Andy Niggles, creator of Boozle, was kind enough to send me a demo copy of the card game. Niggles, wrote, “Here’s your demo copy of Boozle – the party game that features set collection and secret action selection – and plenty of little cartoon critters ready for a night of debauchery. Remember, this is just a preview demo copy. The final production version is going to have different images for each Boozle type/color, wild cards, and extra ‘house rules’ to make the game even more awesome. We plan to Kickstart Boozle in the near future, but for now we just want as many people as possible to enjoy it! The game is fun with or without drinking, and we’ve included enough cards for five people to play.”
Yes, folks this is a drinking game. Now I’m sure Mr. Niggles is not advocating underage drinking and neither are we at The Gaming Gang. So for all of our fans under 21, use fruit juice, water, milk, or soda as your drink of choice when playing this one! There… I think we’ve just delivered our public service announcement for the day.
- 50 Boozle cards (10 of each different colored Boozle)
- 5 Drink cards
- 5 Draw +1 cards
- 5 Snatch cards
- 5 Repeat cards
- 5 Nope cards
- 1 King Boozle card
For a demo game, I thought the art was fun and nicely done. There are five different Boozles each with their own description:
The yellow Boozle is called a Yoozle and is described as “friendly and the life of the party”.
The red Boozle is called a Roozle and is described as “angry and often destructive”.
The blue Boozle is called a Bloozle and is described as “dramatic and embarrassing”.
The purple Boozle is called a Poozle and is described as “sophisticated and classy”.
The last Boozle is green and called a Groozle. Groozles are described as “always consuming too much”.
I thought the names were inventive and possibly even something Snoop Lion (the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg) would be down with. He might even think this game was “da shiznit”. As I looked at the art and descriptions of the Boozles, it reminded me of party guests I’ve had the pleasure (or misfortune) of associating with at any number of adult beverage soirées I attended as a young man. Nice touch, Mr. Niggles. Lastly, although the Boozle personalities don’t play into the game mechanics, it might be fun if they did.
Play breaks down this way: Each player selects two action cards (Drink, Nope, Snatch, Draw, or Repeat) and puts them face down in front of themselves. At this point, the player holding the King Boozle card reveals one action card and plays it out. Play continues to the left of the current King Boozle in the same fashion until all the players have played both of their selected action cards. The King Boozle card then gets passed to the left and play continues as described above. The winner is the player who collects five Boozles of the same color. When this happens, the game ends immediately and all the other players must finish their drink.
The action cards have the following effects:
- Snatch: Pick a player, take one of their Boozles, and ask them to drink
- Nope: When someone tries to snatch one of your Boozles, this card can be used to block that action and force them to drink instead. This card can only be played if it was one of the two cards you chose to put in front of you at the start of the round.
- Draw: Take the top card from the Boozle deck and put it face up in front of you
- Repeat: Play the same card you played in your first turn; can’t be used with the Drink card.
It should be noted the person who currently holds the King Boozle card gets to be the thumbmaster. What this means is if at any time they put their thumb on the edge of the table, everyone else must follow suit. The last person who does so has to drink.
I’m not much of a drinker anymore and this may not be a game parents break out for family game night either but, overall, Boozle has a fun concept for *ahem* responsible beverage drinkers …whatever beverage that may be. The art was fun and the rules were relatively simple. This was a demo copy and obviously not the final product. I received heavy paper stock cards which were hand cut. The rules were printed out on similar paper and everything was sent in a standard envelope to me. In my humble opinion, a nicely boxed version with laminated cards and fun box-cover art would be just the thing to make Boozle successful for the adult beverage game market. Until then, Boozle is a free download. Give it a shot (pun intended) and see what you think!
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