Hey PI-Fans,
Something running through this week’s releases seems to be the theme of edibility. On the lighter side of things are the Exploding Kittens’ card game I’m a Little Crabby, and Unstable Games’ Fishy, Squishy, Crusty & Quirky. Anyone wanting something slightly more serious can look into Evolution: New World by CrowD games.
I’m a Little Crabby is a rebranding of the somewhat more scandalously named You’ve Got Crabs, though it continues to maintain Exploding Kittens brand of quirkyness.
In I’m a Little Crabby, teams of two players secretly agree on a hidden action to signal to the other player that that player has successfully drawn a hand of matching Crab cards. When their teammate notices, they will point at the player and shout “You’re a little crabby!”
If they’re right, that team gets a point. If they’re wrong, that team loses a point. However if a player on another team suspects a player of passing a signal, they can point and shout, “You’re a little crabby!” and if they are correct, they steal a point.
I’m a Little Crabby: 4-10 Players, 15-20 mins, Ages 7+
Fishy, Squishy, Crusty & Quirky by Unstable Games is an adorable little fishing themed card game of imperfect information with players trying to out-earn sand dollars by fishing up fishy, squishy, crusty and quirky sea-creatures and using them as ingredients for a variety of ocean themed dishes.
A unique factor of Fishy, Squishy, Crusty & Quirky is the way cards are drawn into players hands. Cards drawn face down with their back to the player are added to a players hand face out, leading to a fairly unique asymmetric mechanic where players are often aware of the contents of their opponents hands but not their own.
Players use these cards to match the requirements of the different dishes, most of which will use ingredients of the fishy, squishy, crusty and quirky varieties, which earns them sand dollars, doing this while attempting to undermine the ability of opponents to fill orders by occasionally stealing cards directly out of their opponent’s hands.
Fishy, Squishy, Crusty & Quirky: 2-6 Players, 30-60 mins, Ages 7+
Evolution: New World is an updated and extended version of the original Evolution: The Origin of Species game. In this new edition of the game, players seek to create animals to either evolve or go extinct in an ever-changing environment!
Each player starts with a hand of six cards that feature an animal on the back and one or two traits on the front. Each round consists of four phases. During Development, players take turns playing one card from their hand either as an animal (face-down) or as a trait on one of their existing animals. During Feeding, players take turns acquiring one food cube and “feeding” one of their animals. Animals can also be carnivorous, allowing them to attack one other animal to feed – although that animal might have a defense that allows it to survive. During Extinction and Draw, any animal not fully fed dies; the owner takes that animal and all traits and stacks them in his personal discard pile. Each player then receives new cards in hand equal to one plus the number of live animals that player has.
Evolution: New World: 2-4 Players, 30-60 mins, Ages 11+
