Pyro

WHO MAY/NOT LIKE IT
This is a competitive real time board game. Players will be required to be “on their toes”, so to speak, as you will have little time before you must think under pressure. If you would like to test your mental assertiveness against your friends, this is the game for you.
Players that know SET (http://boardgaming.com/games/card-games/set) may enjoy this too.

I don’t recommend this if you like taking your time, as you will not be able to do this. Also, if you dislike the Zelda puzzles where you need to push blocks on ice (with a timer).

GAMEPLAY
As mentioned, this is a real time board game. Each round, players must find a way to get a certain robot to a specific symbol, on a grid like board. The robots can only move in straight lines, and must continue “sliding” until they hit a wall or another robot (this is called a “move”).
When you have figured out a solution, you must announce to the other players the numlber of “moves” it took you, and flip an hourglass. The other players now have a short amount of time to announce a solution of their own. Once the timer is over, the player who has announced the shorted number of moves must attempt to reproduce their solution. If they succed, they get the symbol (randomly chosen at the start of the round). When all the symbols have been collected by players, the one who has the most wins.

The key points are:
– You must figure out the “solution” in your head. This means you have to memorize it too.
– More often than not, you will rely moving other robots in order to create the proper path for the desired robot.
– It is common to announce your first solution to pressure the other players, and to use the time left to find a better solution.

There are a few more intricate details, but none of them are essential to the further understanding of the game (at least I believe so).

COMPONENTS
Overall, there are very few components for this game, of standard quality. Good enough for you to play indefinatly, and cheap replacements in case of loss allow the game to be played without issues.

– 17 symbol tokens are printed on small cardboard disks, standard. One of them is a multicoloured symbol, which allows any robot to go on it as a valid solution (to mix things up).
– 4 thumb size robots and base token. The robots themselves are easy to handle and hard to lose. The base tokens are used to set the robots’ starting point at the start of each round (and game).
– 4 reversible game board pieces and a plastic junction piece. Same standard carboard quality, the aim being that you can choose any 2 by 2 board layout to create a variety of levels.
– 1 hourglass, pretty cheap but it does the job.
– 1 rulebook, decent quality (though this may vary based on the edition you get).

FINAL THOUGHTS
I found this game very accessible, and good to play with a younger audience as well as a middle aged one. I don’t think it suits every one’s taste, but it did the trick for me. I think it is a good way to show novices that board games can be very different from what they usually see. And if you are really good at this game, playing zith first timers, don’t go all out, it can really push people away from something they would enjoy.