Do you like Bingo? Do you like number manipulation? If so, this quick game is a super mega box of fun. This Gamewright production is a super simple bingo like set-up where players have three game boards and can select one number from a single card as soon as it's called. If they have the currency charges they can change the value of the called number for a 1:1 ratio. The deck of number cards supports two rounds of nine pulls. The game happens over four total rounds. As rows and columns are completed players accumulate prizes. Sometimes they'll get the moon and the stars, sometimes they get to pick an extra number provided or a number of their choice! There is always a chance for a chain reaction to change the tides. There are end-of-round bonus for score cards completed as well as some bonus stars that get tabulated at the end of the game.
Squid (age 12): I liked how the game was mostly luck and if you got a certain number called it could set off a number spree that could dramatically increase your chances of winning.
Spider: I thought the game was really fun and it was so much better than it looked. When I saw the box I my hopes were not that high. I thought it looked like a $6 game from Wal-Mart. My first impression was that it was bingo for young people, but when I played it I enjoyed it more than I thought. I didn't understand the importance of the title or the theme in relation to the charges, moon, and stars. They could have been anything, strawberries and bananas. This is a great game for a neighborhood game night. Scoring is simple, reuse of the cards with dry-erase markers is quick. I feel like it can be taught to others in about three minutes.
Cat: I enjoyed this light-hearted game. We were able to play as an entire family and that is rare. The kids range from 12 down to 6 and keeping all of their attention can sometimes be a struggle. However, because everyone gets to be working each round it made it fun. I thought our younger players Dog (age 6) and Owl (age 8) had a lot of fun strategizing their moves to unlock bonuses and they picked up quickly on the mistakes they made. The games took longer than they should because decision making for the youngest players typically trailed, but patience was key because we knew they were growing their brains to build their own strategies. Our 12 year old, Squid, totally got the advantage of setting up chain reactions and luck was on her side as those setups typically worked. She was able to collect charges and then utilize them to maximize her point gains. I think I had more fun watching the kids figure things out than actually getting bonuses myself.
Overall Scoring:
Pros:
Satisfaction of marking the numbers
Setting up chain reactions
Quick
Teachable
Portable
Cons:
The luck aspect could be frustrating for people that are super competitive
If you were the caller it could be easy to cheat by setting up ahead of time
Squid: Three Squid
Spider: Three Spiders
Cat: Three Cats
