Chicken Cha Cha Cha Review by Jabberwock
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A kind of ‘sister game’ to Gulo Gulo, but only in as much as it is made by the same people, features lovely wooden bits, and thick cardstock, and involves eggs. Oh, and kids can win at this one too…
In Chicken Cha Cha Cha (or Zicke Zacke Huhnerkacke in its mother tongue), each player takes to role of a chicken, scampering along a circular track to steal tail feathers from all the other chickens. It’s almost a simulation of actual farm life… (Yes, that was sarcasm.)
The track is composed of 24 egg-shaped tiles with various (but fiendishly similar-looking) pictures on them, and is constructed by the players in any fashion they choose. The ‘guessing tiles’ are hexagonal shaped smaller versions of the same pictures (12 of these), and are mixed up face-down in the middle of the track.
On a player’s turn, one of the guessing tiles is turned face-up. If it is the same picture as on the track tile directly in front of that player’s chicken, the chicken moves forward, and gets another go. If you manage to overtake another player’s chicken, your chicken gathers up all the tail feathers belonging to that chicken (each chicken begins the game with one feather-peg stuck in the little holes on the rear of the chickens). The first player to win all the tail feathers wins the game. Simple.
The game is excellent (note that I refrained from say ‘eggcellent’ – aren’t I kind?), and the kids love it. The pictures are colourful and cartoony, and card pieces are very thick and durable, the wooden chickens are really really cute. And the little tykes can actually win. There are no strategies, or clever methods for winning – it’s all about remembering where the tiles are. And when you’ve turned over the same tile four times in a row (old age creeps up on us all), and your five-year old foe is battering through the tiles like nobody’s business, it gets kind of embarrassing…
There is a rather brilliant expansion for this one - Zicke Zacke Entenkacke (I can only assume that the ‘Enten’ bit here means ‘duck’) which adds two more players (in the form of cute wooden ducks) and some piles of – erm – well, poo, basically (I have a sneaking suspicion that the ‘kacke’ bit of the name refers to this). This adds a whole new level of complexity, but a welcome one (very quickly, if you fall into someone else’s poo, you have to give them a tail feather). The main advantage, of course, is the ability to play with six players now.
Summary Presentation: All the games from Zoch are wonderful in presentation, and this one just cannot be faulted. The artwork is eye-catching, and adds some interesting gameplay elements (the agonizing “was that tile the boiled egg or the fried egg” switcheroo that always catches me out, for example). The wooden bits are fantastic – very ergonomic, and sturdy (incredibly important for the little ones). This one is actually better than Gulo Gulo. 9.1/10
Clarity of Rules: The rules are so simple, this is almost a given. Full marks have to be given to the company for providing rules in English, French and German, and explaining them clearly and succinctly (with copious examples). 8.7/10
Game Length: You can probably look at setting aside fifteen to twenty minutes for each game, depending on the memory of the players (good memories will make the game go quicker). As each player reaches critical mass and memorises more and more tile positions, turns take longer, but at the same time tension mounts as all the other players will that player to miss one. All players are involved at all times, watching the tiles everyone pulls up, and the time simply flies by. 8.8/10
Value: Well, the bits you get make this one a good purchase, and not one that’ll break without concerted effort by the players. The fun out of the box is worth the price as well, and the little ones can join in the fun. 9.2/10
Overall: I think you can guess I love this one, and so do my kids. When I asked them they said to give it twenty-hundred points. Despite their enthusiasm, this isn’t one to play lightly – all players need to concentrate at all times, making this an all-encompassing game that takes over while it is being played (don’t try and watch a murder-mystery and play this at the same time – it’ll never work!). Not one to play whenever, but one to distract everyone when the time is right… 9.1/10 (not an average)
A kind of ‘sister game’ to Gulo Gulo, but only in as much as it is made by the same people, features lovely wooden bits, and thick cardstock, and involves eggs. Oh, and kids can win at this one too…In Chicken Cha Cha Cha (or Zicke Zacke Huhnerkacke in its mother tongue), each player takes to role of a chicken, scampering along a circular track to steal tail feathers from all the other chickens. It’s almost a simulation of actual farm life… (Yes, that was sarcasm.)
The track is composed of 24 egg-shaped tiles with various (but fiendishly similar-looking) pictures on them, and is constructed by the players in any fashion they choose. The ‘guessing tiles’ are hexagonal shaped smaller versions of the same pictures (12 of these), and are mixed up face-down in the middle of the track.
On a player’s turn, one of the guessing tiles is turned face-up. If it is the same picture as on the track tile directly in front of that player’s chicken, the chicken moves forward, and gets another go. If you manage to overtake another player’s chicken, your chicken gathers up all the tail feathers belonging to that chicken (each chicken begins the game with one feather-peg stuck in the little holes on the rear of the chickens). The first player to win all the tail feathers wins the game. Simple.
The game is excellent (note that I refrained from say ‘eggcellent’ – aren’t I kind?), and the kids love it. The pictures are colourful and cartoony, and card pieces are very thick and durable, the wooden chickens are really really cute. And the little tykes can actually win. There are no strategies, or clever methods for winning – it’s all about remembering where the tiles are. And when you’ve turned over the same tile four times in a row (old age creeps up on us all), and your five-year old foe is battering through the tiles like nobody’s business, it gets kind of embarrassing…
There is a rather brilliant expansion for this one - Zicke Zacke Entenkacke (I can only assume that the ‘Enten’ bit here means ‘duck’) which adds two more players (in the form of cute wooden ducks) and some piles of – erm – well, poo, basically (I have a sneaking suspicion that the ‘kacke’ bit of the name refers to this). This adds a whole new level of complexity, but a welcome one (very quickly, if you fall into someone else’s poo, you have to give them a tail feather). The main advantage, of course, is the ability to play with six players now.
Summary Presentation: All the games from Zoch are wonderful in presentation, and this one just cannot be faulted. The artwork is eye-catching, and adds some interesting gameplay elements (the agonizing “was that tile the boiled egg or the fried egg” switcheroo that always catches me out, for example). The wooden bits are fantastic – very ergonomic, and sturdy (incredibly important for the little ones). This one is actually better than Gulo Gulo. 9.1/10
Clarity of Rules: The rules are so simple, this is almost a given. Full marks have to be given to the company for providing rules in English, French and German, and explaining them clearly and succinctly (with copious examples). 8.7/10
Game Length: You can probably look at setting aside fifteen to twenty minutes for each game, depending on the memory of the players (good memories will make the game go quicker). As each player reaches critical mass and memorises more and more tile positions, turns take longer, but at the same time tension mounts as all the other players will that player to miss one. All players are involved at all times, watching the tiles everyone pulls up, and the time simply flies by. 8.8/10
Value: Well, the bits you get make this one a good purchase, and not one that’ll break without concerted effort by the players. The fun out of the box is worth the price as well, and the little ones can join in the fun. 9.2/10
Overall: I think you can guess I love this one, and so do my kids. When I asked them they said to give it twenty-hundred points. Despite their enthusiasm, this isn’t one to play lightly – all players need to concentrate at all times, making this an all-encompassing game that takes over while it is being played (don’t try and watch a murder-mystery and play this at the same time – it’ll never work!). Not one to play whenever, but one to distract everyone when the time is right… 9.1/10 (not an average)
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