Dale Yu: Snowed In / Mause-Rallye

Well, we’re in the middle of a fairly severe winter storm here in Ohio, and the kids are in the process of having their second consecutive snow day. 

This would be a great development for the kids except that the weather is so bad that it’s impossible to let the kids go outside and run around.  It’s days like this that make me glad that we have boardgames at home to pass the time.  The big winners so far this week appear to be Mause-Rallye (Haba) and Don’t Wake Daddy (Hasbro).  If it weren’t for these games, the house would be overrun with a never-ending stream of Tivo’d children’s shows!  The column will be shorter than usual today because, frankly, I’ve got a long list of games to play with the kids!

Mause Rallye (Haba)
Designer: Gunter Baars
Time: 15 to 20 minutes
Players: 2 to 4
Ages: 4+
Can Adults Play? Yes!

Mause-Rallye is a nice racing game produced by Haba.  It’s been around for quite awhile, as I can remember being introduced to it (likely by Mark Jackson) at one of my first Gathering of Friends.  The premise of the game is fairly simple.  Race your mice around the track to collect the most cheese.

Each player has a number of mice that race around a track which is contained within the box.  The course is also littered with a few holes in the floor, and they are just large enough to allow a mouse to fall into the bottom.  The mice are moved around the race course with the use of a simple wooden stick.  On your turn, you get to flick any one mouse with your stick to make it move around the racecourse.  You, of course, would like your mouse to go as far as possible as each time a mouse makes a complete circuit, you get a piece of cheese.  However, the harder you flick your mouse, the more likely that it could end up off the course, or even worse, into one of the holes in the floor.

Once one player has lost all of his mice, the second stage of the game begins: there is also a cat token in the game that now comes into play.  Any player who does not have any mice left gets to flick the cat instead.  Any mice that are touched by the cat are now removed from the game.  The nice part about this mechanism is that all of the players get to participate in the game until its final conclusion.  Additionally, the game comes to a quick conclusion once the final stage is entered.

The game is an interesting activity.  My kids have all sorts of fun flicking the mice around.  Sometimes they eschew the track in the box and race the mice around the kitchen floor instead.  As a pure toy, the game has been a smashing success.  But how does it play as a game?  Not too bad.  For the kids, whose fine motor skills are still developing, the game can still be physically challenging.  They are learning to weigh the risks and benefits of trying a harder flick.  The danger of the long shot is raised due to the fact that the kids aren’t really able to aim that well.  Otherwise, there aren’t too many other game-skills to be learnt from this one – but it doesn’t change the fact that it occupied the kids for over 90 minutes yesterday!

CRAZY DALE’S GAME BAZAAR

Well, after the success of recent sales, I have had a few offers to allow others to sell games in this space.  The most notable one this week is another Sir Hawthorne limited edition figure for Heroscape.  $40 is the asking price.  If you are interested, please contact me at BGNAdvisor@gmail.com

Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor

Comments:

< Back Home