokens in Reserved Stash.
It is one trick to manage goods in this game. One of the consideration would be, which card will immediately go to the Past area first. That way, we will have to remove the tokens from those cards and put them back to the reserved stash.
That means, we have to rely on other actions like Cards into the Past or Below the Stack. Or, if the card is about to be scored. Which is why the #47 should be the last one to be activated.
Below the Stack
(Standard, #4, #7, #29, #42)
This is the card with purple background, a black card and red arrow. Somehow the illustration of this one is not as clear as other actions. That is for me at the start but as we play more, we will know that this is the only one.
What it does is it will end our turn right away. Then, we have to move all of the cards in the Present Area right to the bottom of the Draw Stack, bypassing the card in the Past Area.
So, instead of moving the card from the present to the end of the card from the past area, it’s like we put them in front of them. After that, the cards currently in the past area will stay in the Past area unless it is more than three.
By doing so, we will then draw 3 cards or move the card from the future area to the present area.
The basic use of this action is if all of the cards in the present area have lower number than the one in the past area. However, usually the card in the past is only 3. We can probably have more than 3 in the present area.
Waiting for all 3 to be lower usually never happens, unless it is almost the end of the game. So, usually I would suggest only focus on the first or the lowest card in the Present Area.
This card allows the other cards to come out sooner. There will be times when we find the second next card available to score before the first one first. When that happens, it is like we have to cycle through the entire deck just for that one card. That is very wasteful.
I think this action is the most complicated one to actually be used. It mostly depends on the other card in the Present Area. Also, we have to consider what will be the adjacent card with the first one in the past area.
As mentioned above, once the #48 is in the Past area, BELOW THE STACK can be handy to hold that final card for one more turn. It may not sound that much but it is beneficial for the long term, increasing the chance.
Also, if somehow we activate this card alongside #48, we still need to spend a coffee token. We might want to avoid that.
Cards into the Past
(Standard, #5, #11, #17, #23, #25, #41)
These are cards with the red background color in the action area. There are 2 steps of this action. First, we move any 2 cards from the Present Area to the end of the Past Area. Second, we draw two more cards to the Present area from Draw Stack.
As mentioned before, this is a better way to spend the Sweet Token than just Draw a Card with the same cost. Of course, we have to make sure that the card in that we send to the past will give us benefit.
One of the benefit is to create a sequential numerical order. So, the card we move should be higher than the last card in the past area. However, we should also consider the entire deck as a cycle not just start and end.
That means, one of the card that we move is lower, maybe we want to put the lower one at the back.
Another benefit is if we want to replenish the sweet tokens of Reserved Stash. By moving 2 cards with a sweet token on them to the Past, we will immediately remove the tokens.
There is also a chance to make a combo if somehow the present area also has CARDS FROM THE PAST action. We can send 2 cards to the past then bring it back again. The reason is that we can activate those two cards again.
Also, remember that we can also send this CARDS INTO THE PAST, into the past, self affecting the card. Maybe just to remove the tokens.
Another note, this card will not get us the bonus from3 cards in sequential order. Those three or more cards has to move into the Past at the same time.
So, by sending two cards because the one card lower is already in the past area doesn’t make them 3 cards into the past. However, it is possible that we can get the bonus when we circle back to those three cards again.
Because of this action, the past area can have more than 3 cards. But at the end of our turn, we still need to put the card below the draw stack until 3 cards left.
Also, if we send the #48 to the past using this action, we have to spend a Coffee token.
Cards from the Past
(Standard, #8 #18, #30, #44)
These are cards with orange color as the background for the action part. It has a sand timer icon with the sand at the bottom which means the past area. Then an arrow and a card symbol with number 2 which means we take two cards from the past area to the Present area.
What is missing from this icon is that we can only bring back two cards at the end of the past area. We cannot choose freely. However, we do have a control of how the order of cards in the past area.
That is assuming if we know that this card is coming. It is either because we use EXCHANGE CARD action or because this card comes from the Future Area.
As mentioned before, if we bring back the card after we send them back using CARDS INTO THE PAST action, we can activate those cards again. Also, we might not want to bring back #48 because we have to spend the coffee again when we move it to the past area.
