[Review] Powerboats
- From: "Greg J. Schloesser" <gschloesser@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 21 May 2009 15:20:10 -0400
Design by: Corné van Moorsel
Published by: Cwali
2 - 6 Players, 30 - 45 minutes
Review by: Greg J. Schloesser
Gamers will play games that involve racing just about anything: cars,
motorcycles, bicycles, streetcars, Easter Island statues, people, kangaroos,
snow sleds, and even worms. One would figure that we have just about had
our fill of race games. Not quite. This year saw the release of several
new race games, including Powerboats from designer Corné van Moorsel.
As you can surmise from the name, Powerboats deals with racing fast boats.
Fortunately, more than the type of object being raced is different, as the
game does involve a clever system of adding and removing dice to regulate
movement. Is that alone enough to make the game substantially different
from the dozens of other games in the genre, thereby making it worthwhile to
keep? Sadly, I don't think so.
The board is constructed by arranging six double-sided plaques inside an
interlocking frame. These boards form a large lake, with an assortment of
small islands scattered about it. There is a hexagonal grid superimposed
upon the boards to regulate movement of the boats, which is calculated by
rolling three-sided dice. A course is constructed by placing three buoys
onto the board, and players will race around these buoys in a pre-determined
direction before sprinting to the finish line.
Players begin by placing their boats on the starting line. A player's turn
is quite simple, and involves three easy steps. First, a player can add or
remove one die from their mix. Players begin with no dice, so on the very
first turn of the game, a player will take and roll one die. Ultimately, a
player can have as many dice as they desire, limited only by the game's
supply. In reality, however, a player will only possess three or four dice,
as one has to be very careful how far he moves on a turn. You see, the more
dice in a player's possession, the greater the likelihood of the player
rolling high numbers and moving too far, possibly causing a collision with
land. This, of course, results in damage to one's boat. Suffer too much
damage, and the boat sinks to the bottom of the lake. Thus, the ability to
add OR remove a die each turn is quite an important decision.
The player then decides which of his active dice he wants to roll, keeping
the remaining dice locked in at their current values. Dice are rolled, and
before moving, a player may turn his boat sixty degrees. The player then
moves his boat in a straight line a number of spaces equal to the cumulative
value of the dice. A player must move his boat as far as possible, even if
it takes him in an unintended direction. The idea is to determine where you
want to move, and select a number of dice that you feel will give you the
best odds of reaching that point. Rolling too high a value could mean
crashing into land or another boat, while rolling too low will cause you to
fall behind your opponents. As the knight in the third Indiana Jones movie
intones: Choose wisely.
If a player's boat crashes into land, he takes a number of damage points
equal to the remainder of movement he would have gone had he not encountered
the land. If a player collects four or more damage points, his boat sinks
and he is out of the race. Interestingly, smashing into another boat causes
no damage, but does end a player's movement. A player may move past another
boat, but cannot end his turn in the same space.
As mentioned, players must move around each buoy in the indicated direction,
then speed for the finish line. Moving around a buoy generally forces a
player to slow down in order to navigate the turn. Thus, players must plan
for this by managing their dice properly. The numerous islands that
populate the lake also force players to choose paths that often require a
player to move more slowly than he would likely prefer. All of this has the
effect of slowing down what should be a fast racing game.
The game ends as soon at the end of the round when one player crosses the
finish line. If more than one player crosses on the same turn, the player
who moves furthest across the line is victorious. The rules suggest playing
three races, tallying points after each race. We were satisfied to play
just one race, as the game just wasn't that exciting. Yes, there was fun
when a roll took a player's boat too far, or a fortuitous roll managed a
boat to reach a desired location, but there really wasn't an appreciable
amount of strategy or thrill involved. It felt much the same as many other
race games. And frankly, there are too many of those already.
I am disappointed that Powerboats did not generate more excitement. The
designer has invented some very clever and original games that usually
contain some highly interesting mechanisms or twists. While the dice
mechanism here is different, the remainder of the game feels
all-too-familiar. That's disappointing.
--
Greg J. Schloesser
.
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