Travis Cooper
United States
Salt Lake City
Utah
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Intro
Some years ago I saw some people playing this game at work during their lunch break. I was a little curious, but I didn't really go over and try to get in (I was playing ping-pong myself at the time). I have always loved puzzle games, Set and more recently Factory Fun are great games for me. I did read up about it a little bit here on the geek, but I didn't really get around to buying it.
One day at game night suggested pulling this out, as the store had an open copy, and I was excited for it. I really enjoyed the puzzle aspect. Also having to go fast added to the tension. After our play through I knew I needed this game, and they happened to have a copy on the shelf, so I bought it on my way out that night.
Components
The components are pretty simple. There aren't any pieces or boards for the individual players. The board is a series of icons and walls. One cool thing is that the board is actually put together by joining the 4 pieces. This allows you to use either side, and put different parts of the board next to each other. This makes it so you can't get too comfortable about the board layout, as it will probably be different the next time around.
Probably the best components are the robots. These are what you will be moving around the board to find a solution on each turn. They are pretty big, and look nice.
The last component are the goal tokens. These are used to mark where you are trying to go on the turn.
Game Play
The game play is pretty simple. Also, one of the appeals to this game, is you can play with almost any number of people. First you will need to put the robots out on the board, in subsequent rounds they will just stay where ever they ended up from the previous solution. After placing the robots make sure to put the robot token of the same color underneath them. This will make it so if somebody can't get their solution to work you will be able to put them back to where they started.
Next, somebody will flip a token onto the center of the board. This will match an icon somewhere on the board. You're goal is to now get the robot that matches the color of the icon to that spot in the fewest possible moves. Everybody will study the board and try to figure out how many moves it will take them to get the appropriate robot to the symbol. Once somebody thinks they've got it they will announce how many moves it will take and then they will flip the timer over. Anybody else can announce a number of moves, hopefully less, until the timer runs out.
Once the timer runs out, whoever said the fewest number of moves will show how they planned to get there. If they can do it, they will get the token. You want to have the most tokens at the end of the game. If they can't make it, then whoever called out the next fewest moves will get a chance after resetting the robots.
The rules for moving are simple. Each robot you move will keep going until they either hit another robot, or until they hit a wall. There are walls all over on the board that will stop movement. So moving left, for example, until you hit a robot or a wall will be one move, then you can move in another direction for another move, and so on.
Here is an example of a solution.
You'll notice in the middle is a blue star-like icon. So we have to get the blue robot there. For this solution red went right until it hit the wall right next to the symbol, then went down until it hit the edge of the board, and then went right until it hit the wall 2/3rds of the way over. Then the blue robot was moved left, then down, then basically followed the same route as the red going right, down, and then right. Finally the blue robot went up hitting the goal. This solution took 9 moves. Soon after posting this picture somebody noticed there is a faster solution. Can you find it? Make sure to use a spoiler tag if you post the solution.
Impressions
As I mentioned in the intro, I really love puzzle games. It gives you a chance to really work your brain. For me this is one of the best puzzle games around. The problems are constantly changing, and you have a race against the clock, or at least against your opponents. This really makes me think and gives me a great work out. Also, even if somebody seems to get a bunch of tokens in a row doesn't mean they'll win. There are lots of times somebody will get ahead and then somebody else will go on a streak of their own. So there is always reason to keep looking for the solution. I also like that after somebody announces they have found it, and flip the timer, you can still keep working trying to find something better.
The bad things about this game are more from others' view points, not necessarily my own. A lot of this game is spent just staring at a board. If you don't like solving puzzles, and you have a hard time with spatial thinking, this might be the worst game you've ever played. In fact I have played this with several people who are happy not to ever play it again.
Conclusion
When I told my wife I bought this all she said was, "Not another robot game!" She doesn't deal well with spatial thinking and hated robo rally. If her robot wasn't facing the same way she was, she would have a hard time figuring out what was left and what was right. Like I said, this game will only work with certain people.
Should you buy this game? That one is very difficult to answer. Do you like puzzles? If so, this is probably great for you. Are you decent at solving a problem all in your mind? If so, this will probably be a lot of fun for you too. If you don't like either of those, this game will probably fall very flat for you. Also, just because you like it, the other question you have to think about is whether or not you have a group you will actually be able to play this with. I love the game, but I rarely suggest to play it because I know people in the group won't like it. It sometimes makes it's way to the table at the suggestion of others, and typically it is just me and one or two other people that enjoy it, the rest just can't wait for it to be over.
This can be a great game in the right situation. Determining if you fit that is the real question.
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Russ Williams
Poland
Wrocław
Dolny ÅšlÄ…sk
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monkeyboy157 wrote: Should you buy this game? That one is very difficult to answer. Do you like puzzles? If so, this is probably great for you. Are you decent at solving a problem all in your mind? If so, this will probably be a lot of fun for you too. If you don't like either of those, this game will probably fall very flat for you.
I would emphasize that people who dislike real-time games may also want to steer clear.
I like puzzles, and I like solving them in my mind, but I disliked this game at first because experienced players almost always found a solution faster. Normally I suck at real-time games and don't find them fun or interesting.
Luckily I stuck with this game, since so many of my friends like it, and now I like it too, despite the real-time aspect. 
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Larry Welborn
United States
Anderson
South Carolina
Way to go, Bubba.
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Such a wonderful game. Unfortunately, almost everyone I game with hates it.
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Jake Hermance
United States
Arlington
Texas
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There is a 7 move and an 8 move solution...
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Larry Welborn
United States
Anderson
South Carolina
Way to go, Bubba.
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Otterjets wrote: There is a 7 move and an 8 move solution...
7 is the best I can find.
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Mark Buetow
United States
Du Quoin
Illinois
Best game company ever?
GMT Games, of course!
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My copy doesn't have a silver robot.
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Travis Cooper
United States
Salt Lake City
Utah
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Malacandra wrote: My copy doesn't have a silver robot.
If I remember right it was added into later editions. There are a few different versions of this, I wish I had the one with the diagonal colored walls on the back. That is kind of a cool variant.
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Was George Orwell an Optimist?
United States
Corvallis
Oregon
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Malacandra wrote: My copy doesn't have a silver robot.
Mine didn't come with one either, but there was a thread (years back) saying that the publisher would mail you a free one if you asked. I got one that way.
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Mark Buetow
United States
Du Quoin
Illinois
Best game company ever?
GMT Games, of course!
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Really? I may have to try that. But what exactly is the silver robot for?
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Was George Orwell an Optimist?
United States
Corvallis
Oregon
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Malacandra wrote: Really? I may have to try that. But what exactly is the silver robot for?
There are a set of rules variants for use with the Silver Robot. They're probably available here, but if you can't find them let me know; I've got them in a text file on my hard drive.
[edit] found it - you can download here. BTW, that document is dated 2004, but the text file on my hard drive is dated 2000, which I'm sure matches when I got the robot from Rio Grande. Might be tough finding one a decade later, but you never know...
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Mark Buetow
United States
Du Quoin
Illinois
Best game company ever?
GMT Games, of course!
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Thanks, George!
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Peter CSM
United States
Florida
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The closest thing to a game I've found in any of the break rooms I've worked at was trying to figure out who stole the granola bar out of my lunch bag. This game doesn't sound like it's for me but what an excellent review. Very well-balanced.
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Posted Sat Feb 5, 2011 9:30 pm
