Zany Penguins is an area majority, hand management game.
This is a quick video overview.
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.
This is a brief overview of the rules then I give my thoughts on it.
0:10 – Overview
0:27 – Game Play
3:05 – Summary
Zany Penguins Update July 2018
I do like these little games. Especially those with a cute penguin on them and this one has a few things going for it.
Firstly, the idea that you pass cards to your opponents before playing a round is really fun. You can really hurt their plans, and have yours hurt too.
I do always like the “Play simultaneously, Reveal simultaneously” games. Sakura is my current favourite but they have been many.
Boom: Runaway is another I always think of but I don’t own that anymore.
Back to Zany Penguins, the special cards are good fun.
A 1, the lowest card and therefore the fewest points, lets you play 2 cards on your next turn.
2’s are also low, and destroy any 6-9’s played which is great fun when it works 🙂
A 3 is really powerful, It lets you play your card AFTER everyone else has revealed it in the next turn. This is great for safely playing a 9 after scouting to see if any 2’s are played.
So these are good fun and keep you guessing. The 1 and 3 are decent cards that give you an advantage. The 2’s are just good game design, playing a high card shouldn’t be a straightforward deal.
Scoring is interesting where you only score all the cards of a colour if you have the highest total. If you don’t have the highest total, you only score the lowest card of that colour.
So, while I no longer own it I do like it. Would prefer it to not come in a tin but it is a really fun game.
Jesta ThaRogue