Absolutely Aces (4, 5)
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This "play" is a sequence of 3 plays drawn from a forum article demonstrating how to play the game. I'm calling it a single play as I'm spending time on all three examples to understand the mechanics.
Let's get started.
Player 1 (we'll call them Snoopy [Schlock]) gets Scissors (2), Break (4), Climb (6), Roll (8), Swoop (11). They bid Swoop (11 of spades), their highest value card.
Player 2 (the Baron [Kaff]) gets Ace (1), Break (5), Swoop (9), Roll (10), Joker (12). I could make an argument for bidding their Roll (10 of hearts) banking on the chance that the other player didn't get the other Swoop, but of course we already know that he did, and anyway the safe play is to bid the Joker.
The two cards left out of this game are: Scissors (3) and Climb (7).
So the Joker (12) is removed, Snoopy's Swoop (11) goes into reserve for the Baron, and the Baron goes first.
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Baron opens with Swoop (9) and takes Swoop (11) from Reserve.
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Snoopy can block with Scissors or Break. Only the Ace can block Scissors since Snoopy has the only Climb. Snoopy plays Scissors (2) and takes Swoop (9) from Reserve.
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Baron blocks with the Ace (1) and takes Scissors (2).
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Snoopy blocks with Break (4) and takes the Ace (1).
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Baron could block with Break (5) but they'd rather keep the pair, and force the Ace out of Snoopy's hand. So they play Roll (10), which can only be blocked by Scissors (of which Snoopy has none) or the Ace. Baron takes Break (4).
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Snoopy is forced to block with Ace (1) and takes Roll (10).
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The obvious play for the Baron is Swoop (11) because it can only be blocked by the Roll pair, which will make it impossible for Snoopy to block a Break. Baron takes Ace (1).
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Snoopy plays the Roll pair, removing them from the game, and taking Swoop (11) into their hand.
(Right here is confusing, removing the cards from the game implies to me there is nothing which needs to be blocked.)
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Baron plays Scissors (2) and takes nothing.
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Snoopy blocks with Climb (6) and takes Scissors (2).
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Baron plays the Break pair to win.
This is where the writeup ends. And I'm confused as "win" to me implies the game is over, hence the writeup ends. If the game continues past here, why did not the writeup continue?
I'm going to continue the game and see where it goes from here. The score at the moment is 2-2. Baron takes Climb (6).
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Snoopy plays Swoop (11) takes nothing.
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Baron blocks with Ace take Swoop (11).
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Snoopy blocks with Scissors (2) takes Ace.
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Baron blocks with Climb (6) takes Scissors (2).
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Snoopy blocks with Ace takes Climb (6).
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Baron blocks with Swoop (11) takes Ace.
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Snoopy cannot block, Baron scores 11, Snoopy plays Climb (6) takes Swoop.
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Baron blocks with Ace takes Climb (6).
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Snoopy blocks with Swoop (9) takes Ace.
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Baron blocks with Scissors (2) takes Swoop (9).
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Snoopy blocks with Ace takes Scissors (2).
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Baron blocks with Climb (6) takes Ace.
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Snoopy cannot block, game over for Baron win with 17.
Game 5
Snoopy gets Ace (1), Scissors (3), Climb (7), Roll (8), Swoop (9). This is an interesting hand because he knows that the Baron will have at least one card that's a higher number. What Snoopy is doing then isn't bidding to go first, but deciding what card to give his opponent. He decides to give up Climb (7).
The Baron gets Break, Break, Climb, Roll, Joker. He decides to bid the Roll (10) to see if he can't stick Snoopy with that lousy Joker card at some point, gumming up his opponent's hand.
The two leftover cards are Scissors (2) and Swoop (11).
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The Baron sees that he'll be getting a Climb at the end of the turn, which will give him two pairs. He decides to open with the Joker (12). (NOTE: THE FIRST PLAYER DOES NOT HAVE TO BLOCK THE INITIAL CARD AT THE START OF THE GAME, THAT CARD JUST GOES INTO HIS RESERVE.)
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Snoopy blocks with Roll (8) as that forces removal of a pair. He takes the Joker (12).
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Baron responds with the Climb pair, takes Roll (8).
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Snoopy's only option is the Ace (1).
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Baron plays Break (5) to win. (the hand… as mentioned above, "win" in these descriptions seems to mean "scoring the hand". We continue.)
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Snoopy take Break 5 plays Joker.
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Baron blocks with Roll (8), takes Joker.
