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Zany Penguins

Game ID: GID0397259
Collection Status
Description

In Zany Penguins, you want to make sure that your tribe of penguins is the one that takes control of the Earth, so do what you can to take charge of regions such as the desert, jungle, and the North Pole.

In game terms, each region has a set of cards numbered 1-9. To set up, shuffle the deck, then deal each player a personal deck of 18 cards. Each player starts with two cards in hand.

On a turn, you draw two cards, pass one card each to your left- and right-hand neighbors, take the cards passed to you, then simultaneously play and reveal one card in front of you on the table. If you play a 1, on your next turn you play and reveal two cards instead of one; if you play a 2, it blows up all 6-9 cards played that same turn; and if you play a 3, on the subsequent turn everyone else plays before you do.

After eight turns, for each card color on the table in front of you in which you have the highest sum of all players, you score the sum of all cards of this color in your hand. For each color in which you don't have the highest sum, you score the single lowest card of this color in your hand. Players tally their scores, and whoever has the most points wins.

Year Published
2016
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 1
This page: 1
Sentiment: pos 1 · mix 0 · neu 0 · neg 0
Mentions per page
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Video 2jXdmtuHFWM Game Boy Geek top_5_list at 6:34 sentiment: positive
video_pk 10241 · mention_pk 30255
Video thumbnail
Click to watch at 6:34
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Appealing theme and art
  • Tactical but approachable decisions
  • Interesting balance of risk and timing
Cons
  • Can have downtime between turns in multiplayer
  • Learning curve for new players
Thematic elements
  • cute, competitive penguin-themed card play
  • penguins across ocean, moon, city, and jungle regions
  • light and breezy
Comparison games
  • Arboritum
  • Ticket to Ride
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • Majority scoring by scenery cards — End-of-round scoring by region with majority of cards
  • Passing cards left and right — Hand management with bid-like decisions based on scenery values
  • Simultaneous card play with face-down reveal — Players plan plays and flip to see who wins majorities
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • I want these games back into life so that you can enjoy them, too.
  • This has been the Game Boy Geek, breaking down barriers, growing relationships through board games.
  • If these look good to you and you want them reprinted, go on BoardGameGeek, start a forum there... say, 'Hey, I just watched this video from Dan and I'd like a reprint.'
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
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