Post by Gilvan Blight on May 12, 2008 4:26:38 GMT -5
Quickly: a perfect example of an easy to learn game that has enough strategy for any gamer.
[glow=blue,2,300]Summary:[/glow]In Zooloretto 2-5 players take on the roles of Zoo designers and compete to create the most appealing zoo that gets the most customers. In reality the theme could be anything, and the mechanics are more abstract and mathematically then thematic.
Players are each given a board which contains a number of different areas. The most important are three animal pens of various sizes (4, 5 and 6 spots). Next is the Barn a place for storing extra animals and vendor stalls. Last are 4 spots for vendor stalls. Each player also receives an expansion board, that starts 'out of play' that contains another pen (for 5 animals)and another vendor stall. In the center of the board are a set of wooden tile holders to represent incoming shipments of animals, money and vendors. There are as many tile holders as players and each holder holds 3 tiles.
Each turn players decide to take one of three actions. The first is to draw a random tile and place it on one of the incoming shipment trucks. This is the most basic action and the one that happens the most often. The next option is to take one of the trucks. A player that takes a truck immediately plays the tiles on the truck onto their zoo (more about tile playing below). Once a truck is taken that player is out of the current round. If a player doesn't want to draw a tile or take a truck they can remodel their zoo. They spend money to move a tile between a pen and the barn or spend money to buy a tile off another player from their barn (giving 1 silver to the bank and one to the player), or spend money to swap two sets of animals, spend money to discard a tile from their barn, or lastly, spend money to expand their zoo, bringing the 4th pen into play.
When a player receives a tile, either from a purchase or a truck they must play it on their board immediately. There are three types of tiles. Money tiles which can be spent to expand the zoo or move tiles as noted above. Next are Vendor Tiles which are placed outside of your animal pens and give points during the end game if played or subtract points at the end if stuck in a barn. Last are Animal tiles which represent the majority of tiles in the game. There are a set number of different animals in play depending on the number of players, and there are 11 tiles of each animal type. These are played into the players animal pens and represent the majority of the points to be scored at the end of the game. Each pen can only hold one type of animal, though you can have two pens with the same type. Once your pens are full you must place extra animals into the barn. In addition to the normal animals there are two fertile pairs of tiles in each animal set, if you put a mating pair into the same pen you get a bonus baby tile for free. When a pen is filled with animals the player usually gets some bonus money for filling the pen, this is true for the 4 and two 5 slot pens.
Players take turns drawing tiles, remodeling and bringing in delivery trucks until the 15th to last tile is drawn (15 tiles are pulled at random at the beginning of the game, the rest are tossed in a bag to draw from). At this point, once the current round ends the game ends and scoring occurs.
Players are given points in the following way: Each pen has two numbers listed on it divided by a slash (e.x. 8/5) the first number represents the amount of points a player gets if the pen is full. The second number represents the points a player gets if the pen is one from full. If a pen is missing more then one animal then the only way the player scores points for that pen is if there is a vendor stall next to the pen, even then they only score points equal to the number of animals in the pen. After the pens are scored players get 2 points per type of vendor stall they have in their zoo with a max of 4 (there are 2 each of 4 types in the game). Now that the positive scoring is done, players loose points for tiles in their barns. Each type of animal in the barn scores -2 points as does each type of vendor stall.
The player with the most points wins.
Okay note: this sounds way more complicated then it really is. The game is for ages 8 and up and can probably be taught to a younger child then that.
[glow=green,2,300]The Good:[/glow]As usual for Rio Grande the components of the game are pretty top notch. Wooden trays for the trucks, nice colourful thick card tiles, nice colourful thick card board. The addition of a tile bag was a nice touch that wasn't noted anywhere in the instructions or on the box. The one thing that totally outshines the components though is the gameplay. This has to be the perfect example of an easy to learn game that has a ton of strategy hidden under it's somewhat childish looking facade. The whole draw a tile or take an existing truck reminds me of the amazing gameplay of Ra. The fact you can only have 4 stalls when there are 7 types of animals means you never have enough room. The ability to 'stack' a truck so that it either is only appealing to you or to totally screw a neighbor if they get stuck with it adds a great level of strategy. The choice of drawing one more tile you may or may not need when the last player out ads a great risk element. There are a ton of great gaming conventions tossed into one easy to learn package. The time to play is also very appealing, at about 45 minutes a game, this is the perfect game to have multiple rounds of, or to act as filler between more hardcore games or while waiting for players to show up. This also seems like a great, non-gamers game as the theme is pretty universally appealing and the rules are quick and easy to learn.
[glow=yellow,2,300]The Bad:[/glow]Probably the only somewhat bad thing I can think of regarding this game is the price. It did seem a bit high, but then all boardgames are getting way too expensive now a days. The only real wooden components were the trucks, everything else was cardboard tiles or boards. The same day I purchased Traders of Genoa for about $15 less and it contained a bunch of nice wooden blocks and disks. I guess another complaint may be that the theme of the game doesn't really matter vs the mechanic but that's pretty standard for games now a days anyway.
[glow=red,2,300]The Ugly:[/glow]The worst thing about this game is the way it looks on the outside. This really looks like it's a kids game that belongs on the shelf next to Candyland and Sorry. This means that a lot of gamers would probably dismiss the game off hand, which would mean they would be missing out. To be honest if this didn't win the 2007 German game of the year award, I probably wouldn't have even given it a look.
[glow=purple,2,300]Overall:[/glow]This is one of the best examples of a easy to learn game that still has enough strategy and depth to please any gamer. Great for nearly all ages. The components were very nice and colourful but didn't quite seem worth the price tag. Thankfully though it's a great game and I'm sure I'll get my value out of it as I expect to bring this one out time and again. My only worry is that some serious gamers are going to miss out on this one as the box makes it look like it belongs on the shelf next to Guess Who? and Perfection.
