The game's afoot! Follow your spirit, and upon this charge / Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'" – Henry V (Act 3, Scene 1)
I have to admit, when I was given The Shakespeare Game by Zatu to review (big thanks to Zatu), I was sceptical. Shakespeare is part of English culture and important, but at the same time something every school kid dreaded. It is at the same time both powerful and dense, hiding interesting storylines in old language. Can something like that translate into a board game that is approachable for ages 8 and over? I am happy to say, yes it can.
First impressions
Visually the game is instantly appealing no matter your age. It has a paper cut-out look that I’m sure I’ve seen in other historical media but can’t quite place. The box is kind of a standard shape, which makes it a little overkill as inside there is a lot of unused space. The shape is needed for the folded board, but beyond that all that’s inside is cards, tokens, and the rulebook. They could have gone for a smaller box, or at the very least used the space to give us places to put the various tokens after they are popped out the card, as afterwards they are just loose in the box.
The quality is good though. Both the board and the cards are excellent quality and continue the lovely art style. The player tokens stand up with a cross section of cardboard, which is fine for their purpose. The other tokens I would say are a bit thin, making them difficult to pick up and likely to degrade if the game is used a lot. The rulebook is high quality and looks intimidating at first. But never fear, it's actually only about 2-3 pages of rules which are straightforward (more on that later). The rest is pure Shakespeare! And by that I mean facts, quotes and various other information. Details about plays, places, characters and themes. It’s not something most will read through from front to back, more it works as a reference for things you come across while playing. Enabling you to dive into the Shakespearian side of the game as much or as little as you like.
The game's afoot
Putting aside the Shakespearian aspect for one minute, the rules are relatively straightforward. It is a set collection game where each turn you pick up cards, each belonging to specific sets (colour coded, always appreciated), then you turn in those sets at locations that accept them to get points. The first to get the max points, or reach a lesser points threshold but play a set of one of each colour in a certain location, wins.
Ok, so how does Shakespeare come in? Well the cards are performances, and you have to collect several of, for example Hamlet, to put on a performance of Hamlet at a theatre location that shows that type of play. Some theatres prefer comedies, some tragedies etc. There are some spaces that let you pick up more performance cards, and some which let you draw fortune cards. Fortune cards are a nice twist where you can mess with your opponents, like stealing their cards or sending them to prison in the Tower of London! Or you can use them to boost the points you get from plays, but beware, those boosts stick around so apply to your opponents as well. Oh and the location of the final play? Why the Globe Theatre of course! After you’ve bought in and become a shareholder.
To be or not to be?
This is a game which works without the Shakespeare skin, but would be quite straightforward and nothing we’ve not seen before. The Shakespeare aspect adds a lot to the game and is done in a really approachable way that lets you ease people into it. You can just look at the board, the theatre names, the plays etc and take in a surface level of knowledge. Then you can go deeper, like the quotes on the
Performance cards that the game suggests you say out loud, or the little quiz questions that you are meant to answer in order to be able to use each Fortune card (the game itself says this is optional). And finally beyond that you have a load of knowledge in the rulebook you can reference to get even deeper into the world of Shakespeare.
The level at which you interact with it is entirely up to you. Some might go in who are familiar with Shakespeare and want to challenge themselves, or enjoy quotes from their favourite plays with a group of friends. Some might go in with no knowledge at all but eager to learn. And others, such as parents, could use it as an approachable way to introduce Shakespeare to their kids, without the usual dread that comes along with it.
Fare you well
Is this a game for everyone? No. It appeals to a specific crowd as I have mentioned, but it is very approachable for a topic which is usually entirely the opposite. Shakespeare is a wonderful part of British culture, but it can be incredibly difficult to get into and enjoy. Anything which makes that easier can only be a good thing.