There is an additional note from the Glossary book related to this action. We are not allowed to take cards from the bottom of the Draw Stack. Those cards are not considered as being in the past area.
This will happen if we can activate CARDS FROM THE PAST twice in a row but there is only 3 cards in the Past. If that is the case, we can only take the one remaining card from the past for the second activation.
Another benefit of using this action is the 2 cards we bring back can create a sequential order with the cards in the present. Maybe with just spending 1 Sweet token, we can create two groups of 3 cards in sequential order. In that case, we can get 4 Tokens for 1, maybe even more.
If anybody want to remember which cards has this action, start with number 8 then the pattern is +10 (18), +12 (30), +14 (44).
One Card into the Future
(Standard, #12 #19, #32, #40)
These are cards with the turquoise color as the background for the action part. It has a card symbol with a number 1, and an arrow pointing to the sand timer with the sand at the top.
What it means is, we can send just any 1 card from the present area to the future area. That includes this card as well.
Later when we move the card in the present to the past, we begin new turn by drawing 3 cards as usual. We also need to include this single card or single cards that we sent to the future before.
So, at the start of the new turn after activating this action we will have more than 3 cards. If we activate the same action twice, we can probably add more than one.
We cannot activate any card in the future area until they come back to the present area.
When we do send cards into the future, it will bring along the Sweet Tokens on them. That means when this card come back to the present area, we cannot use them again until we remove the token. REMOVE SWEETS action can do it.
With that in mind, we probably have to think several steps ahead when we use this action. Maybe we want to activate the cards later or maybe we just want this card to be alongside the cards that are already in the future. See ALL CARDS INTO THE FUTURE below.
One of the good use is to send that card #48 to the future. This is one of the way to keep prolonging the round. If we can keep that final card from entering the past area, we don’t need to spend the Coffee token.
Ideally, the future cards will also have this ONE CARD INTO THE FUTURE or ALL CARDS INTO THE FUTURE action. That way we can keep prolonging the round. That is assuming we can still activate the action when they come back to the present.
This action will not work to get more Sweets from TAKE SWEETS action. But we can still get the bonus, if the card we send will create 3 cards in sequential order.
All Cards into the Future
(Standard, #16, #24, #26, #35, #38)
These are cards with the gray color background for the action part. There are two steps of the action. First, there is a red arrow pointing to a sand timer with the sand at the top part of the timer.
This means we will be sending all of the cards in the present area to the Future area. Second, there is a card icon with the hand and a number 3. This means we draw a new 3 cards and these cards will become the new present.
Once we have sent the cards into the future, we cannot do anything with them, not even activate their action. Only until they return to become the present area again we can sort and probably activate the action.
Also, if we send these cards into the future, every sweet tokens on the given cards will be carried over. That means, we still cannot activate the action again once they become the present area again.
This is probably the most interesting action in this game. It is because we can create multiple FUTURE AREAS by activating this action several times.
The second time we activate this action, the first group of cards will be pushed further to the next future areas. The second group of cards will then become the closer one.
That means, after we end our turn, the second group will come to the Present area first, before the first group. The obvious use of this action is to put on hold some cards, out of the circulation. Clearly it is for number 48.
We can also do the same with ONE CARD INTO THE FUTURE action but that action cannot create a new layer of Future areas.
Another use is if we somehow have cards in the Draw Stack but come out in reverse order which we are about to score. We have to wait for the next turn to find the one card we can score but this turn has the next card to score.
If we let the card to the past, we have to cycle through the deck just for one card, which is very wasteful. So, here we can put on hold those next cards and draw.
Of course, this is another element of push your luck, combined with memory element of the game. We have to know for sure that the card we are looking for will come out next turn. The risk would be wasting the precious Sweet Token.
There is no limit of the future areas we can create, except that there are only 5 cards. That is also assuming that each of them will come out each turn in a row.
The purpose of creating multiple future areas are so that we can really predict which cards and where they are instead of in the face down Draw deck. However, it is not that we can do anything with them.
The only combination we can do is using ONE CARD INTO THE FUTURE action. This will send the card into the closest Future Areas, not pushing them again and create a new area.
