RIO GRANDE GAMES RICOCHET ROBOTS
Posted January 13th, 2010
Product Description
This diversion is reduction of a diversion as well as some-more of a puzzle, that explains because there’s such an peculiar series of players possible. There’s a four-piece modular house that forms a vast room with walls widespread around a board. There have been additionally color-coded targets upon boards. Placed upon tip of a aspect have been 4 robots. The thought for any turn/puzzle is to get a like-colored drudge to incidentally comparison target. The pretence is that once a drudge starts moving, it will go on to pierce until a wall or an additional drudge stops it. Therefore, players have been looking a method of moves for a robots that will capacitate them to pierce a compulsory drudge to a aim in a fewest moves.
- 1 or some-more players
- 30 mins to play
- Ancient Japan
- Strategy game
- Humor
Average Ratings : 4.5
Price : $18.28
I give this toy three stars for learning, but that is only because it doesn’t have facts for you to learn like “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?”.
This game does, however, teach you how to think about things in different ways. Without this skill, the player is doomed to lose.
I was introduced to this game with the description, “It’s everyone’s turn, all the time.” This was enough to pique my interest, and I am glad that it did. The point of the game is to maneuver a robot onto a targeted square on the board in the least number of moves. The trick is that the robots can only move in straight lines forward, backward, left, or right, and they can not stop until they hit something else.
The trick, oftentimes, is to use more robots to maneuver the targeted robot onto the targeted square. The difficulty is in getting trapped into thinking that this is always necessary. With surprising regularity, it seems that a 23-move, three-robot solution is all you can find, until someone points out a five-move, single-robot solution.
With the addition of house rules (like color-specific walls, which come in this latest version), additional obstacles, dead squares (where the robot gets stuck for X number of rounds, etc.), this game has virtually endless replay potential. The game even has the potential for handicapping players by not allowing them to use one robot for each round or by limiting them to bouncing off of at least one wall, etc., making it more fun for players of different skill levels.
My wife, who is not a gamer like me, even enjoys this game, which speaks to its broader audience. Finally, it is important to note that this is a great party game, able to be played by as many people as can see the board.
A truly great family game, and indispensable for those with family game night.
Harkius
Rating: 4 / 5
This is a terrific game to help develop your forward thinking. Each round is actually a logic puzzle that you must solve by using your brain to determine the smallest sequence of moves to complete the board. Players “bid” against each other by claiming they can solve the board in a certain number of moves and the one with the lowest bid must display their solution. There is a time element involved in that once the first bid is shouted, an egg timer is flipped and the other players have a brief period of time to state their own bids if any.
The game helps develop the ability to think ahead and visualize a sequence of actions. Some boards may only require a sequence of 3 moves while others might take 40 moves.
Rating: 5 / 5
I can’t say how much fun I have playing this game. It looks weird because 5 people are standing around the board just staring at it for a while and then belt out “17″. Other people in the office often laugh.
We play three pieces at a time. Try it for a little extra challenge.
Rating: 5 / 5
I highly recommend this game. Be warned however that this game isn’t for the weak minded. The goal of the game is to find a path from your robot to the target before your opponents do (or you can race against a timer if you want to play solo). This involves keeping a great deal of information straight in your head (such as visualizing the path your robot is taking as well as counting the number of moves). I’ve seen a great number of people be frustrated by this game.
But if you’re willing to challenge yourself this will provide hours of fun. I think it’s a great way to sharpen spatial perception skills so besides being fun you’re actually becoming smarter by just playing.
Rating: 5 / 5
I’m a big fan of board games, and specially of Ricochet Robots, and have played it since the first edition years back.
Got a hold of the second edition (with gates) and like it very much, so was going to get a few copies for my friends/family. The picture in here is of the 2nd edition (blue box) but the actual product sold is of the 1st edition (maroon box), so it’s not a big deal, but something to note since the gates makes a big difference to the play!
Still, fabulous game, one of my favorites of all time. For a detailed game review go to http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/51
Rating: 4 / 5