Fishing Lessons

This was a fun and fast game to play yesterday, though you can see my break it down a bit at the end. The question I keep on having about the game is, what is it’s longevity? Because this is a small Button Shy Game, as all of them are, it is limited on the number of cards that you can have. You always have the same seven water cards, though their order changes. You also play with the same lessons, but their order changes.

The main thing that changes up the game, or isn’t as static, is the fact that you have a different person fishing. So one character might want to get two fish of one type and three of another. And your job is to solve the puzzle so only cards that are scoring are facing upright. This is also done from the lesson cards. And the game does give you varying levels of difficulty. Easy is, I’ll say, pretty easy. But I also was able to win, I believe, on medium one time without much issue.

For me the big question I have about the game is how engaging it’ll be long term? Is this a game where now that I’ve solved the puzzle three times that I’m going to be drawn to trying to solve it again? Or will it be a game where the puzzle feels similar each time? Though, now that I’m thinking about it, how much luck is there? I beat it easily and quickly twice. I’m not sure that is a great sign for the game, if it’s too lucky that way.

Upcoming Streams

Let’s run through the stream structure like I normally do. You might already know the schedule but in case you don’t. Wednesday at 8 PM Central I stream either a campaign game, or with this time of year it’s my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2023 Edition. And join me next Wednesday for games 60 through 51, so hitting the half way point. It goes so fast, and now I have so many games that I want to play.

Then on Monday I stream at 9 PM Central time. It’s generally a solo game. Though I’ll also do pack openings for things as well. But normally it’s a solo game and a one off for the game like a roll and write, or sometimes a game like Under Falling Skies which was on the list today.

But the best way, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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How To Play Tiny Turbo Cars

Tiny Turbo Cars is a bit of a tougher game to explain because you are doing a lot and need to pay attention to a lot in the game. The goal of the game is to win the race. That doesn’t mean, completely, be the first person over the line, it means on the round where the first person goes over the line, go the furthest over it. But how are you driving in this game?

The theme is that you are driving little RC cars around the house. You jump over some obstacles, crash into others, and shoot rockets at your opponents. All of this is done through a real time sliding puzzle where you create two rows of actions that you’ll do. These actions are mainly move forward, though you can back up and move left and right.

The first person who completes their puzzle gets to go first. And the last person loses a battery. Batteries are your life that you use up as you crash into things or are the slowest on completing your puzzle. You navigate what you programmed and see what happens. If you run out of batteries you skip steps to charge them back up and continue on in the race.

What Doesn’t Work

The first thing that stood out to me is that I’ve played with two players and I’ve played with more, not up to six yet, but up to five. And the game is much better at higher player counts. It does make the game take longer, but the game benefits from the havoc that more people offer on the track. So this is not a two player game. I think three is okay, but four to six is really where the game is best at. And to get up to six, you need an expansion.

Tiny Turbo Cars has a lot to teach as well. This is a weird knock on the game because it has too much to teach without player aids. If you know the game, you know what spots do. But learning the game the first time, what’s the rule for carpet, fire, what can you jump or what will you just run into? You need to know all of those things. And that’s a lot to hold in your head as well as the sliding puzzle. I wish that it had player aids and I hope someone has made them on BGG.

What Works

Toy Factor

The toy factor for the game is great. This one is a bit of a positive and a negative. The RC controllers that hold the sliding puzzle look amazing. It is going to make it stand out on the table. Most of the time they slide just fine. And I don’t know that there is a way to make a sliding puzzle like that work all the time. But sometimes it sticks, generally if you don’t have it quite flat enough. So there is that element of the game which is mostly awesome but it’s such a unique piece.

The game does feel crazy like just trying to get an RC car to go as fast as you can through a house littered with stuff. Probably not fire in your actual house, but in this game, it’s an option. The real time element feels like that and the chaotic layout and planning attempts do as well.

Real Time

The real time element also works for this game. Yes, your controller might stick for a second, but it works well. And the real time element itself is not a timed element. I generally realize that is where I dislike real time. When you tell me that I have one minute or 45 seconds and it’s basically all the game to get that one element right. This is more like Galaxy Trucker in that yes, you go for speed, but it’s not only speed because it won’t end until someone pushes for it.

Game Speed

Finally, this is not too long a game. Even at five players, which is definitely longer, it’s not too long a game. Once one player has locked in their board other players follow quickly to make sure you aren’t the last person. And then the actual going through the programmed actions is fast because that is following commands versus making decisions.

