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Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Throw Octopus in Tabletop Games
Dec 18, 2021
It’s a great sign when your 5-year-old wants to play a game over, and over, and over, and over… right? Especially if you also really enjoy playing? You never really know what to expect with new games and, luckily, this one is great… especially if you have kiddos or uptight friends.
In Throw Octopus, players are underwater city planners. Of sorts. Depending on the mode of play, players will attempt to rid themselves of their hand of seascape tiles, which depict wonky underwater creatures. The first player to shed their entire hand of tiles will be the winner!
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and I do not know for sure if the final components will be any different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, as there are just too many. You are invited to download the rulebook, back the game through the Kickstarter campaign, or through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T
To setup, chuck the tiles into a giant face-down pile and swirl them around to shuffle. Or try to riffle-shuffle, like, a thousand little cardboard tiles. Good luck. From the pile each player will choose eight tiles for their starting hand. Eight tiles, eight octopus tentacles. Coincidence? Also shuffle the Octopus Cards and place in a draw pile nearby. Flip over one of the tiles from the pile to serve as the starting tile. Youngest player goes first, and the game is ready to play!
On a turn, players will try to play one of their tiles to the ever-growing seascape being built on the table. Only by adding a tile from their hand to an appropriate place within the seascape can hands dwindle. At times a player will play a tile to the seascape depicting an octopus icon. After placing this tile, the active player will draw a card from the deck and either perform its action immediately or save it to be used at a later time (the card will instruct the players which to do). These cards could have players drawing more tiles, forcing other players to draw tiles, giving the active player the ability to manipulate tiles already placed in the seascape, or THROWING THE ADORABLE PLUSH OCTOPUS that comes with the game at an opponent. When the octopus is thrown at a player, they must immediately draw two tiles and skip their next turn. Should a player not have any other play, they must draw a tile from the pile and pass play to the next player.
As players are gaining and playing tiles to the board, the seascape is constantly changing, thus reflecting the real-life constantly-changing seascapes across the world. I may be reading too much into it. In any case, once a player places their final tile, they win and may challenge the players to a rematch immediately.
Recently added two-player rules allow for Speed Octopus play. In this mode, players are attempting to add to their own seascapes, and when they cannot play a card, they must discard a tile from their hand to their box top/bottom and draw a new tile from the shared pile. Once the game ends by players unable to play legally, points are scored for completed creatures in their personal board and negative points are earned for each tile in their box top/bottom. In this mode the cards and plushie are not used, but we house-ruled the usage of a Throw Octopus each time a creature was completed, just to further humiliate the other player.
Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game, but what we received was a box full of tiles, cards, and just the cutest little octoplushie we have ever seen. I really hope that all copies of the game come with this style of octopus, as my daughter immediately confiscated it the first few nights to sleep with her, no joke. I can only imagine the upgrades this will receive as a result of a successful Kickstarter campaign.
This is a silly, and sometimes frantic, tile laying game with take that and dexterity elements. Throwing the octopus and seeing the finished seascape at the end of the game are so satisfying. The art is great, and the concept is unique. I just know we will be playing this game for years to come. Again, if you happen to have littles in your your life or uptight friends, this is the game for you.
In Throw Octopus, players are underwater city planners. Of sorts. Depending on the mode of play, players will attempt to rid themselves of their hand of seascape tiles, which depict wonky underwater creatures. The first player to shed their entire hand of tiles will be the winner!
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and I do not know for sure if the final components will be any different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, as there are just too many. You are invited to download the rulebook, back the game through the Kickstarter campaign, or through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T
To setup, chuck the tiles into a giant face-down pile and swirl them around to shuffle. Or try to riffle-shuffle, like, a thousand little cardboard tiles. Good luck. From the pile each player will choose eight tiles for their starting hand. Eight tiles, eight octopus tentacles. Coincidence? Also shuffle the Octopus Cards and place in a draw pile nearby. Flip over one of the tiles from the pile to serve as the starting tile. Youngest player goes first, and the game is ready to play!
On a turn, players will try to play one of their tiles to the ever-growing seascape being built on the table. Only by adding a tile from their hand to an appropriate place within the seascape can hands dwindle. At times a player will play a tile to the seascape depicting an octopus icon. After placing this tile, the active player will draw a card from the deck and either perform its action immediately or save it to be used at a later time (the card will instruct the players which to do). These cards could have players drawing more tiles, forcing other players to draw tiles, giving the active player the ability to manipulate tiles already placed in the seascape, or THROWING THE ADORABLE PLUSH OCTOPUS that comes with the game at an opponent. When the octopus is thrown at a player, they must immediately draw two tiles and skip their next turn. Should a player not have any other play, they must draw a tile from the pile and pass play to the next player.
As players are gaining and playing tiles to the board, the seascape is constantly changing, thus reflecting the real-life constantly-changing seascapes across the world. I may be reading too much into it. In any case, once a player places their final tile, they win and may challenge the players to a rematch immediately.
Recently added two-player rules allow for Speed Octopus play. In this mode, players are attempting to add to their own seascapes, and when they cannot play a card, they must discard a tile from their hand to their box top/bottom and draw a new tile from the shared pile. Once the game ends by players unable to play legally, points are scored for completed creatures in their personal board and negative points are earned for each tile in their box top/bottom. In this mode the cards and plushie are not used, but we house-ruled the usage of a Throw Octopus each time a creature was completed, just to further humiliate the other player.
Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game, but what we received was a box full of tiles, cards, and just the cutest little octoplushie we have ever seen. I really hope that all copies of the game come with this style of octopus, as my daughter immediately confiscated it the first few nights to sleep with her, no joke. I can only imagine the upgrades this will receive as a result of a successful Kickstarter campaign.
This is a silly, and sometimes frantic, tile laying game with take that and dexterity elements. Throwing the octopus and seeing the finished seascape at the end of the game are so satisfying. The art is great, and the concept is unique. I just know we will be playing this game for years to come. Again, if you happen to have littles in your your life or uptight friends, this is the game for you.
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Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated BANG! The Dice Game: Undead or Alive in Tabletop Games
Jul 17, 2021
In the expansion review series, we take a look at a game expansion to discuss whether it is a necessary purchase/addition to one’s collection.
This breakdown is for the push-your-luck dice game BANG! The Dice Game‘s modular expansion Undead or Alive.
The Undead or Alive expansion offers several modules that can be added or left out at the players’ discretion. Module 1 is entitled “Look Me in the Eyes” and cannot be used unless Module 2 is also included. This module replaces two normal white dice for the new black Duel dice. On the Duel dice is a new icon of crossed pistols signifying a duel. The player who rolled this symbol chooses another player and they engage in a roll-off using the Duel die. Whichever player loses will need to take a random Wound Token found in this expansion. Module 2 is “Two Bullets Are Enough” and references the new Rage cards included. Every time a player suffers two or more lost hit points they must draw a Rage card to be used at the start of their next turn. Module 3 is “A New Posse in Town” and simply add in the new character cards to the base game characters. The catch is that some characters have special abilities that only trigger if the appropriate expansion module is being used, so character choices may need to be adjusted.
If you have been wondering why it is called Undead or Alive because no undead anything has yet to be mentioned, you are now in luck. Module 4 is “Undead or Alive?” and can only be used when playing with four or more players. This module has players revealing Boneyard cards when eliminated from the game. Once the number of zombie hands depicted on revealed Boneyard cards equals the number of players a zombie outbreak is initiated. At this point all eliminated characters now become zombies and are tasked with a new goal: eliminate all living characters. Zombies only use three white dice during their turns and do not gain life from beers or other effects. The survivors now switch focus to eliminating all zombies and their Zombie Master (I will let you discover this on your own).
The final module is Module 5 “Wild West Legacy.” This module is only used when playing multiple games of BANG! The Dice Game in succession. This module introduces a method of determining which player will become the next Sheriff in the next game and rules for changing characters between games.
Is it necessary to include the Undead or Alive expansion to enjoy BANG! The Dice Game? Absolutely not. It adds a lot of new content and ways to play the original game, but is not an absolute need.
Official recommendation: I categorize this as an expansion that I am super glad I have now in my collection because I know exactly the gamers with whom I want to play it. I don’t think I will use it every time I play BANG! The Dice Game, but I certainly think it is something that regular players of the base game should pick up. Being able to re-enter the game and gang up on those that were playing without you is a huge step up from typical player elimination style games. I hate being eliminated right away and waiting a long time to get back into a game. Luckily, BANG! The Dice Game is short to begin with, but coming back as a zombie is mega sweet.
This breakdown is for the push-your-luck dice game BANG! The Dice Game‘s modular expansion Undead or Alive.
The Undead or Alive expansion offers several modules that can be added or left out at the players’ discretion. Module 1 is entitled “Look Me in the Eyes” and cannot be used unless Module 2 is also included. This module replaces two normal white dice for the new black Duel dice. On the Duel dice is a new icon of crossed pistols signifying a duel. The player who rolled this symbol chooses another player and they engage in a roll-off using the Duel die. Whichever player loses will need to take a random Wound Token found in this expansion. Module 2 is “Two Bullets Are Enough” and references the new Rage cards included. Every time a player suffers two or more lost hit points they must draw a Rage card to be used at the start of their next turn. Module 3 is “A New Posse in Town” and simply add in the new character cards to the base game characters. The catch is that some characters have special abilities that only trigger if the appropriate expansion module is being used, so character choices may need to be adjusted.
If you have been wondering why it is called Undead or Alive because no undead anything has yet to be mentioned, you are now in luck. Module 4 is “Undead or Alive?” and can only be used when playing with four or more players. This module has players revealing Boneyard cards when eliminated from the game. Once the number of zombie hands depicted on revealed Boneyard cards equals the number of players a zombie outbreak is initiated. At this point all eliminated characters now become zombies and are tasked with a new goal: eliminate all living characters. Zombies only use three white dice during their turns and do not gain life from beers or other effects. The survivors now switch focus to eliminating all zombies and their Zombie Master (I will let you discover this on your own).
The final module is Module 5 “Wild West Legacy.” This module is only used when playing multiple games of BANG! The Dice Game in succession. This module introduces a method of determining which player will become the next Sheriff in the next game and rules for changing characters between games.
Is it necessary to include the Undead or Alive expansion to enjoy BANG! The Dice Game? Absolutely not. It adds a lot of new content and ways to play the original game, but is not an absolute need.
Official recommendation: I categorize this as an expansion that I am super glad I have now in my collection because I know exactly the gamers with whom I want to play it. I don’t think I will use it every time I play BANG! The Dice Game, but I certainly think it is something that regular players of the base game should pick up. Being able to re-enter the game and gang up on those that were playing without you is a huge step up from typical player elimination style games. I hate being eliminated right away and waiting a long time to get back into a game. Luckily, BANG! The Dice Game is short to begin with, but coming back as a zombie is mega sweet.
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