Zapp Zerapp Review by Jabberwock
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This is another lovely ‘wooden bits’ game from Zoch (who also brought you Chicken Cha Cha Cha and Gulo Gulo). It has come to my attention that Zoch seem to delight in wonderful gameplay, lovely pieces and rather bemusing themes (and to prove my point, we have wolverines trying to rescue a wolverine baby by stealing eggs, and chickens running around pulling each other’s tail feather out). And Zap Zerapp is no exception.
“The most powerful Mages in the world every 13 years determine the best of their kind; the Madness Kegs are shaken in order to gain access to the foot of the mountain. At the moment the Kegs are shaken, the Magic Apprentices must run or the Devil wil arrive to send them away when the curse returns.”
No, it doesn’t make any sense to me either…
Each player has three dobbers (the so-called Apprentices), large coloured pawns that are placed on their home city. Your goal is to make it safely all the way round the mountain, and back to a holding place just opposite your home city. The ‘Madness Kegs’ are placed in the centre of the circular track. The kegs are green wooden tubs with between 1 and 13 little lead pellets inside them. There is a number on the bottom of each keg denoting how many pellets are inside.
Each turn, one player rolls the dice (two six-siders), and everyone then makes a grab for the kegs…
What you are trying to achieve is a keg with a number as close to the rolled value as possible without going over. If you end up with a keg of a higher value than the number rolled, you stay put. If you get a keg of a lower value, you move one of your pawns that number of spaces.
So each turn everyone has the same chance to move as far as possible, but you have to be quick, as the only methods you have of finding the right keg are by sound and weight, so everyone starts to frantically pick up kegs (only one at a time allowed – sit on your other hand) and shake them close their ears, trying to find that elusive value equal to the number rolled, or playing it safe and settling for the ‘1’ keg each time…
Once everyone has selected their keg, they’re all turned over to read the value on the bottom, and movement takes place (or doesn’t, accordingly).
Note that there are 13 kegs, so one of them (the ‘13’ one) will always be invalid, making this a very tricky and fun game to play, as you are never quite sure whether you are safe or not. And if someone should roll snake eyes, it is a very frantic race to find the one and two kegs before anyone else bags them, leaving you unable to move that turn.
There are some other rules, but these are minor, and only add some tactical considerations that make the game worth playing (and thus are very unimportant!). The main fun comes from searching for the ‘right’ keg for your move (which may not be the highest value, if you don’t want to move that far).
The game is great fun to play, and always ends with laughter from the players, as they snatch kegs from under the hands of other players, or push hands out of the way to get to the one they want. And because it is so simple to learn, it is accessible by pretty much anyone, and everyone can have fun with it.
Summary
Presentation: The pawns and kegs are big, solid and wooden. They look and feel great. The pellets are just big enough to make each keg feel and sound different, making the game playable, and the board (with art from my favourite game artist Doris Matthäus) is very clear, lively and functional. 9.1/10
Clarity of Rules: Well, I can’t give high marks here, as the game only comes with German instructions, and I have had to use an internet translator to decipher how to play. The rules are very simple anyway, and there are some clear pistures and examples given in the booklet. Learning to play isn’t a problem, but it would have been nice to have English rules, as Zoch have done in their other games. 6.6/10
Game Length: With each player having the opportunity to send their opponents back to their home city, games can drag on a while, and the middle-game (once the novelty of shaking the kegs has worn off, and nobody looks close to winning) seems almost interminable. However, the endgame is always close and exciting, and things generally reach a ‘critical mass’ of everyone very close to winning at roughly the same time. 8.3/10
Value: Athe fun of the game (especially for youngsters) is immense, and the bits and pieces increase the worth of the game even more. Zoch do a grand job coming up with original, fun and great-looking games, and I find Zap Zerapp to be one of their best. 8.9/10
Overall: Zap Zerapp cannot be considered a thinking person’s game. It’s all about feel and sound. Finding the right keg for you is tricky, and often you will not be able to mive your ‘Apprentice’ around the ‘Solitary Mountain of Impossibility’ to escape from the Devil and show you are the best. But the sheer enjoyment of watching everyone shaking kegs klike crazy, while hoping that they get the right number, and not get sent back home is one you will not forget for a while. There is strategy here too, and this makes the game worth playing by adults as well as children. A light, fun diversion for all the family. 8.6/10 (not an average)
This is another lovely ‘wooden bits’ game from Zoch (who also brought you Chicken Cha Cha Cha and Gulo Gulo). It has come to my attention that Zoch seem to delight in wonderful gameplay, lovely pieces and rather bemusing themes (and to prove my point, we have wolverines trying to rescue a wolverine baby by stealing eggs, and chickens running around pulling each other’s tail feather out). And Zap Zerapp is no exception.