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Snoopy blocks with Scissors takes Roll (8).
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Baron blocks with Ace takes Scissors (3).
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Snoopy blocks with Break (5) takes Ace.
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Baron blocks with Break (4) takes Break (5).
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Snoopy blocks with Roll (8) takes Break (4).
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Baron blocks with Scissors (3) takes Roll (8).
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Snoopy blocks with Ace takes Scissors (3)
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Baron blocks with Joker takes Ace.
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Snoopy blocks with Scissors (3) takes Joker.
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Baron blocks with Ace takes Scissors (3).
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Snoopy blocks with Joker takes Ace.
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Baron blocks with Break (5) takes Joker.
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Snoopy blocks with Break (4) takes Break (5).
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Baron blocks with Roll (8) takes Break (4).
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Snoopy blocks with Ace takes Roll (8).
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Baron blocks with Joker takes Ace.
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Snoopy blocks with Swoop (9) takes Joker.
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Baron blocks with Scissors (3) takes Swoop. Scores 3 for 8.
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Snoopy takes Scissors (3) plays Joker.
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Baron blocks with Break (4) takes Joker.
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Snoopy blocks with Roll takes Break.
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Baron blocks with Ace takes Roll (8).
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Snoopy blocks with a pair of Breaks, scoring two, takes Ace.
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Baron blocks with Roll takes nothing.
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Snoopy blocks with Scissors takes Roll.
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Baron blocks with Joker takes Scissors.
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Snoopy blocks with Roll takes Joker.
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Baron blocks with Scissors takes Roll.
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Snoopy blocks with Ace takes Scissors.
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Baron blocks with Roll takes Ace.
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Snoopy blocks with Scissors takes Roll.
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Baron blocks with Ace takes Scissors.
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Snoopy blocks with Joker takes Ace.
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Baron blocks with Scissors takes Joker.
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Snoopy blocks with Ace takes Swoop.
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Baron blocks with Joker takes Ace.
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Snoopy blocks with Swoop takes Joker.
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Baron blocks with Scissors takes Swoop. Baron scores Scissors (3) for 11.
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Snoopy takes Scissors plays Joker.
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Baron plays Swoop takes Joker.
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Snoopy blocks with Scissors takes Swoop.
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Baron blocks with Ace takes Scissors.
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Snoopy plays Roll takes Ace.
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Baron blocks with Scissors takes Roll.
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Snoopy blocks with Ace takes Scissors.
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Baron blocks with Joker takes Ace.
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Snoopy blocks with Swoop takes Joker.
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Baron blocks with Ace takes Swoop.
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Snoopy blocks with Joker takes Ace.
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Baron blocks with Swoop takes Joker.
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Snoopy blocks with Scissors takes Swoop. Score 3.
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Baron blocks with Roll takes Scissors.
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Snoopy blocks with Ace takes Roll.
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Baron blocks with Joker takes Ace.
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Snoopy blocks with Roll takes Joker.
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Baron blocks with Scissors takes Roll. Baron scores 3 for 14.
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Snoopy takes Scissors plays Joker.
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Baron blocks with Roll takes Joker.
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Snoopy blocks with Scissors takes Roll.
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Baron blocks with Ace takes Scissors.
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Snoopy blocks with Swoop takes Ace.
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Baron blocks with Scissors takes Swoop.
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Snoopy blocks with Ace takes Scissors.
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Baron blocks with Joker takes Ace.
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Snoopy blocks with Roll takes Joker.
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Baron blocks with Ace takes Roll.
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Snoopy blocks with Scissors takes Ace. Scores 3.
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Baron takes Scissors plays Roll.
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Snoopy blocks with Ace takes Roll.
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Baron blocks with Swoop takes Ace. Scores 9 for 23 and that's the game.
And that's it for Game 5, and I think I'm going to put this away for a while. Overall, I think it's probably a very good game, but the way the rules were written, and how the example was worded, just didn't work for me out of the box (as it were). I'm sure the designer is fine with this, I'm simply not in his audience. And that's ok.
I may get it out later. I'd really like to watch a play through video by the designer, or a designer-approved video.
AAR
I do not understand why this game has been so hard to learn. It has to be the rules, which are simply unclear to me. The might well be clear to others, but I'm just not getting it. I'm not alone, one of my irregular opponents was unable to figure it out either, and he has many, many years of experience with games.
They only happen because the whole country is just full of people who when these things happen they just say "these things happen" and that's why they happen. Ethel Merman in It's a mad mad mad world.