A compact approach to pattern building, with open drafting and very cute rainbow squirrels? Does this even need more of a review than that? Well… yes… let’s go nuts with NUT!
Introduction
NUT is the next in my series of Pack O Games reviews and might just be my overall favourite title of the ones I own so far. It’s incredibly simple to learn, quick to play and fun for all ages. In what feels like a continuation of some Pack O Games titles, it has a slightly odd player count in that you can only play this with two or three players, so do bear that in mind.
A compact approach to pattern building, with open drafting and very cute rainbow squirrels? Does this even need more of a review than that? Well… yes… let’s go nuts with NUT!
Introduction
NUT is the next in my series of Pack O Games reviews and might just be my overall favourite title of the ones I own so far. It’s incredibly simple to learn, quick to play and fun for all ages. In what feels like a continuation of some Pack O Games titles, it has a slightly odd player count in that you can only play this with two or three players, so do bear that in mind.
Setup
As with many of these games, setup is pretty straightforward here, and so are the rules! To begin, you place three columns of tree pieces in the centre of the table, with each column having a piece per player. So in a two player game, you’ll have 3×2 pieces set out, and 3×3 in a three player game. That’s it. That’s all the set up.
Gather your nuts
Drafting is the name of the game here. Beginning with the first player (might I suggest the last person to have seen a squirrel?) you take a piece of tree from a column and set it out in your own play area. Pieces with squirrels on must be oriented so they squirrel is face-up, but those with nuts on can be rotated 180 degrees as if the nut was growing upwards.
The only other real restrictions are that you can overlap but not tuck under, and you must align the tree trunk to another piece of trunk, or place it so that the sky it touching the sky – as if you’re building multiple trees together. You can leave gaps so there’s room for flexibility there.
Once everyone’s taken one of the remaining pieces from the column that was chosen, the pieces are replaced so the next person once again has a choice of three columns, and they become the first to draft a piece.
Play continues like this until all the cards have been played. At the end, you’ll not be able to refill the columns, so the choice will naturally diminish in the final few rounds.
Score your hoard
Once the final card has been played, it’s time to score up and see who has the most dynamic drey and the most special scurry of squirrels in all the land!
Points are awarded for the largest contiguous area of the same coloured nuts in your trees, with the rainbow nuts able to count for multiple collections at a time. This can lead to some clever choices about playing them to form intersections of two large groupings as they can count for both. For most of your collections, you’ll score a point per nut.
Squirrels are the game changer though. The acrobatic drey dwellers allow you to score two points per nut in a collection, as long as that largest group is also connected to or through your squirrel.
Being able to bag the squirrels in the draft makes a big difference to how you’ll approach your game, but placing you cards well is how you make the most from it.
Add up your scores from each of the six colours and determine the victor.
Final thoughts
Absolutely love this one – no doubt about it. I will play this with anyone at any time, anywhere you like. It’s so so simple it’s untrue. It’s bright and colourful and a bit silly, but you can actually make some strategic choices to boost your own score, or deprive someone of more points in the drafting stage.
I think there’s also a bit about loss avoidance running through this. You can’t really try and collect all six colours equally as you’ll struggle to make the placement balance out as you’d like.
My daughter’s usual plan of attack is to acquire one squirrel and focus on that as best she can. It can be successful as you’ll always score something for the other colours, but it does leave you reliant on drafting a smaller number of colours, and just getting a squirrel in the first place.
It’s a huge amount of fun and is probably the game in this series I’d recommend to people first and foremost.
You might like
· Pocket-sized portable fun
· Simple to learn and quick to play
· Rainbow squirrels!
· Great art which really works with the style of the game
Might not like
· Element of luck – if you can never draft a squirrel, you’ll struggle. It’s never happened to me though
· Slightly odd player count
