All Hail Knucklebeard!
Australia
Wodonga
Victoria
BorderCon 101 - Bring the fun, bring a smile, grab a game from the pile. Place the Meeple, play a card, swing your sword and kill the guard! So make the trip, don't be docile, look for details on my profile!
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All of my reviews aim to offer a brief overview that allows people to get a good feel for what the game may offer them. I feel that other reviews can be sought if detailed game mechanics is what you are after.
Summary
Game Type - Dice Game
Play Time - 10-20 minutes
Number of Players - 2 (Team play with parents is good)
Mechanics - Probability & Luck
Difficulty - Pick up & Play (Can be learned in under 10 minutes)
Components - Excellent
At long last aliens have reached earth and their intentions are not entirely peaceful! However it is not us humans that must fear for our safety. Oh no, Cosmic Cows has two alien races pitted against one another to see which of them will be the first to launch cows into outer space. The first to tractor beam three cows into their area of space will succeed in their quest to help cows go cosmic and make one giant leap for Bovine Kind!
The beauty of Cosmic Cows is that it uses the classic game play of Yahtzee as its base. This enables anyone, especially children to understand and play Cosmic Cows very quickly if they are familiar with Yahtzee.
The game consists of a long board that depicts a series of circles arranged in columns. Each column has a single value. One side of the board contains 1,2,3 and Chance whilst the other has 4,5,6 and Straight. The central column of the board contains the Super Beam. Each of the circles in these columns is blue except for the two ends of the board. Both ends consist of 4 red circles which represent each player’s Cosmic Zone or outer space.
Each player selects one cosmic zone as their goal and a cow is placed on the starting circle in the middle of the board for each column. The game is now set-up for play. A player’s turn is conducted just like in Yahtzee. A Player can have up to 3 rolls (using 5 dice) but they may take a result at any time prior to the 3rd turn if they wish. The major difference to Yahtzee is that only rolls of at least a pair or better count. Once a player finishes their rolling they can move the appropriate cows.
For example a roll of 6,6,5,5,3 would allow a player to move the cows in the 6 and 5 columns 2 places but the 3 would be wasted as there is less than a pair. Of course players can choose to move cows towards their cosmic zone or they can play defensively by moving cows away from their opponent’s cosmic zone, back towards the middle of the board and closer to their own zone. In this way the great struggle for cosmic Bovine liberation is waged.
The Chance and Straight columns work just like in Yahtzee and they both contain two scoring values. It is possible to score a small or large straight and likewise chance can be either small or large based on the total value. Achieving a small value for either will move the cow in that column 3 spaces and a large allows movement of 4. The Super Beam is another name for Yahtzee and not surprisingly it is the most powerful column. Achieving a Yahtzee roll will move the cow in that column straight to the player’s Cosmic Zone and this can put serious pressure on the opposition.
The Final Word
Cosmic Cows is a delightful game that would appeal most to families with children. It is quite educational for children as they must use problem solving to identify when it is best to play offensively or defensively and of course they are constantly using knowledge of probability when deciding what to keep or re-roll. The game can be played in teams and it is perfect for parents to play with a child each. The quality of the game is excellent and the little cows are wonderful to look at and move. Highly Recommended!
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Emery Ransom
United States
Maryland Heights
Missouri
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The wife and I just played this the other night, and it was a blast! It's a perfect little game for when you are craving a luck-driven dicefest with just enough decisions to make it interesting. It plays quickly and isn't a mental drain for those "after-work" times where you want to relax and have fun, but not think too hard.
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Thomas Cason
United States
Redmond
Washington
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Well, to me, it's pretty much the same thing as yahtzee but better because there are more designs and good looking things than just dice and a stupid score sheet. Otherwise it's the exact same thing as yahtzee.
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BorderCon 101 - Bring the fun, bring a smile, grab a game from the pile. Place the Meeple, play a card, swing your sword and kill the guard! So make the trip, don't be docile, look for details on my profile!