[glow=blue,2,300]Summary:[/glow]In Zooloretto 2-5 players take on the roles of Zoo designers and compete to create the most appealing zoo that gets the most customers. In reality the theme could be anything, and the mechanics are more abstract and mathematically then thematic.
Players are each given a board which contains a number of different areas. The most important are three animal pens of various sizes (4, 5 and 6 spots). Next is the Barn a place for storing extra animals and vendor stalls. Last are 4 spots for vendor stalls. Each player also receives an expansion board, that starts 'out of play' that contains another pen (for 5 animals)and another vendor stall. In the center of the board are a set of wooden tile holders to represent incoming shipments of animals, money and vendors. There are as many tile holders as players and each holder holds 3 tiles.
Each turn players decide to take one of three actions. The first is to draw a random tile and place it on one of the incoming shipment trucks. This is the most basic action and the one that happens the most often. The next option is to take one of the trucks. A player that takes a truck immediately plays the tiles on the truck onto their zoo (more about tile playing below). Once a truck is taken that player is out of the current round. If a player doesn't want to draw a tile or take a truck they can remodel their zoo. They spend money to move a tile between a pen and the barn or spend money to buy a tile off another player from their barn (giving 1 silver to the bank and one to the player), or spend money to swap two sets of animals, spend money to discard a tile from their barn, or lastly, spend money to expand their zoo, bringing the 4th pen into play.
When a player receives a tile, either from a purchase or a truck they must play it on their board immediately. There are three types of tiles. Money tiles which can be spent to expand the zoo or move tiles as noted above. Next are Vendor Tiles which are placed outside of your animal pens and give points during the end game if played or subtract points at the end if stuck in a barn. Last are Animal tiles which represent the majority of tiles in the game. There are a set number of different animals in play depending on the number of players, and there are 11 tiles of each animal type. These are played into the players animal pens and represent the majority of the points to be scored at the end of the game. Each pen can only hold one type of animal, though you can have two pens with the same type. Once your pens are full you must place extra animals into the barn. In addition to the normal animals there are two fertile pairs of tiles in each animal set, if you put a mating pair into the same pen you get a bonus baby tile for free. When a pen is filled with animals the player usually gets some bonus money for filling the pen, this is true for the 4 and two 5 slot pens.
Players take turns drawing tiles, remodeling and bringing in delivery trucks until the 15th to last tile is drawn (15 tiles are pulled at random at the beginning of the game, the rest are tossed in a bag to draw from). At this point, once the current round ends the game ends and scoring occurs.
Players are given points in the following way: Each pen has two numbers listed on it divided by a slash (e.x. 8/5) the first number represents the amount of points a player gets if the pen is full. The second number represents the points a player gets if the pen is one from full. If a pen is missing more then one animal then the only way the player scores points for that pen is if there is a vendor stall next to the pen, even then they only score points equal to the number of animals in the pen. After the pens are scored players get 2 points per type of vendor stall they have in their zoo with a max of 4 (there are 2 each of 4 types in the game). Now that the positive scoring is done, players loose points for tiles in their barns. Each type of animal in the barn scores -2 points as does each type of vendor stall.
The player with the most points wins.
Okay note: this sounds way more complicated then it really is. The game is for ages 8 and up and can probably be taught to a younger child then that.
[glow=green,2,300]The Good:[/glow]As usual for Rio Grande the components of the game are pretty top notch. Wooden trays for the trucks, nice colourful thick card tiles, nice colourful thick card board. The addition of a tile bag was a nice touch that wasn't noted anywhere in the instructions or on the box. The one thing that totally outshines the components though is the gameplay. This has to be the perfect example of an easy to learn game that has a ton of strategy hidden under it's somewhat childish looking facade. The whole draw a tile or take an existing truck reminds me of the amazing gameplay of Ra. The fact you can only have 4 stalls when there are 7 types of animals means you never have enough room. The ability to 'stack' a truck so that it either is only appealing to you or to totally screw a neighbor if they get stuck with it adds a great level of strategy. The choice of drawing one more tile you may or may not need when the last player out ads a great risk element. There are a ton of great gaming conventions tossed into one easy to learn package. The time to play is also very appealing, at about 45 minutes a game, this is the perfect game to have multiple rounds of, or to act as filler between more hardcore games or while waiting for players to show up. This also seems like a great, non-gamers game as the theme is pretty universally appealing and the rules are quick and easy to learn.
[glow=yellow,2,300]The Bad:[/glow]Probably the only somewhat bad thing I can think of regarding this game is the price. It did seem a bit high, but then all boardgames are getting way too expensive now a days. The only real wooden components were the trucks, everything else was cardboard tiles or boards. The same day I purchased Traders of Genoa for about $15 less and it contained a bunch of nice wooden blocks and disks. I guess another complaint may be that the theme of the game doesn't really matter vs the mechanic but that's pretty standard for games now a days anyway.
[glow=red,2,300]The Ugly:[/glow]The worst thing about this game is the way it looks on the outside. This really looks like it's a kids game that belongs on the shelf next to Candyland and Sorry. This means that a lot of gamers would probably dismiss the game off hand, which would mean they would be missing out. To be honest if this didn't win the 2007 German game of the year award, I probably wouldn't have even given it a look.
[glow=purple,2,300]Overall:[/glow]This is one of the best examples of a easy to learn game that still has enough strategy and depth to please any gamer. Great for nearly all ages. The components were very nice and colourful but didn't quite seem worth the price tag. Thankfully though it's a great game and I'm sure I'll get my value out of it as I expect to bring this one out time and again. My only worry is that some serious gamers are going to miss out on this one as the box makes it look like it belongs on the shelf next to Guess Who? and Perfection.