CMYK's Grabble Review
Transcript
Welcome to BoardGameAnimal. My name is Justin. Today we're going to be talking about the latest surprise from CMYK games, Grabble. CMYK is no stranger to bringing some unfettered, over the top, silly fun to the hobby game night table. I think that they personally continue to push the envelope on what is expected and manage to bring a lot of personality, character, silliness to the table with games like Hot Streak, Magical Athlete, the update to Quacks. In general, I feel like one of the through lines of CMYK is that goal to deliver fun for everyone. Whether it is some of the heaviest hobby gamers or or folks who take gaming very lightly. And now today we're talking about Grabble, which is a reimagination of the hidden game Nuts to Go-Go. This is a weird, real-time kind of dexterity, kind of paying attention to everything going on sort of game. It is a party game at the end of the day. Let's talk about what's going on here. Basically, you have a box full of bits, a box of components, whether it's dice, letters, little meeples, traffic cones, pigs, bananas, and more. And all these bits in different shapes and sizes are things you're going to be reaching in real-time and gathering to fill up your little metal cups.
And as everyone is as quickly as possible frantically grabbing these pieces and putting them in their cups, you may be trying to get a bit of a diversity in what you're picking up and kind of paying attention to what everyone else is doing as well. Once someone's cup is full or overflowing, they're going to grab that big red pawn and start counting down. Everyone around the table will continue frantically grabbing as many pieces as they can to fill their cups and then proceeding to slap the table. The last person to slap the table gets a little bit of a penalty and then we go into the next stage of the At this point comes kind of the interesting gamery twist on an otherwise pretty silly, raucous activity. Because of those pieces you collected, you're going to be pouring them out and keeping them hidden behind your hand or arm. And one at a time around the table, somebody is going to essentially lead and they're going to toss a certain type of item back into the box. Let's say that they're tossing a dice back into the box. Now, around the table, everyone has to, from their collected items, throw a die back into the box. You might say, "Well, okay, that seems pretty straightforward. Where's the game there?" Again, because of the variety of pieces that you're pulling out of there, you want to make sure you're not caught in a position where someone has led to toss a certain piece back in and you're stuck without it. For what it's worth, Grabbell is very straightforward and very simple. You are playing a real-time speed game collecting pieces and then a little bit of mind games to try to toss the pieces back in and catch people with a certain type of piece they don't have.
And I'm absolutely fascinated by this because the game itself is really, really ridiculous. And as I've stated before, real-time games aren't super my cup of tea. Anything that has you reaching out and slapping the table, yelling out words, things like that, it's not typically what I gravitate toward. However, there are some interesting kind of tactics in the madness here with this game because in Grabbell, it's actually a lot harder than it looks to, as quickly as possible, be reaching in and out of that box, grabbing only one piece at a time, and trying to think, have I grabbed this one yet? Have I grabbed that one yet? And you're purposely trying to diversify which items you pull into your cup. Maybe make sure you have a few extras of one to catch people off guard when it comes time for the second stage of the game.
And then if you want to get crazy about it, you're trying to have that thought process while doing it very quickly, but you may also be trying to see what other people are grabbing. It is it's a very wild 35 seconds followed by, again, a little bit of mind games, trying to figure out, wait a minute, did I see if they got this piece? Is this a safe lead? And trying to trying to then manage those little pieces you took. And that's such the weird thing about this game is, really, it's a box full of bits and bobs that you are trying to nab and the different sizes, shapes, materials kind of really can throw you off in the moment while you're playing, tricking yourself into thinking it's something that you haven't taken you or you have taken, picking up things, dropping things, accidentally grabbing two. A lot of excitement in those moments.
Now, I may be absolutely trick taking brain rotted at this point and that's why I keep using the phrase lead, but there's a really interesting element to when it's your turn to throw a piece into the box because for that turn at least you know you're safe, but you may be able to catch someone. And it feels like you are managing a very limited amount of resources you have. This is not a card game. This is not a trick taking This is not a resource management game. And yet maybe it's just the gamery pieces that Grabbell has intentionally put in this game for a bit of charm, something about the production of it makes you kind of put into that game that hobbyist gamer mindset. I'm not sure. But something about the production, something about the whimsy of it make this something that I think is much more engaging and interesting than I ever expected it to be because one of its huge hallmarks here is speed.
You can play the whole game in a minute and a half and you will immediately want to run it back cuz you want to see how it could have been done differently. The The funny moments around the table, the weird little moments that feel like bluffing and push your luck, all for what is ultimately a speed dexterity-like game makes Grabbell unique, fun, and for me yet another vibrant, colorful hit from CMYK. This is one of those absolutely multi-purpose games in my opinion because on bonafide game nights where we play a lot of serious games, I pulled Grabbell out and it is just a great laugh before, in the middle, after, a cool down game, whatever. It It brings the exact right healthy dose of silliness to the table, um but I also think it is a A of fun for kids, a lot of fun for families. It's a great game for events, get-togethers, parties, just to pull out and have a good silly time.
I super recommend this one as just yet again another colorful gamery novelty from CMYK that is a lot more fun than you may initially expect. I say for Grabbell, don't judge a book by its cover. Give it a shot, have a fun time with it, and maybe grabbell yourself a copy.
Who's been a good boy?
Oh, that was seriously low-hanging fruit. I hope you get a chance to check it out. If you have any questions, please leave them down below. Huge thanks to CMYK for continuing to be a friend to Board Game Animal and letting us be a part of this special day. It's a lot of fun. Thank you so much for watching, liking, and subscribing. And don't forget to play all your games like an animal. Like little metal pig.