TEAM3 Green & Pink First Impressions

In TEAM3, you see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.

Except for the person who isn’t understanding your instructions, they’re evil!

Three monkeys have started a construction company, and the building blueprints are coming in quick! Now the monkeys have to work together to complete their blueprints before time runs out.

TEAM3 Game Play

This is a game for 3+ players or for teams that are a multiple of 3 depending on how you want to play. In the 3+ player game, only 3 players will play at a time.

There are two versions of the game, Green and Pink. Each has the same base game but contains a different mini-expansion. I’ll look at the base 3+ player gameplay, cover the 6+ player game and look at each mini-expansion at the end.

Each player will be either the Architect, Supervisor or Builder. Choose cards from the level 1, 2 or 3 decks and put them on the table.

The Architect will draw a card, study it a bit then put it in the stand-up holder, and start a 3-minute timer. (Not included :))

The Architect must communicate what they can see on the card to the Supervisor. They can only use non-verbal communication and can not point at any of the pieces.

The Supervisor must interpret the Architect and verbally communicate the required actions to the Builder.

The Builder must build the structure while keeping their eyes shut. (TEAM3 blindfolds are available separately, I picked some up at Essen)

If they finish in the 3-minute timer, the players win. If they complete a number of tasks equal to the difficulty level + the number of players in the game they win.

But, if the architect speaks or time runs out the players lose and the card is placed face-up next to the play area. If players fail a number of times equal to the player count they lose.

Theme

Seeing as this is based on the Three Wise Monkeys representing good Mind, Speech and Action it does a good job.

All three of these are represented well.

Setup & Rulebook

It’s very simple. The setup is fine, you just need to remember how many cards you need to win the game.

The rulebook is OK but doesn’t actually make it THAT clear that the patterns need to be built up vertically, not laid flat on the table.

Components

The blocks are really nice, big and chunky. These will last and can take some abuse I think.

The cards are really clear but are a little thin and bend easily when placed into the little holder. Care needs to be taken to not bend the cards too much.

Ease of Teaching & Accessibility

It’s easy to teach. I would suggest that if you’re teaching the game you don’t start in the role with your eyes closed 🙂

It’s also very accessible as there aren’t too many actual rules.

TEAM3 Summary

Co-op games against the clock where everyone has to work together have been done with FUSE still at the top for me. But as TEAM3 is asynchronous the closer comparison of a game I like would be XCOM.

But this is one hard game with a few tough things going on:

• Hand signalling which piece to pick up and where you want it is hard
• Interpreting hand signals and verbalising them is hard
• Listening to words and converting them into the correct actions while unable to see is also hard
• Getting all 3 of these to work together… very hard

It’s not frustrating when a player isn’t understanding your instructions. The aim here is to quickly change if they’re not getting it to help them to get it.

The frustration comes when a player says or does something you didn’t ask them to do! When the Builder suddenly just removes a piece from the structure despite you never saying anything about it!!!! Argh!

But, when it works it works and when it doesn’t, you just have to laugh.

Each version of the game come with a mini-expansion.

Green – Mind Merge

This is a game for 5 players where there is one builder building 2 patterns, one in each hand. Each ‘hand’ has its own team of Architects and Supervisors communicating at the same time. Chaos!

Pink – Dimension Tension

This is the same as the basic game, except the structure is now not just flat and vertical, it’s 3D.

Jesta ThaRogue

Note: The copy I played was a review copy generously provided by Brain Games, big thanks to them for this game.