Sky Team Board Game First Impressions
Sky Team has two players and two players only try to land a plane.
It gets a bit dicey.
A co-operative game, exclusively for two players, in which you play a pilot and co-pilot at the controls of an airliner. Your goal is to work together as a team to land your airplane in different airports around the world.
Sky Team Game Overview
Quick Rules Summary
Players secretly roll dice behind a screen and take turns placing one on the various spaces on the board without communication.
Two are mandatory that change the pitch and the speed for the round. These each have two spaces, one for each player and their totals determine how much the plane rotates and moves.
Some of the other spaces involve adjusting the flaps and applying the brakes which must be done before landing. Some clear planes off the approach and that needs to be done before you move to that space.
You then move a number of steps forward depending on the speed of the plane, decrease altitude and start a new round.
How do you win?
If you clear all the planes, touch the ground, and have a plane that is level and moving slower than the brakes then the plane lands successfully and you win.
But if you move into other planes, pitch too far one way, move too fast or too slow or do not fulfil one of the conditions of the scenario you are playing you lose.
Main Mechanisms
Dice placement obviously, that’s the main one. You can have a bit of discussion between rounds but once you start placing dice you can’t talk.
USP
I don’t think there is anything particularly unique about this game.
Theme
A pilot and a co-pilot working together to land a plane works well as a theme. Having to clear the other planes, control the pitch and speed while applying the brakes and flaps while keeping an eye on altitude and decent, it’s all there.
There are two things… Do both pilots control the plane at the same time? If not, why do both need to place dice to control the pitch?
Secondly, I do wonder why the pilots can’t talk. I’m guessing that it’s all happening so fast that there isn’t time to talk things through as you go? But if that’s the case why can you talk between rounds? It’s a little odd.
Setup
Put the main board, altitude and approach boards out. Everything else goes in its place and it’s labelled on the boards themselves. The scenarios of different airports and difficulty levels all come with their own additions and boards and things.
For example, one we played also had a fuel track that you had to manage… run out of fuel and it’s game over.
Components & Artwork
The components of the game are very nice. Everything is simple and the dual-layered boards keep everything in place. The iconography is easy to understand, usually red for bad and green for good. But also blue for the pilot and orange for the co-pilot.
The dial for controlling the pitch is very nice.
The art is minimal, barely nonexistent but the little drawings there are cute and very clean.
Ease of Teaching
It’s very simple to teach. New players just need to be careful when asking questions so they don’t reveal their dice numbers, or hint at what they could have when playing.
Similar Games
I like games for two players like Jaipur and Patchwork. I always think they play very well.
But I don’t really have or remember having experienced any two-player-only co-ops.
Sky Team Board Game Review
Positives
Nice and simple 2-player only, cooperative gameplay.
Plenty of difficulty levels to scale for your particular twosome.
It looks really nice and it’s easy to see what you can do and what is required.
Negatives
It’s possible multiple games with the same person could lead to behaviour that is telling as it does in games like Hanabi and The Crew.
I do worry that at higher difficulty levels it becomes a bit hit and hope.
Summary
A really fun game that will make me look for more 2-player-only co-ops in the future.
Jesta ThaRogue
