Post by Gilvan Blight on Mar 20, 2006 8:15:49 GMT -5
This is an old PakerBrothers game that came out long before cards were collectable (well at least gaming cards). I remember this one fondly from my childhood and was excited to find a copy at a Value Village in London for under $5. So did it stand the test of time:
Quickly: actually not bad, nothing ground breaking, but some fun. Very quick, a good diversion. The wrenches are awesome.
Summary: Set consists of 110 cards with pipes on them and 10 wrenches (my set was missing a couple). Players get a hand of 5 cards, a Knob and a spout card and 2 wrenches. You place your knob on your right and then play pipe cards attempting to connect to your spout. A certain number of pipes is requred before you can play the spout depending on the number of players. The fun comes in with the leaky pipe cards. These are played on your opponents pipe system and they cannot extend their pipe network until the leak is fixed. This can be done using their wrenches (you only get 2 for the whole game) or by laying new pipe (must be identical). There is a bit more strategy added in with copper pipes that can't spring leaks. First one to play their spout wins.
The Good: it's simple to learn but there is still a bit of strategy here. The packaging, cards, wrenches and over all look and feel of the game is pretty top notch. Especially for a game originally released in 1972. The speed of the game is a draw, each player only plays one card and draws on their turn (or plays a wrench) so gameplay is very quick. This meant that we were able to finish a game in under 15 minutes our secong go. Played well two player, though I expect it to be better with multiples, this didn't feel like one person got the lead and then kept it until the end.
The bad: I really don't like the green background all the pipes are on, not sure why they chose that. The length of the game could be a disadvantage it can be over too quickly. This really isn't a complicated game, any used to playing modern card games, or board games with more thinking then sorry, shouldn't expect to much out of this. There is strategy there (do I put a leak on my oponents card, or work on my pipe syste, or do I throw away a good lead bend pipe just to I can keep a copper strights?).
The Ugly: you can end up spending a lot of turn just drawing and discarding if you get a leak you can't fix right away. This often leads to a hand full of leaks that you inflict upon your oponnent that makes the game a matter of who draws the right card first. This really wasn't that bad, but it was frustrating to be able to do nothing for about 6 turns.
Overall: actually not a bad game. I really wasn't expecting much from this, but I think it's perfect for when you just want to kill half an hour or so (maybe between game, waiting for people to show up, or the last 'fun' game of the night before everyone goes.
Quickly: actually not bad, nothing ground breaking, but some fun. Very quick, a good diversion. The wrenches are awesome.
Summary: Set consists of 110 cards with pipes on them and 10 wrenches (my set was missing a couple). Players get a hand of 5 cards, a Knob and a spout card and 2 wrenches. You place your knob on your right and then play pipe cards attempting to connect to your spout. A certain number of pipes is requred before you can play the spout depending on the number of players. The fun comes in with the leaky pipe cards. These are played on your opponents pipe system and they cannot extend their pipe network until the leak is fixed. This can be done using their wrenches (you only get 2 for the whole game) or by laying new pipe (must be identical). There is a bit more strategy added in with copper pipes that can't spring leaks. First one to play their spout wins.
The Good: it's simple to learn but there is still a bit of strategy here. The packaging, cards, wrenches and over all look and feel of the game is pretty top notch. Especially for a game originally released in 1972. The speed of the game is a draw, each player only plays one card and draws on their turn (or plays a wrench) so gameplay is very quick. This meant that we were able to finish a game in under 15 minutes our secong go. Played well two player, though I expect it to be better with multiples, this didn't feel like one person got the lead and then kept it until the end.
The bad: I really don't like the green background all the pipes are on, not sure why they chose that. The length of the game could be a disadvantage it can be over too quickly. This really isn't a complicated game, any used to playing modern card games, or board games with more thinking then sorry, shouldn't expect to much out of this. There is strategy there (do I put a leak on my oponents card, or work on my pipe syste, or do I throw away a good lead bend pipe just to I can keep a copper strights?).
The Ugly: you can end up spending a lot of turn just drawing and discarding if you get a leak you can't fix right away. This often leads to a hand full of leaks that you inflict upon your oponnent that makes the game a matter of who draws the right card first. This really wasn't that bad, but it was frustrating to be able to do nothing for about 6 turns.
Overall: actually not a bad game. I really wasn't expecting much from this, but I think it's perfect for when you just want to kill half an hour or so (maybe between game, waiting for people to show up, or the last 'fun' game of the night before everyone goes.