Do your kids need to work on their memory skills? Do you enjoy the Arabian Nights or Aladdin? Then Open Sesame might be just the perfect game for your family!
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How to Play Open Sesame
Open Sesame is basically a memory game; everyone takes turns playing “Ali Baba” while everyone else is a thief. Ali Baba draws the top card and reveals it to everyone else, then places it in their hand. The thief to the left says, “In the cavern there is a(n) …” and names the item on the first card. Ali Baba then draws another card, shows it to everyone, and adds it to their hand. The next thief then attempts to name each item in Ali Baba’s hand. After a successful recitation by a thief, Ali Baba can add another card to their hand.
Thieves are only allowed to see the cards when they are first drawn. After that, Ali Baba is the only one who can see the cards and is the sole authority on whether thieves correctly remembered the contents.
Included in the game are nine alarm tokens. These are shiny, noisy, or encumbering. Not all, but some cards have one of these symbols on them. For example, a lion has a “noisy” symbol. When Ali Baba draws a card with one of these symbols, they must place a corresponding token in front of them.
Ending a Round
Ali Baba can end a round at any time by simply not drawing another card. The round also ends when a thief cannot correctly recite all the cards in Ali Baba’s hand. Finally, if three of the same kind of token or one of each kind are placed in front of Ali Baba, the thieves catch Ali Baba and the round ends.
When a round ends, Ali Baba reveals all the cards in their hand and the treasure is divided. However, how the round ends will determine how the treasure is divided.
- Ali Baba ends the round: Treasure is divided equally among all players.
- A thief cannot recite all the cards: Ali Baba chooses three cards, then all the rest of the treasure cards are divided equally among all players except the thief that made the mistake. (This is the best scenario for Ali Baba as they choose the most cards.)
- Ali Baba is caught: Treasure is divided equally among all players EXCEPT Ali Baba. (This is obviously something Ali Baba wants to avoid.)
In this way, players are either exercising their memory skills or (if they are Ali Baba for that round) assessing risk versus reward.
Scoring Open Sesame
Rounds continue until the Chief Thief card is revealed near the bottom of the draw pile. The Chief Thief card signifies the last round and after cards are divided, everyone totals up their points. Players each get one point for each unique card they have, so they’ll want to choose treasure cards wisely when loot is divvied up. Whoever has the most unique cards wins the game.
Two variants are included in the instructions. For novice players, Ali Baba can reveal each card in their hand as a thief recites it, then pick them all back up before drawing a new card. Advanced players can be required to add an adjective to each noun or to recite all cards in order.
I’m not a huge fan of memory games, but Open Sesame is small enough and includes enough other aspects (like risk assessment) to make it worth it for us to keep. Do you have a favorite memory game?