We also might want to leave some other actions open when we activate ALL CARDS INTO THE FUTURE action. That way, when they do come back to the present area, there is still something we can do. Probably draw more cards or even activate another card of the same action.
Otherwise, all of these layers of Future areas will just go straight to the Past area.
Another good combination for having multiple layer of Future area is the REMOVE SWEETS action. See below. This will remove all of the Sweet tokens on cards in the Present area and all of the Future areas.
If we can have that, that means, when any of these future area return to the present, we can push them up again to the future. Assuming, of course, we do have some Sweet Tokens left.
That is the strategy to keep prolonging the round. Preventing #48 to enter Past Area and stay in the Future areas as long as we can.
This is also the best time to spend a lot if not all of the Sweet Tokens. When we draw that #48, we can probably activate anything that let us draw more cards, hoping that any of them let us push the cards to the future.
Exchange Cards
(Standard, #13, #22, #33, #39, #43)
These are cards with the darker green color as the background for the action part. There are two parts of the action.
First, we draw a card from the Draw Stack and put them into the Present Area. Then, as replacement, we need to put any of the card in the present area back to the top of the Draw Stack. This includes the card we recently drew because of this action.
At the very least, we know exactly what the next card will be with the cost of 1 Sweet. Mostly we can use to return the Take Sweet card back to the draw stack.
We spend one Sweet and will definitely get one again next turn. But the bonus is that we draw 1 card as replacement. So, this is a better use than just Draw 1 Card action with the same cost.
Another use of this action is also to hold the #48 card. If we cannot send that card to the future this turn, maybe we have better chance in the next turn.
Or, if we have the next lowest card to score and we know that the lowest one is about to come next. This is an alternative for ONE CARD TO THE FUTURE action.
Also, if we have a chance to activate multiple different actions alongside this one, maybe we should do EXCHANGE CARDS action the last. Otherwise, the other action may just draw that card back again.
Another note is that we can also exchange this EXCHANGE CARDS card. It is possible from the 3 cards we draw each turn, two of them are these cards.
Depending on the situation, we might want to move one of them to the next turn. Also, this is the card where we have total control of by keep sending it back to the top of Draw Stack because any action can be done to the card itself.
So, it is very easy to score cards with this action. That is assuming we have enough Sweet Tokens to keep activating every turn.
Remove Sweets
(Standard, #37)
This is the last possible action from the game and probably the most powerful one. However, there is only one card from the whole deck with this action.
What it does is by spending a Sweet Token on this card we can remove all of the Sweet Tokens from any cards in the Present area and all of the Future areas.
Except for Sweet token on the #37 itself. So, it is really a one time per round.
Unless, after we activate, the card go into the past, and we can bring it back with CARDS FROM THE PAST action. Or we can send this card to the past using CARDS INTO THE PAST action and bring back just to remove the Sweet token on it.
Remember that we only have a total of 10 Sweet Tokens in the game. If we use multiple ALL CARDS INTO THE FUTURE actions and each Future areas has several sweet tokens, we might not have any left in the Reserved Stash.
If that happens, we cannot get more Sweets from either the TAKE SWEETS cards or from the sequence bonus.
Another use of this action is of course to let us activate the same action again without we need to send them to the past area. This will be very powerful if we can create the multiple Future Areas, especially to keep holding the #48 for several more turns.
Those are all of the actions we can do in this game. Some action may seem very simple or even useless. But depending on the situations and the combination with other cards, those actions can open a lot of opportunity.
It is rather easy to just end our turn because we thought that the available cards are not useful to be activated. That can be the case but if we understand the other benefit of every action, we might try to figure out what else we can do with the cards.
This gives the Finished! card game a bit of depth. The randomness of the starting deck can definitely set the difficulty level of the game.
However, there are enough ways to mitigate that randomness from those actions. We do need to learn a bit so that we can make a meaningful decision each turn.
Those are all of the components that we get from Finished! card game. Now we know what each of them does in the game, we can learn how to play.
How to Play
Finished! card game is a solo only game. The box says that the estimated playtime would be about 30 minutes. I think it will take longer like 45 to 60 minutes.
