Mark Jackson
United States
Fresno
California
Am I a man or am I a muppet? If I'm a muppet then I'm a very manly muppet!
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Well, it certainly looks like a cute kid game, doesn't it? Pretty kid art, little wooden jockeys with interchangeable wooden horses, nifty little wooden fences... but don't be fooled. This game is "mummy, daddy, don't touch it's Ee-vil" in a box. (A very cute box, mind you.)
OK, maybe it's not pure "Time Bandit-y" evil.... but this is not Candyland, people. This is a no-holds-barred steeplechase where each space can only hold one horse & landing on another player sends them back to the first empty spot.
Movement isn't determined by a die - each player has a hand of 6 cards (numbered 1-6, naturally!) which are chosen & played simultaneously. The lowest number goes first, with ties broken by which horse is farthest behind. In practice, this means that the whole Robert Burns "plans of mice & men gang aft agley" thing is in full swing here at the races. All it takes is for some plodding rider to move you one space back & your once-brilliant move now plows you straight into the river.
Speaking of the river (and the bog & the fences), if a horse ends his move on one of those spaces, it's as if his move never happened. The horse (in dressage parlance) "refused" the jump & you simply stay where you started.
With the delightful bits & simple game play, this game is easily accessible to kindergarten-age kids & up... with the important warning that the potential for hosage in this game really sets off some kids emotionally. (You know what I'm talking about... the kid who can not take something going wrong in his game & melts down like a Milky Way bar on a dashboard in the Mojave Desert.) I should also note that this warning doesn't just apply to kids - sadly, most of the adults who have this tendency aren't able to recognize it in themselves.
The box says this plays with 2-5 players... and while it works with all of those numbers, it's best with 4-5 so that there's a lot of jockeying for position.
One final word: this is an excellent game for kids. The bits encourage imaginative play and the simple "gotta figure out what the other guy is gonna do" process is an important decision-making skill. But it's also an excellent filler for adults, whether they're gamers or complete newbies. Simple rules + hosage + quick play = fun.
This review originally appeared on my blog as part of the Kid Games 100: http://akapastorguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Kid%20Games%20...
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Tim Seitz
United States
Glen Allen
VA
Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him. 2 Sam 14:14
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gamemark wrote: with the important warning that the potential for hosage in this game really sets off some kids emotionally. (You know what I'm talking about... the kid who can not take something going wrong in his game & melts down like a Milky Way bar on a dashboard in the Mojave Desert.) I should also note that this warning doesn't just apply to kids - sadly, most of the adults who have this tendency aren't able to recognize it in themselves.
This game is great for kids, so they don't grow up to be adults like that.
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W M Shubert
United States
Portland
Oregon
KGS is the #1 web site for playing go over the internet. Visit now!
Yes, I really am that awesome.
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My younger daughter has meltdowns frequently when anything goes even a little bit wrong, but she's OK with this game. I think it's because:
* Things to wrong SO OFTEN (almost every turn) that you get used to it
* You make things go wrong for other people SO OFTEN (again, almost every turn) that you know you'll get to be the meanie in just a few moments.
We also play with the variant from the rules that adds even more screwage: When two or more people play the same card, only the person who started the turn in back gets to move. The other player(s) don't move at all. That adds more screwage and makes it a lot easier to catch the leader.
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Mark Jackson
United States
Fresno
California
Am I a man or am I a muppet? If I'm a muppet then I'm a very manly muppet!
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wmshub wrote: When two or more people play the same card, only the person who started the turn in back gets to move. The other player(s) don't move at all. That adds more screwage and makes it a lot easier to catch the leader.
Dude... do you also slap the person across the knuckles with a ruler? Man, you guys like it mean with a capital "M."
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Am I a man or am I a muppet? If I'm a muppet then I'm a very manly muppet!
