Gussy Gorillas

About this board game

Gussy Gorillas is a 20-minute competitive negotiation and bluffing game for 3–10 players, released in 2023. Players build personal collections of groomed goods while trading cards they cannot see, aiming to earn the most respect—and the golden banana of victory.

Each player begins with a personal deck of face-down cards. Holding cards facing away from themselves, players simultaneously choose whether to trade or keep one or two cards at a time. Since no one can look at the cards in their own hand, every exchange becomes a test of judgment, persuasion, and nerve.

The goal is to collect the most diverse and exotic set of groomed goods. However, the value of your collection depends on its context: pairs can cancel each other out, and special cards are not always beneficial. A card that seems undesirable to one player may be exactly what another player needs.

• Trade or keep one or two face-down cards at a time.
• Use negotiation and bluffing to influence your opponents.
• Build a diverse collection while avoiding harmful combinations.
• Score your collection after all cards have been traded or kept.

Gussy Gorillas turns hidden information into social interaction. You will need to convince opponents to keep bad cards for themselves while steering valuable cards toward your own collection, all without knowing exactly what you hold.

Inspired by the face-away card handling found in Hanabi but played as a competitive game rather than a cooperative memory challenge, it combines simultaneous decisions, negotiation, and calculated deception. Trade carefully, read the table, and swing away with the highest score.