We will be using all of the components that come within the box to play. For the first couple of plays, we might want to check the Glossary book as well to make sure we understand what each card means.
Setup
First, we need to have a space for 3 areas of supplies. One for the ACTIVE STASH, one for RESERVED STASH and the last one for DISCARD STASH.
We can use the game box and its lid for the last two and for the active stash just a space on the table. The last one is when we have to spend the Coffee Tokens.
Second, take 7 CUPS OF COFFEE TOKENS and 7 SWEET TOKENS from the box and put them into the ACTIVE STASH.
Third, take the remaining 3 SWEET TOKENS to the RESERVED STASH. When we do get more Sweet, we can take it from here and move them to the Active Stash.
When we remove any tokens from the card, we put them to the Reserved Stash.
Fourth, If this is our first game after opening the box, the deck of cards is already shuffled and we can start playing.
The default order that every copy get is as the following.
16, 31, 11, 46, 44, 6, 28, 4, 27, 47, 15, 5, 24, 22, 43, 45, 23, 35, 42, 36, 14, 13, 30, 2, 26, 1, 37, 41, 29, 9, 32, 20, 38, 40, 18, 7, 10, 19, 39, 33, 8, 21, 17, 3, 34, 25, 12, 48.
Otherwise, we can SETUP THE DECK differently by shuffle all of the cards except for the final card, #48. The final card will always start at the bottom of the deck of face down cards.
From now on, we will not shuffle this deck again. Instead we will cycle through the deck over and over again while trying to sort them out.
We can hold on to this DRAW STACK in our hand face down or place them on the table where we can reach easily.
Fifth, we need to set up enough table space for the PLAYING AREA. We will need at least a room for three row of cards. Four or five rows is recommended.
One for PAST AREA or ROW at the bottom. Then, one for PRESENT AREA, above the PAST AREA and will become the main playing area.
If we want to place the DRAW STACK on the table, it should be between the Present and the Past area.
The rest is for possible FUTURE AREA above the PRESENT AREA. It is possible to have more than 2 or 3 rows for this.
Each area can have at least 3 cards. About 10 cards in a single row is possible.
Sixth, we also need a space for FINISHED PILE. The game is to sort the card in numerical ascending order starting from card #1. Everytime we get the lowest possible number, we will be placing that card on this pile, removing them from the Playing Area.
That is the setup for FINISHED! card game.
Gameplay
The Finished! card game is played over several rounds and each round can have several turns. In each turn we will take several of these steps in the exact order.
STEP 1 – DRAW 3 CARDS
At the start of every turn, we draw 3 cards from the top of the DRAW STACK. We then place them in the PRESENT AREA face up.
STEP 2 – TAKE SWEETS
If the card we draw is the TAKE SWEET CARD (#3, #6, #10, #15, #21, #28, #36, #45), then we take 1 Sweet Token for each from the RESERVED STASH. This will go to our ACTIVE STASH and we can spend them later.
If there are no Sweet Tokens in the Reserved Stash, we will not get any. Which is why we also need to manage the Reserved Stash as well. We need to make sure that there will always be some Tokens when we have this card.
We will get a Sweet Token even if we have to score that card right after. See the Step 3.
STEP 3 – SCORING CARD
Everytime we draw a card with the lowest possible number from the entire deck, we have to score that card. Scoring means place that card into the FINISHED! pile.
So, we start the Finished Pile with card #1, then later when we find #2, we score #2. We do this until card #48, the final one and we win the game.
Everytime we score a card we immediately DRAW A REPLACEMENT CARD from the DRAW STACK. We then check the card for STEP 2.
Also check the card for THIS STEP as well. We keep scoring new cards whenever it is possible, the lowest next one to the Finished pile until we cannot score again.
STEP 4 – ACTIVATE ACTION
During this step we can spend Sweet Token from the Active Stash to any card with Standard Action. The Standard action means the card will have Sweet icon or icons at the lower part of the card.
We place the token on the card and we cannot activate the card again until the token is removed from the card. Except for card #47 where we can activate 3 times with each cost 1 Sweet Token. This includes any cards that we send to the Future Areas.