Who Is It For

I do think that there is an element where you need to be fine with things like sliding puzzles and real time in this game. It is a key part of the game and if you can’t half look at your sliding puzzle and half at the board to plan what you’re doing, you’ll lag behind. But not too far behind because everyone is crashing.

I also think that this is for people who want a chaotic game with a higher player count. To me this is a 4-6 player game. Yes, the board is fuller and you might spend a turn crashing into someone else, but that’s part of the fun of the game. But you need to know that this won’t be a strategic two player racing game.

Final Thoughts on Tiny Turbo Cars

This one I think is a fun game. But I have some reservations about it. Mainly, it plays best with that higher player count so how often will it get played. And with the rules or interactions a bit more complex, does that mean it will get played that often. There is variability in the game and that can be used to fine tune that complexity level. So that isn’t an issue, it is just player count concerns.

I also need to compare this to other racing games. Ready Set Bet, Downforce, Long Shot: The Dice Game, PitchCar all offer different things. And I want to play and pick up other racing games. Mainly I want to play Formula D and Rallman GT, and pick-up Thunder Road Vendetta. Because I wonder if I have room for Tiny Turbo Cars. Does the chaotic and randomness that can come into the game make it one that sticks. Or do I want that bit more control, unless I’m playing PitchCar which is dexterity?

It’s a tough question that I’m not completely sure of the answer on right now. But I think that the randomness, while fun in a fast game, might be a bit more than I really want. Tiny Turbo Cars might be one of those games that I’d always play, but not sure I need to own it. Which is disappointing because I backed it on KS with expansions. But also not, because I have played it and had fun with it and would play it again. It isn’t leaving my collection yet, but I wonder.

My Grade: B-
Gamer Grade: C-
Casual Grade: C+

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Pros

• Theme
• Based on a Proven Game
• Proven Company
• Shipping
• Aesthetic

Cons

• Price
• Different Aesthetic From Original Game

The Page

This is a well done page. I appreciate the fact that Black Rose Wars: Rebirth isn’t a minis heavy game. There are minis for the monsters, at least on the Kickstarter but it isn’t all giant minis. While I love my giant minis, it’s nice to see a game that doesn’t highlight and put all the focus on that.

They also do a solid job of telling you about the game play and giving you a lot of content creators you can checkout for it. This is not a simple game, I’ll get to that more below, so laying out what it does is important. And the section on it is nicely placed on the page. It isn’t too low on the page, some, again, because they don’t have a ton of minis.

However, the price for this game is high. Now, from what they say on the page and what I’ve seen, this game to track down everything for it after the fact will cost more. So the price is good that way. And as stretch goals unlock the value will get better. But for the base of this game, what you got when you first pledged it at the start, the price is extremely high. And for me, it’s a tougher sell because I am making an investment on faith that I’ll want everything and play with everything.

The Game

So the game of Black Rose Wars looks very cool and Rebirth also looks very cool. Mainly because it combines a lot of different mechanics. You have deck building which I love and it’s deck building that has you adding cards as you go, not having to buy the cards, really. So the building part is a constant in the game. I like when deck building games just give you that forward progression in what you are doing.

Plus, you then program out those cards so that they might trigger in a certain order and you can take the various actions on them. But let’s hop back to the cards, because when you program them, you pick which of two different things your spells will do. You can flip the cards over and it’s a different spell when you hold it upside down. That is a cool way with a limited number of cards to increase the options.

This is however a tactical fighting game as well. Now, I really like tactical games, but I’ve found that tactical fighting games tend not to get played as often in my collection. My collection has moved away from so much confrontation, but I still enjoy that when the game does it in an interesting way. Black Rose Wars definitely seems like it does.

Back or Brick

For me this is a Brick simply because of the price point. It’s not just that it’s expensive, but with owning Black Rose Wars, I see how much comes in retail. I don’t know that I’d ever see all of that games content as I play the game. So do I need to spend about $170+ on the game to get everything extra.

Now, I don’t think you’ll regret it if you get this game. Everything I’ve heard about the original, still need to play my copy, and what I’ve looked at with the new version, I think the game looks amazing. It might be a little messy in what it does because there are a lot of moving pieces, but when you get it down, it looks like so much fun.

Is this game a Back or a Brick for you?

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