The card game Velonimo allows you to depict the merciless struggle in the animal world for the distinctive and highly prized "petits pois-carottes" jersey rewarded to the best climbing cyclist. This trick taking game features ultra simple rules for an absolutely addictive play experience.
Goal of the Game: Race to the summit to score as many points as possible and win the coveted jersey. To win a race, you must be the first player to get rid of all your cards. Racer cards may be played alone or in specific combinations of the same color or same value. There are also breakaway specialist cards which work alone to speed ahead of the pack.
Victory: The game has 5 rounds, each representing the ascent of a different mountain summit by riders in a cycling race. To win the round, you need to get rid of all of your cards before any other player. Even if you are not the winner, you can still score points for your position. Keep playing until there is only one player left. At the end of each round, the player with the highest points total is the leader and received the coveted jersey. The player who receives the jersey at the end of the last round, after the final scoring, is the winner.
- Stellar family game (comparison to Dodos Riding Dinos)
- Fun cascading dynamic
- Works and it's pretty light
- Awkward name and expression with history
- Can't have too much strategy
- Lemmings falling off the edge of the table
- Walk the Plank
- Dodos Riding Dinos
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Chaining actions — Each round each lemon can only trigger once but you're gonna have lots of things with people bouncing forward and bouncing back and forward and back as you're moving these lemons along.
- Hand Management — Everyone will also have a hand of cards it's different based on the number of players but basically these all cards uh move Lemmings.
- Hidden Information — Each player is going to be dealt hidden information a hidden lemming which is theirs.
- Movement programming — Basically these all cards uh move Lemmings so if I play so on my turn I'm going to play Card say uh what is this guy the uh yellow lemming Moving Two I then take the yellow I mean and I move the yellow I mean one two the yellow lemming lands on a card that has a different lemming and a plus this one's Brown moves one then Brown will move one and so when Brown moves One Brown lands on a card and then also move one.
- Take That — You can use a power card to put the first person last place and the last person for first place but you also have a card that lets you swap Lemmings with another player or with the hidden ones that remaining on the table on the four player game all players have one but so like you might be about to win and then somebody else wins.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Edo here and this is Geronimo it is live on Kickstarter now
- you can't have too much strategy in this game but there is some fun thing about the cascading effects and it works and it's pretty light
- hey everybody Edo here and thanks for watching gaming with Edo reviews over here on this playlist league and Insider videos over here on this one subscribe share all that good stuff but most importantly play some great games thanks bye
References (from this video)
- Simple and fast; great family filler
- Cute art and humor; strong player interaction with stealing and duos
- Limited depth; may be less engaging for heavier players
- Ladder climbing and hand shedding with light humor
- Cycling race with animals
- Light, family-friendly
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Compound Scoring — Duo cards grant extra turns or effects; lead cards let you steal a card.
- Ladder Climbing — Play hands that beat previous hand; you choose suit or number and try to surpass the previous value.
- Ladder Climbing / Hand Shedding — Play hands that beat previous hand; you choose suit or number and try to surpass the previous value.
- Set Scoring with Duo cards — Duo cards grant extra turns or effects; lead cards let you steal a card.
- Take-and-Swap / Steal — Tortoise leaders let you steal a card from another player's hand when played.
- Trick-Taking — Tortoise leaders let you steal a card from another player's hand when played.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a wild child of the bunch
- the art is spectacular
- it's a race to get rid of your hand
- the theme is really cute and the art is spectacular
- it's a simple rule set that you can get into quickly
- I am a sucker for the card design
References (from this video)
- Deep combinatorial interactions between cards
- Fast-paced with many viable groupings
- Player count scaling rewarding more players
- Strategic use of leader cards and breaks
- Can be confusing to learn at first; requires time to understand all combinations
- Racing competition with card management and set-building
- A race across five legs with family and friends
- explanatory review with gameplay walkthrough
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Breakaway cards — Certain cards cannot be grouped with others and have higher individual values.
- Card grouping for scoring — Players can form groups from cards of same number or same color; groups contribute to the score with special 10-point rules.
- Card play order — Players must play cards in strict order, played cards must beat previous as a sequence.
- Leader cards — One-value cards that grant a special action to steal cards from an opponent.
- Leader-board mechanic — The leader at end of each round gets a jersey-like card that adds value.
- Multi-card combos — When you play multiple cards, each card contributes 10 points; lowest card in the group sets additional value.
- Round structure and passing — Five rounds; players start with 11 cards; players may pass; last to lead after clears; scoring scales with rounds and players left.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this might be the most confusing thing in this game until you realize all of the different possibilities which makes this game the game and and so good
- it's a fun game of finding out how to organize your cards to play them in an order where you can get rid of them the quickest
- the art is Fun the theme of a race it kind of makes sense
- you want to get rid of your cards and not get stuck with a group of lower numbers
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- we have board games everywhere in our home
- it's going to be staggered kind of like steps down
- the most ridiculous box ever everything falls out
- I've been learning a game a day Jeff
- if you're looking at my chest or not