We can still activate any cards we bring back from the past area using the CARDS FROM THE PAST action.
Also, we can only activate while the card is in the PRESENT AREA. If the action allow us to draw more card, always check STEP 2 and STEP 3.
We can keep activating new cards as long as we have the token to spend on from our Active Stash.
If we activate BELOW THE STACK action, proceed to STEP 9 of this tutorial.
Any card we can send from the present to the past with any Sweet Tokens on it, we remove the tokens and put them to the Reserved Stash. This also works for card that we exchange and put them back to the top of the Draw Stack.
STEP 4A – ALL CARDS INTO THE FUTURE
If we activate ALL CARDS INTO THE FUTURE, we move all cards in the PRESENT AREA to one row above. This is considered as the first Future.
After that, we draw 3 cards from the draw stack like a new turn and do STEP 4 and STEP 5.
If then we activate this action again from the new card, we will push the previous cards into the second Future Areas and the one currently in the present will become the first Future Areas. Then we draw again a new 3 cards for the present area.
As long as the new cards we draw has this action, we can keep activating and create new Future Area pushing the previous ones further.
With multiple Future Areas, using One Card into the Future action only move the card from the Present Area to the first Future Area.
Once we are done, we can proceed to Step 5.
STEP 5 – SORT CARDS
This step can be done alongside STEP 4 but before entering STEP 6. What it means is we decide in what order the card will go through the deck again from the bottom of the DRAW STACK.
The basic idea of the game is to sort this card in numerical ascending order so we can score the card (Step 3) everytime we draw them. Also, we can get a bonus if we can proceed to Step 6 if these cards are not only in an ascending numerical order but also in sequence. Check step 7.
However, that is not always the case. Sometimes, depending the action we can do, we might want certain cards to be adjacent from one to another.
We will not change the order of this card again until they return to the Present area in the next several turns or even next round. This is when we have the control.
STEP 6 – MOVE PRESENT CARDS TO THE PAST
What we need to do is to move all of the cards in the present area, without changing the order, to the end of the past area. That means, if there are already some cards in the Past area, we are not allowed to mix their order with the new cards from the Present area.
Then, we remove all of the Sweet Tokens on the cards from that Present Area and place them to the RESERVED STASH.
If from the cards we move to the Past Area, one of them is #48, we remove 1 WHITE COFFEE TOKEN from the Active Stash to the DISCARD PILE or the game box. That signals the end of the round.
If there is no Coffee Token left to be discarded, we lose the game.
STEP 7 – GET SEQUENCE BONUS
If in Step 6 there are at least 3 cards in sequential ascending order, we can get additional Sweet tokens as bonus. We will get the same amount of tokens as the number of cards in sequence minus 1.
We take the tokens from the Reserved Stash and put them into Active Stash. Remember that this has to happen during Step 6 of this tutorial.
That means all of the cards has to be in sequence right from the present area. It is not based on the final cards in Past Area after resolving Step 6. We cannot mix the new cards we just moved from the Present area with the cards that is already in the Past area even though they are in sequential ascending order.
We only get the tokens if there are supply in the Reserved Stash. It is easy to get them mixed but during Step 6, we also remove the tokens from the cards that recently entered the Past Area.
So, we can still get the tokens from that because those Tokens are already in the Reserved Stash.
Also, we can trigger multiple bonus in STEP 6, assuming each group has at least 3 cards in sequential ascending order.
Note that it has to be ascending as well. We may do it differently during STEP 5 and if that is the case, we will not get the bonus.
STEP 8 – REMOVE EXCESS CARD
Before we start a new turn or the new present area, if there are more than 3 cards in the past area we have to remove them. What it means is we put the card back to the Draw Stack at the bottom, face down.
Start with the oldest card without changing the order until there are 3 face up cards left in the Past Area.
If somehow there are only 3 or fewer cards in the Past area during this Step, no cards are moved to the bottom of the Draw Stack.
If we hold the Draw Stack in hand, sometimes it is easier to mistakenly put the card at the top of the deck. We have to flip the deck first then put the card at the bottom.
