Ah, relief! Leeches on the forehead is just what the doctor ordered for my migraines!
| Trust Me, I'm A Doctor (2020) | |||||
| Designer(s) | Dr. Jack Ford Morgan | Editor(s) | Dr. Nick Wiggins | Publisher |
Half-Monster Games |
 |
3-8 |  |
12+ |  |
15-60m |
Modern medicine has come a long ways since leeches and lobotomy were treatments for common ailments. Be thankful now you are typically prescribed pills or creams that tend to help with many illnesses, and surgical options requiring lots of training before being permitted on actual patients. This was not always the case as local town physicians did not require as thorough education before treating people. Many cures mixed science, pagan practices, and religious concepts, and in general, illnesses were not well understood as often they were viewed as external influence (demons and sin).
Trust Me, I'm A Doctor is a game that has taken these concepts and turned them into an amusing party game. Players will take turns being sick patients while listening to the recommend treatments from the doctors (other players) before deciding who to trust. This follows the party game style people may be familiar with in games such as Red Flags and Superfight. While the game play is unique, the fact that you will not only have fun with your friends playing this game, you will also learn a little history while playing.
Box and Components
The game is a standard card game with over 100 cards. I really like the box they designed for this game. Not only does it have a well fitted insert that will hold all of the cards nicely, the box flips open revealing various bottles and vials that would have been found in a doctors office in the 1800's. The labeled bottles add a nice layer of polish onto something that is purely meant to hold your game in between session. The box itself is very sturdy and should hold up very well when transporting the game between gaming groups.
There are 54 ailment, 72 treatment, and 2 rule cards. The card stock used is fairly standard and should hold up fairly well for many gaming sessions. What stands out about this game is the artwork. The cards art depicts the ailments and cures in a style that I believe is very reminiscent of the time the game is representing. Some of the art is a little disturbing, which matches the absurdity of the treatments used. The lobotomy card makes me cringe just glancing at it. So this game is probably not suitable for younger audiences; it is probably best to play this with 16+ years olds or teens who can handle some of the imaginary of the game. Despite all of that, the artwork is very good, but players should expect some interesting reactions when first playing the game.
Mechanics
As mentioned earlier, the game follows a sort of standard party game play style. Because of this, it is very easy for players to learn to play especially if they are familiar with 
other common party games.
Game Setup
All players will draw three Ailments and six Cure cards. The player who will be the first patient is the one who last saw a doctor.
Players Turn
- The Patient will reveal one of their ailment cards and should feel free to describe their illness in as much detail as their group finds acceptable. The ailment card will have 2-3 symbols on it that the Doctors will need to consider in their treatment plans.
- Doctors will review the ailment card symbols and select two or more of their cures to recommend to the patient. The Cure cards have symbols on them similar to the ones on the Ailment cards. A full treatment must address all symbols on the Ailment card even if the Cure cards have additional symbols on them. Again, Doctors should get into their character and really push for their treatment plans and even try to discredit the other Doctors.
- The Patient then decides which Doctor's treatment plan they want to go with and hands that doctor their Ailment card to be used to track points.
- All of the proposed cures are discards and players draw back up to six Cure cards.
- The player to the left of the current Patient becomes the new Patient. Repeat the steps above until the end game condition has been triggered.
End Game
Once a Doctor has received three Ailment cards, that Doctor becomes the winner and is referred to as Surgeon-General!
Alternately, players can decide on a different end game condition such as playing so many rounds or a different number of points. If you play a different way, patients may have to draw back up Ailment cards after each round; it is simple enough to modify with ease.
Final Thoughts
This is certainly a unique theme for a party game; it certainly isn't for everyone, which is perfectly fine. This is defintiely a strong party game for adult who are not easily disgusted by medical practices and enjoy a good debate. I really like the back and forth debating Doctors must do to convence the patient to take their treatment plan. I know in my group (full of Dungeons and Dragon and other role play game nerds), this game will lead to a lot of interesting nights. I even expect a few people will get plague doctor masks to wear to really get into character.
If you like party games, learning a little bit about actual history/medical practices, or find yourself getting into character when playing games, I highly recommend checking out Trust Me, I'm A Doctor.
Links/Media
Trust Me, I'm A Doctor Board Game Geek Page
Trust Me, I'm A Doctor demo on Tabletopia
Disclosure
We received the product in order to write an honest review; all reviews reflect the honest opinions of the writer.