“The most powerful Mages in the world every 13 years determine the best of their kind; the Madness Kegs are shaken in order to gain access to the foot of the mountain. At the moment the Kegs are shaken, the Magic Apprentices must run or the Devil wil arrive to send them away when the curse returns.”
No, it doesn’t make any sense to me either…
Each player has three dobbers (the so-called Apprentices), large coloured pawns that are placed on their home city. Your goal is to make it safely all the way round the mountain, and back to a holding place just opposite your home city. The ‘Madness Kegs’ are placed in the centre of the circular track. The kegs are green wooden tubs with between 1 and 13 little lead pellets inside them. There is a number on the bottom of each keg denoting how many pellets are inside.
Each turn, one player rolls the dice (two six-siders), and everyone then makes a grab for the kegs…
What you are trying to achieve is a keg with a number as close to the rolled value as possible without going over. If you end up with a keg of a higher value than the number rolled, you stay put. If you get a keg of a lower value, you move one of your pawns that number of spaces.
So each turn everyone has the same chance to move as far as possible, but you have to be quick, as the only methods you have of finding the right keg are by sound and weight, so everyone starts to frantically pick up kegs (only one at a time allowed – sit on your other hand) and shake them close their ears, trying to find that elusive value equal to the number rolled, or playing it safe and settling for the ‘1’ keg each time…
Once everyone has selected their keg, they’re all turned over to read the value on the bottom, and movement takes place (or doesn’t, accordingly).
Note that there are 13 kegs, so one of them (the ‘13’ one) will always be invalid, making this a very tricky and fun game to play, as you are never quite sure whether you are safe or not. And if someone should roll snake eyes, it is a very frantic race to find the one and two kegs before anyone else bags them, leaving you unable to move that turn.
There are some other rules, but these are minor, and only add some tactical considerations that make the game worth playing (and thus are very unimportant!). The main fun comes from searching for the ‘right’ keg for your move (which may not be the highest value, if you don’t want to move that far).
The game is great fun to play, and always ends with laughter from the players, as they snatch kegs from under the hands of other players, or push hands out of the way to get to the one they want. And because it is so simple to learn, it is accessible by pretty much anyone, and everyone can have fun with it.
Summary
Presentation: The pawns and kegs are big, solid and wooden. They look and feel great. The pellets are just big enough to make each keg feel and sound different, making the game playable, and the board (with art from my favourite game artist Doris Matthäus) is very clear, lively and functional. 9.1/10
Clarity of Rules: Well, I can’t give high marks here, as the game only comes with German instructions, and I have had to use an internet translator to decipher how to play. The rules are very simple anyway, and there are some clear pistures and examples given in the booklet. Learning to play isn’t a problem, but it would have been nice to have English rules, as Zoch have done in their other games. 6.6/10
Game Length: With each player having the opportunity to send their opponents back to their home city, games can drag on a while, and the middle-game (once the novelty of shaking the kegs has worn off, and nobody looks close to winning) seems almost interminable. However, the endgame is always close and exciting, and things generally reach a ‘critical mass’ of everyone very close to winning at roughly the same time. 8.3/10
Value: Athe fun of the game (especially for youngsters) is immense, and the bits and pieces increase the worth of the game even more. Zoch do a grand job coming up with original, fun and great-looking games, and I find Zap Zerapp to be one of their best. 8.9/10
Overall: Zap Zerapp cannot be considered a thinking person’s game. It’s all about feel and sound. Finding the right keg for you is tricky, and often you will not be able to mive your ‘Apprentice’ around the ‘Solitary Mountain of Impossibility’ to escape from the Devil and show you are the best. But the sheer enjoyment of watching everyone shaking kegs klike crazy, while hoping that they get the right number, and not get sent back home is one you will not forget for a while. There is strategy here too, and this makes the game worth playing by adults as well as children. A light, fun diversion for all the family. 8.6/10 (not an average)
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