STEP 9 – NEW PRESENT AREA
First, we have to check whether there are cards in the Future Area or areas (STEP 4A). If so, move all of the cards in the First Future Area to the Present Area.
The Second will be the first, third to be second and so on. Then we can continue the turn back to STEP 3, check if we can score any of the cards from the Present area now.
If there is no Future Area, we then start a new turn by drawing 3 cards from the top of the Draw Stack to the Present Area. Or we can say we immediately start over with STEP 1 and continue the game.
STEP 10 – ENDGAME
Towards the end of the game, we may no longer have cards in the Draw Stack. All of the remaining cards are in the Playing area whether in Present, Future or Past Area.
In the case where we are allowed to draw more cards, we can take immediately from the Past Area starting with the oldest one. It is still considered as going through the Draw Stack which means if it is a TAKE SWEET card, we will get a Sweet token as in STEP 2.
Then, we can continue the game, do STEP 3, score every remaining card. We win the game if we can score the #48 card to the FINISHED pile.
Whether we win or lose the game, the sorted cards in the FINISHED pile can still become a FLIP BOOK. Just take that pile to our hand and FLIP it with the thumb through the card to enjoy a small movie.
Difficulty Adjustment
The rulebook suggests a way to increase the difficulty level. Basically we will remove some of the Coffee Tokens out of the game from the start and have lower amount of Sweet tokens in the Active Stash.
That means we have less number of rounds and more carefully manage the supply of Sweets in both Active and Reserved Stash.
The basic setup as described in the rulebook is the VERY EASY mode. We start with 7 Coffee Tokens and 7 Sweets in Active Stash plus 3 Sweets in Reserved.
For EASY mode: 7 Coffee Tokens, but 5 Sweets each in Active and Reserved Stash. We still have 8 rounds to finish the game.
For REGULAR mode: 6 Coffee tokens and 5 Sweet tokens in each Stash. That means we only have 7 rounds to finish the game.
For DIFFICULT mode: 5 Coffee tokens and 5 Sweet Tokens in each Stash. We have to finish the game within 6 rounds.
Pausing the Game
In my experience, the game can take about 45 minutes. Even though it is very addictive that we just want to finish what we have started, but it is not that hard to pause the game.
My suggestion would be to pause the game when there is Future Area and before we draw the next 3 cards. We can put back the remaining 3 cards in the past area at the bottom of the deck.
When we want to resume the game, draw 3 cards again from the bottom for the Past Area. All we need to do then is to take notes about the resources.
The game comes with a zip lock bag for tokens. I recommend separating the active and reserved stash by keeping one group in the bag and the other inside the box but not in the plastic bag.
I think the size of the box and the cards do a very good job keeping the deck of cards in the same order. If we are not sure, maybe we can get another zip lock bag that will fit this deck.
That is it with how to play FINISHED! card game. Somebody who loves this game actually proposed a campaign variant on the forum. Learn more how to play them here.
My Experience and Thoughts
First, with sliding the cards over and over again, the cards can eventually get ruined. This also happens in the game like Forbidden Desert. We might want to sleeve the card because of this.
Maybe if we have a playmat, that can be helpful or we will end up sliding the card again to the edge of the table just to pick them up.
I also don’t like holding the deck of cards. If our hand can easily become sweaty, this can ruin the card as well. Usually I will have the Draw stack in two parts.
One is the face down where we can draw the top and the other is face up after removing the excess cards from the past area. Only after the face down deck runs out of card, I will flip the face up deck and start drawing from there while creating a new face up one.
So, this can be a bit cheating as I can always see the card at the bottom but only that card. It is not always card #48 but we can do it so if we want.
Maybe I missed it but the rule doesn’t specify that we cannot examine the deck.
Also, moving all cards from Present Area to the Past can be annoying if we actually follow the rule step by step. It is easier just to move the past card into the present and consider that row as the past.
If we understand the key to win the game by keep sending #48 to the Future using All CARDS INTO THE FUTURE action, we might not want to slide everything, row by row, one by one. Not only that there is a chance to reactivate, but, again, it can ruin the card.
Instead of moving the cards, we move the label of first or second Future areas.
Sure, there is a memory element to this game. Anybody who has a good memory can help. However, I don’t think memorizing is really necessary to win.
