I’m a sucker for stacking games, and STACKUP is an interesting looking one that crossed my path this morning. Its Kickstarter page describes it as ‘a fast-paced, strategic duel for two players. Easy to learn but endlessly replayable, STACKUP is all about climbing higher, holding your lead, and staying on top until the very end.’
It’s the first Kickstarter project, and indeed first game, by industrial designer Bartłomiej Matuszek.
OK, so what actually is it?
Game Play
It looks a bit like one of those marble run toys that surely everyone must have played with as a kid, but without the marbles. And with an element of competition. It’s also a little like Cascadia: Alpine Lakes or Dragonarium, in which tile stacking is a strong element of the gameplay, though here, stacking is the only element.
Alas, the Kickstarter page doesn’t include detailed rules, so some of this is guesswork. You and your opponent take turns to place either a long or a short piece across pairs of studs, starting on the base board, but subsequently building up on previously placed pieces, aiming to end the game with you’re the most pieces of your colour at the top. The rules for placement are that your piece must be placed with either at least one end on a stud of your colour or both ends on grey, and pieces must be horizontal—no sloping allowed.
When building on other pieces, the only way to begin a new level is to cover both a black and a white stud. I.e., you can’t create a new layer by placing a piece over two of your own colour—that level must have been created already before you can place a piece in that manner.
The basic game only uses pieces with either two black or two white studs, but a more advanced version brings several ‘special pieces’ into play: blockers, with one red stud which prevents anyone from building on top of it apart from with another blocker or a neutral; neutrals, with two grey studs, allowing you to open up an blocked studs to build on; and traitors, with one black and one white stud, which can cover everything apart from red (remember, the normal pieces can only be placed on grey or your colour, whereas this one can cover pairs with your opponent’s colour and none of yours).
It does look sort of interesting, and I like the ability of the long pieces to create ‘bridges’ preventing your opponent from placing a piece, at least not unless they build up an extra layer on both sides first.
Other Impressions
STACKUP is intriguing, and I like the physical nature of the game, but I’m not so keen on the campaign itself. I do like to see comprehensive rule explanations—or even better rulebooks—as well as playthrough videos, but those are all lacking here. However, the photo near the bottom of the page does suggest it’s a real product and not all nifty computer graphics.
The one thing I specifically don’t like about the campaign is the reward structure. You can pledge for the base game, or for about £15 more, you can also get a ‘superbacker surprise gift.’ What?! I don’t want to fork out money for a totally undefined surprise—I want to know up front exactly what I’ll receive. Just no!
You’ll need to make up your own mind about this project, but it’s a no from me given the current form of the campaign.
About the Author:
When not playing board games or blogging about them, L.N. Hunter keeps himself occupied writing fiction: a comic fantasy novel, The Feather and the Lamp, sits alongside close to 100 short stories in various magazines and anthologies, and on websites and podcasts (see https://linktr.ee/L.N.Hunter for a full list). L.N. occasionally masquerades as a software developer or can be found unwinding in a disorganised home in Carlisle, UK, along with two cats and a soulmate.
