Wicked Witches Way - Good Halloween Game!
We just pulled out the new Asmodée Editions game Wicked Witches Way this week at BoardGame night, and I was really impressed. I don't know if I'll ever write a full review for it, but I just wanted to make a time-sensitive comment about it before Halloween has come and gone.
The basic idea of the game is that you are a group of witches who are having a broom-flying race. The goal is not only to cross the finish line first, but also to look really good doing it.
To play, you roll a big collection of nine chunky, wooden dice that are covered in symbols of two colors (black and orange, obviously). After ignoring symbols that are rolled in both colors, you have to memorize as much of the "formula" for one of the colors as possible. What makes the game really cool, however, is that any player can choose to flip a lid over the dice at any time, ending the time you all have to memorize and triggering everyone to secretly build their formula using the set of cards that everyone has.
You then get to advance an number of spaces equal to the number of
items you got right, but if you got even one wrong you don't go anywhere at all. And if the person who flipped the lid closed gets it wrong, they go back 2 spaces. Also, if you recorded a "perfect" formula for either of the colors, you also get a special bonus. For orange, you go 2 additional spaces, but for black, you draw a "Black Magic" card, which can either give you bonus points at the end (for acrobatic moves while flying) or special abilities you can use during the race.
What I liked most about it was that there was some real strategy involved above and beyond the simple memory aspect of the game. You can choose which color to memorize, whether to remember it all ot just get one and close the lid quickly, and whether to jump out in the lead (which always gets "cursed" and can't use the color bonuses) or to hang back. And that was just the strategy that we figured out in two games.
Especially if anybody out there is looking for a good family game with a non-threatening Halloween theme, definitely pick up Wicked Witches Way!
The basic idea of the game is that you are a group of witches who are having a broom-flying race. The goal is not only to cross the finish line first, but also to look really good doing it. To play, you roll a big collection of nine chunky, wooden dice that are covered in symbols of two colors (black and orange, obviously). After ignoring symbols that are rolled in both colors, you have to memorize as much of the "formula" for one of the colors as possible. What makes the game really cool, however, is that any player can choose to flip a lid over the dice at any time, ending the time you all have to memorize and triggering everyone to secretly build their formula using the set of cards that everyone has.
You then get to advance an number of spaces equal to the number of
items you got right, but if you got even one wrong you don't go anywhere at all. And if the person who flipped the lid closed gets it wrong, they go back 2 spaces. Also, if you recorded a "perfect" formula for either of the colors, you also get a special bonus. For orange, you go 2 additional spaces, but for black, you draw a "Black Magic" card, which can either give you bonus points at the end (for acrobatic moves while flying) or special abilities you can use during the race. What I liked most about it was that there was some real strategy involved above and beyond the simple memory aspect of the game. You can choose which color to memorize, whether to remember it all ot just get one and close the lid quickly, and whether to jump out in the lead (which always gets "cursed" and can't use the color bonuses) or to hang back. And that was just the strategy that we figured out in two games.
Especially if anybody out there is looking for a good family game with a non-threatening Halloween theme, definitely pick up Wicked Witches Way!
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