For the most part it is whether to know that we can get a sequential order of at least 3 cards and we will get a bonus. I found that after a couple of rounds, we can easily notice it.
The more important question is, do we have the means to get those cards. It is possible that from the 3 cards we draw, one is the first of the cards with sequential order but the other two is just TAKE SWEET cards.
Or other cards that doesn’t allow us to draw more. Moreover, do we have the Sweet Tokens to activate then? So, memorizing is one thing but managing those Sweets is probably more important.
As a whole strategy, maybe not sorting cards in sequential order is not always a bad thing. Especially for cards that will score the last.
Sometimes, because we don’t want to break the order, we ended up cannot do anything. Sure, we can generate more Sweet Tokens with sequence bonus but the Sweet tokens is limited to just 10.
The draw 3 every turn is always going to be the bottleneck. Eventually it will break the order even sequence with just 3.
The last three cards, 46 to 48 are probably the easiest for the sequence and maybe we can keep. They will be very useful to win the game.
Then again, none of them are ALL CARDS INTO THE FUTURE which can help us send the #48 to the future to prolong the timer. The closest one would be 38. With 46 and 47, we can only draw up to 4 more cards.
By trying to always hold on to this sequence, essentially we will be ignoring some actions which can be handy like Exchange cards action.
For me, it is nice if we can keep the sequence but only to maintain the Sweet Tokens. We should just focus on what to do to score the lowest possible card and less worrying about the higher number cards.
I don’t know why but I agree that this game can be a bit addictive. Some people say this can be good for people with OCD tendency where they always want to set everything in order.
That is the nature of the game. Create an order out of chaos.
Finished! card game has probably one of the shortest setup time that I have tried so far. It is very fast to even reset the game and play immediately.
Usually I only have like 1 hour playtime each day. After one play of other game, which can take like 30 to 45 minutes, it is rather hard to play again.
But with FINISHED!, I tend to play again even after the first play was already take 45 minutes. Yes, it is rather long for a solo game, or to be a filler game.
However, it is not that hard to pause the game and continue later. We just need to keep track the resources that we have between the Active Stash and Reserved Stash.
Still, I do think that if the more we play consecutively the easier the game will be. Usually because we will do less shuffling and the sorted cards will not be as random as the first game. As a result, it is easier to score and to get bonus from sequence.
Most of the time we spend in this game will be for drawing, sliding cards and then putting the card back to the deck. Like Klondike or Solitaire game, it is when we draw 3 cards and get nothing to do with them.
I agree that some may consider it as a waste of time. It can be physically exhausting as well like do too much rolling dice in One Deck Dungeon.
I haven’t tried the app but I think the app can help fix this issue. But then again, it will be like waiting for the animation of moving cards. I have tried the app for Ascension game where they repeat the previous actions of the other players.
For people who are already like Klondike or Solitaire, I agree that FINISHED! is the more advanced version for gamer. This one offer more meaningful decision to make but a bit of the tedious aspect is still there.
Then again, maybe it is appropriate for the theme.
This is not a game for everybody. Some people will love it and eventually actually finished with the game.
But like klondike and solitaire game, people will keep coming back to this.
Session Reports and Pictures
Usually, I share a session report of playing a game on BGG. Here are the links of each session for this game.
I also put turn-by-turn pictures of a session and unboxing pictures for every game on my collection that anybody can find on my Instagram. For this game, search for #FinishedAtHomeOfMark on IG for all of the sessions.
August 2024 session and more pictures of that session on Instagram and on TikTok. 3rd difficulty level for the first time or the regular game. Won with no coffee tokens left.
April 2024 session and more pictures of that session on IG. First time playing with the 2nd difficulty level. Completed with 1 coffee left.
January 2024 session and more pictures of that session on IG. This was the full session report.
August 2023 session and more pictures of that session on IG.
December 2022 session and more pictures of that session on IG.
October 2022 session and more pictures of that session on IG.
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Summary
Finished! is a card game by Friedemann Friese for 1 player only. Some people consider it as a klondike or solitaire for gamers.
