Pictureka! A Board Game Review
Pictureka! A Game Review
While looking for one or more new board games to add to my board game collection I came across this game. Before I get any new game, I try to see if there are any game reviews out there and try to read as many of the game reviews as possible or enough game reviews that I get a fairly good impression of what the game is like. If the game has also been rated by people, I look at the rating that people have given the game and let that factor into whether I get the game or not. Looking through some of the negative reviews, one thing that was mentioned a lot was that some people just did not like the artwork of the game. For these people, they found that the artwork was "weird" or too abstract for them. A lot of the positive reviews said that this was a great game to play with children. The people who wrote the positive reviews played it with several children and said that everyone had fun playing the game. There were more positive than negative reviews and the negative reviews were mostly by people who played the game and just did not like the game itself. I decided that there were enough positive reviews of people who actually liked the game, so I decided to give this game a try.
The first picture that I have included is of the box of the game itself. On the box, you can see some of the artwork that is on the game tiles. It also shows that it is a Parker Brothers family game and that it is for ages six and up. The second picture shows what the instructions look like. The instructions are all on one page and are very easy to understand. The third picture shows just one of the nine game tiles, the color die, the number die, the mission cards, and the 30 second timer. There are 103 mission cards.
The nine tiles are placed in a 3 x 3 square. The mission cards are separated into three decks: green, red, and blue. Each deck is then shuffled and placed face down near the game board. There is no set method on deciding who goes first. Playing a variety of games and seeing how games determine who goes first, besides just deciding as a group who will go first, one possible method is to roll the number die and the person with the highest number goes first. Another method of determining who goes first, is to let the youngest player in the group go first. Each turn consists of first rolling the color die and then playing the mission card. After the card is played, the next person goes whether the card was won or not. There are three types of missions: green, red, and blue.
The green mission cards are just for the person who drew them. That person needs to read the mission aloud and then roll the number die to see how many objects they need to find. If that person can find at least the number that was rolled on the die, that person then wins the card. If this can not be done, the card is out of play and the turn is over.
The red mission cards allow the highest bidder to play. Without knowing what the mission is each player gets to bid on how many objects they think they can find. The highest bidder plays and if they can make their bid they get the card. If the bid can not be made, the card is out of play and the turn is over.
The blue mission cards allow everyone to play. The card is turned face up for everyone to see. The first person to find the object yells, "Pictureka!," points to the object and gets the card.
The player to win the game is the first person to collect six cards.
The game play is fairly simple. It is basically a find your object type of game. I've tried this with a small group and everyone seemed to have fun. The three types of mission cards give some variety to the game. The red and blue mission cards allow players a possible chance to score more cards without it being their turn. The blue mission cards tend to be the most fun, since it gives everyone the chance to play at the same time. Also the directions suggest that if you are playing with younger children, you might just want to use the blue cards.
The third picture that I have included shows what the artwork looks on all the tiles. The tiles have different images on both the front and the back of the tile, so that there are many ways that you could arrange the tiles. The artwork may not be the best and if that really does bother you, I would suggest that you not get this game. Having played this game several times, I would recommend it to any one who likes find the object type of games. The rules are very simple. The set up is also very simple. Probably the hardest thing about this game is just shuffling the cards which is not that difficult. The game components feel durable and well made.