Hello! I meant to post this yesterday, but you know, St. Patrick’s Day…
I have a few little games here from Perplext. This is part of their first series of Pack O Game. These games were produced last year with a successful Kickstarter campaign raising more than double the goal.
These are some pretty cool little games. Today I want to talk about one of the five that I own. I have not yet played the fifth game, TAJ, as it is a voting game and seemed sort of silly to try with two players.
Each game has the following characteristics:
- A three letter name
- 30 cards
- A rules sheet
- Quick game play
- Fun
Okay, that last one is up to you, but I have found them to be quite fun. It amazes me that someone has taken 30 cards, that are roughly 1/3 the size of a standard poker card, and created such different games. The first one I want to talk about even uses the cards to imitate a board!
BUS is a pick up and deliver game for 2-3 players. As with all the games in this series there are 30 cards. The cards are divided into three different types.
On the left you have you passenger cards. There are 15 of them in the game. Two will be face up on the table at a time to be taken by the players but you can also draw from the top of a draw pile if you don’t like either of the ones showing.
The cards on the bottom right are the players buses. They have an arrow indicating which direction they are traveling.
The vertical cards on the right are the road cards that make up the board. The layout for the board is as below:
The different colored dots represent passenger destinations and the white ones signify a bus stop where you can pick up new passengers. When carrying no passengers you can move your bus as many spaces as you like. Each card is one space. Once you start to pick up passengers though you will have to slow down. Your speed limit each turn will be the lowest speed among all the passenger cards you currently are working to drop off. The more valuable the passenger cards the slower you have to move. Card values range from 1 to 5 with speeds ranging from 5 to 1 respectively.
On each players turn they can move the amount of spaces allowed by their passengers. Passengers are dropped off by moving across or stopping on a matching colored space. If you stop on one of the BUS spaces you can pick up new passengers. No player can be working on more than three passenger cards at a time. The first person to complete their fifth card triggers the end of the game. Once the end is triggered, each other player will have one more turn.
Above is how a players area may look during the game. The top most passenger card has been completed and will score three points. The middle card is still in progress. The red passenger was just dropped off. If they can make it to the green road section they will complete the middle card and drop off the first passenger of the bottom card. If they were to stop at a bus stop next turn, a new passenger card could be picked up, bringing them to the maximum of three.
You might have noticed earlier that one of the road cards has a construction sign on it. This symbol is also on one side of the bus cards. Once per game, if you stop you movement on this space, you can swap two of the road cards. Once this is done, your bus card is flipped over showing you have used this ability. This ability seemed pretty cool. You could definitely hamper you opponents coming turns while also benefiting from the new position yourself. It never seemed devastating but I can imagine moving a players last destination for a 5 point card clear across the board being very frustrating.
I really liked this game. I love the face that a game that is roughly the size of a pack of gum can deliver this much fun. There is definitely some strategy to this game. Picking up passenger cards that have the same colors on them really seem like they can push you toward winning. You almost have to weigh the options of high value cards with slow speeds or grab a bunch of low value ones to zip around the board and try to end the game before your opponents can deliver their passengers.
Rachael and I played this game three times and each game lasted around 15 minutes. This is definitely something that you could carry in you pocket and have a quick bit of fun while waiting around for your food at a restaurant. It has a small enough footprint that it could be played on the smallest of tables.
For me, the size, price, and fun all come together in a great little package. This series seems to be great for having a few beers and some fun. They have been easy to learn, quick to play, and have a surprising amount of strategy for such tiny size. Keep an eye out in the next few weeks as I run through some more of these games.
Slainte!
I almost forgot, if this sounds interesting to you, there is currently a Kickstarter going for the next Pack O Game set: http://kck.st/1VT7pfX
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