‘The hamsters have escaped their zoo enclosure and are making a run for it! But, suddenly, they come across a pond with their most prized possession, the lotus flower.
Unfortunately, lurking below the surface are hippos looking for a snack! Each player must risk gathering lotus flowers vs. leaving the pond before the hippos decide it’s time to feast!’
This game has literally become my favourite press your luck tile game and I’ve only played it a couple of times. The moment it arrived, we wanted to get it out the box and for a Kickstarter the presentation is awesome! It was a fully working prototype with all the components produced to an awesome standard.
Rules are fairly straightforward and we wanted to play straight away. The artwork is so cute as are the meeples and I was instantly mesmerised as I began hopping onto lily pads and turning over tiles. Each turn wondering if this will be the time when I push my luck too far and find the hippo. Should I get out of the pond or try just one more time to see if I can find some more lotus flowers?
My wife and I played like we were kids, laughing when one of us splashed into the pond or wincing as we stole a lotus flower from each other and then finally giggling as the hippo was revealed and one of us lost all our lotus flowers. Maybe says more about us than the game but it certainly is charming and an enjoyable game for all ages.
Each turn you are able to take two actions, the first is move and the second is either take another move or leave the pond. Each time you move and land on a lily pad, you get to flip it revealing the card underneath. Each tile flipped reveals either nothing, lotus flowers or an action to be taken - some good and some bad! You’ll want to try to collect the most lotus flowers but without waking the hippos from their sleep. If you do, you lose all the lotus flowers collected that round.
Components:
52 tiles (what we really liked about this is that there are enough tiles in a two player game to be uncertain about how many hippos, blue lotus flowers etc are in play in each round - the element of surprise adds another dimension to the game)
6 player boards
6 hamster meeples (super cute!)
68 wooden lotus tokens (really like that these are wooden - they could easily have been cardboard but the wooden nature of them makes the game even cuter and they have a nice feel to them)
Instruction booklet
Organisation tray (not necessary but a nice touch especially the little pot to keep the lotus flowers in - makes it easy to set up)
Overall thoughts:
Such a brilliantly simple game with gorgeous artwork and a sense of fun which will keep you going back for more. Can’t wait to bring this one out when we next have a games night! Love it, oh and the wife might be a bit obsessed with it!
Pop over to the kickstarter page and back it today! you will not regret it!!
And thank you to James and the team at Tn Robot games for sending me the prototype for review.