by Yohan Goh

[Editor's note: Before the 2025 Festival International des Jeux opened in Cannes, France on Friday, February 28, the fair held an award ceremony for the As d'Or, France's "game of the year" awards, and the card game Odin took home the top prize, beating out Captain Flip and For a Crown. Thanks to this designer diary, we can learn more about this game from its creators. —WEM]

About Us

Hello, it's GAT Game Studio, which is a group of three game designers from South Korea: Gary Kim, Hope S. Hwang, and Yohan Goh. For the past four years, we've gathered every Monday at Gary's house and developed games together.

About the Game

Odin is a small "ladder climbing" game published by Swiss company Helvetiq. It has 54 cards, numbered 1 to 9 in six colors. You start the game with nine cards in your hand and play card(s) following restrictions. The goal of the game is to empty your hand by playing all of your cards.

Odin has three features. The first feature is that you can play multiple cards at the same time if they are either the same number or the same color. By playing multiple cards, you create a single "number". For example, if you play two 8s, you have played "88". By the way, since this is a ladder-climbing game, you must make a higher number in order to play cards.


The second feature is that you can play the same quantity of cards as the previous player OR exactly one more. If you have played two cards, the next player can play either two or three cards, but not four.

The third feature involves retrieving a card. After you play on your turn, you must take one of the cards played by the previous player and add it to your hand, discarding any remaining cards. (Alternatively, you may decide to "pass" on your turn, neither playing cards nor retrieving one.) The key strategy is to reinforce your hand by adding the right card to it.

If all players but one pass, then you clear the cards, and whoever played last starts the next round by playing one card from their hand. However, if you lead and all the cards in your hand are the same color or number, you can play all of them to end the hand immediately!

Testing one of the first prototypes
Idea to Publication

One Monday, Gary brought his idea of a simple ladder-climbing game, so simple that in the beginning it had only one rule: You make a number with the cards you play. We tested the idea with a bunch of playing cards and started to experiment with various ideas.

We’ve tested different numbers of colors, wild cards, and restrictions. It took two years for us to develop the game. There was a moment of boredom during development, especially after several refusals from publishers, but we saw the potential of the game ourselves from us constantly preparing the next hand without saying a word. We thought it was a good sign that the game was easy-going and engaging.

We kept testing the game over and over, yet we hadn't reached an endpoint in our development. Then, before attending the 2023 Spielwarenmesse toy fair in Nürnberg, Germany, Hope came up with the idea of being forced to retrieve one card. We played once again with the rules, then we all agreed that the game was finally complete.

The theme was the last thing we decided. Cards are the warriors, and our goal is to send them to Valhalla! (Yohan was quite into The Last Kingdom.)

Yohan brought our "Valhalla" prototype to 2023 Spielwarenmesse where he met Helvetiq. The project manager Ludovic liked our game very much and asked to keep the prototype for further examination. One day after, Helvetiq sent us their proposal to publish the game. The game was released one year later in early 2024, with the title changed to Odin, but with the Viking theme still in place.

The game has now been released in twenty countries including France, Germany, and the United States.


Comments

Yohan: Here is my tip to play Odin better: Remember what your opponents are collecting and also what they have played!

Hope: Although Odin is a small card game, it took two years to finish its rules. Throughout this period, countless invaluable pieces of advice and numerous attempts were made, all culminating in the birth of the present-day Odin. While I can't list all of the names, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone involved in the development of Odin and to those who have enjoyed the game.

Gary: I've been asked why Odin has the theme that it does, and I don't understand the question. For me, the theme makes the game more enjoyable. I imagine the combat of Vikings while playing Odin. The value of cards is their strength, and I beat the opponent's army with higher strength: the 9876-power Viking army fights against the 8765-power army, then one of the bravest vanquished warriors from 8765 is resurrected from Valhalla to prepare themselves for the next battle. Now would you consider that the theme works well in Odin?

From left: Gary Kim, Hope S. Hwang, and Yohan Goh