What we will be doing is similar, we will be sorting 48 cards in ascending numerical order but the card has only one suit. In each game we start with a random unsorted deck of cards where we will be drawing 3 cards each turn and try to sort them before sending them back to the bottom of the unsorted deck.
While doing so, we will take out cards with the lowest number possible to create a new deck for sorted cards. Each time we find the final card or #48, that indicates the end of the round which we have to remove one Coffee Token to the game box.
If we run out of Coffee tokens before we finish with sorting these cards, we lose the game.
Each of these 48 cards has an action that we can activate by spending a Sweet Token. These actions allow us to do several interesting things like get more Sweet Tokens, drawing more cards, exchange cards, draw back from the previous 3 cards or put some or all of the cards into a kind of reserved space which they are referring as Future Areas.
All of these action help us manipulate the order of the cards from the deck. By using them, even though we cannot immediately score cards or take the lowest cards into the sorted deck, we can still create an ascending order in the unsorted deck.
This is the different thing compared to klondike game. In that game, we can end up with nothing to do, just cycling through the deck over and over again with little to no progress at all.
The randomness of the starting deck is there but Finished! card game offers a lot of ways to mitigate the game. However, players do have to do a bit digging to actually figure out the best use of those action to solve this puzzle game.
There is even a way to prolong the timer of each round. If we can figure that out, we will have higher chance to solve the game.
The game also has an element of managing resources. Sweet tokens is the only resource in the game but they are considered as limited just to 10. We have the Active Stash where we can spend the resources immediately,
However, we also have to make sure to keep the supply in the Reserved Stash. Sometimes we will have to deliberately spend the tokens just to make sure this resource is cycling as well, not just the cards.
Each game session can take about 45 minutes, which a bit too long for some people for a solo game only, definitely not a filler. However, this is probably one of the game with the fastest setup time which can make us want to play the game immediately.
It is also not that hard to pause the game and continue later. But it involves taking notes about the resources.
There will be times when we feel like we are done or actually finished with the game. But like klondike or solitaire card game, people will eventually come back to this once in a while.
FINISHED! card game is a kind of game where we know exactly what to expect, what is coming from the game and how to play the game. It is a puzzle but with enough randomness that can always give another challenge with satisfying result.
More Games
If this is not game for you or you might be looking for more great games, you can try checking this article. It is my review for Rahdo Runs Through YouTube channel about board games.
I haven’t played a lot of these tabletop games whether card games or board games. Here is the list for games that I have written a review for previously.
Adventure of D, 2nd Ed. (Fantasy Adventure Card Game, Multi Game Modes)
The Big Book of Madness (Cooperative, Deck Building, Wizarding Theme)
The Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game (Competitive, Civilization Building, Set Collection)
Hero Realms (Competitive, Card Game, Fantasy Theme, Deck Building)
Fleet (Competitive, Card Game, Auction, Fishing Theme)
Goblins vs Zombies (Tower Defense, Card Game, Fantasy Theme, Card Game)
Imperial Settlers (Civilization Theme, Engine Building, Competitive)
Oh My Goods! (Engine Building, Push Your Luck, Competitive, Worker Placement)
One Deck Dungeon: Forest of Shadows (Dice Rolling, Fantasy Theme, Cooperative)
Peloponnes the Card Game (Auction, Competitive, Civilization)
Tybor the Builder (Civilization, Card Drafting, Competitive)
Villages of Valeria (Civilization, Fantasy Theme, Action Following)
Keep checking this website or the complete list here. I might have added review for more games.
Final Words
That is all I can share with you about Finished! a card game. This is the first solo only game that I have tried at this point of time.
I probably have missed something. Please don’t hesitate to point that out and share what you know related to this game and I will update this article.
I keep saying that these tabletop games can be a good way to spend some time without looking at the screen of our gadget. If we do have someone close, that we can play with, there are other games where we can play cooperatively or competitively but with more player interaction.
So, what is your experience on playing this game? If you know other games similar or even better than this, please do share via the comment section below. I would love to learn and play that game, assuming I can get a copy.
This article is just my notes about what I can find from the internet. Hopefully this can help anybody who reads it.
Thanks for reading.
Mark M