Well well well, what a joyful way to spend a board game session. Equipped with icecream, comfy clothes and a nostalgic love of everything marbles, Marbelous went down a real treat.
First Impressions
The golden, star-studded game title on the box catches attention, magnified by a perfectly nostalgic 3D effect. Below the title is a huge depiction of the technicolour marbles in the game, surrounded my more magical stars and a graphic effect which makes some of the marbles look like they are moving rapidly and dramatically.
The contents of the box lives up to the punchy, bold aesthetic promised on the box. The box provides players with perfectly rounded wooden marbles, which happen to look a bit like some sort of limited edition colourful malteasers! There are 4 colours on offer: purple, yellow, blue and red, with an additional "wild card" marble: white.
Game Play
The set up is fairly simple, featuring a 4 by 3 grid of points cards, 3 faceup cards and a 5-track structure for each player to display their marbles in as they play. Players then choose from the 3 faceup cards, indicating which marbles they will get to pick up from the central store, to then roll down their tracks. For example, one of the faceup cards might depict 1 yellow, 1 purple and 1 red marbles. That player could place these marbles horizontally or vertically, all landing in 1 single track or each colour split across 3 neighboring tracks. The aim of the game is to earn the most points by gathering 3,4 or 5 marbles that are touching eachother on the track structure, as many times as they can! Once these patterns of touching same colours are made, players can satisfyingly POP the corresponding marbles out! Let the marbles be free!
Perks of the Game
The satisfaction factor of this game is real. It's serious stuff, proper, super satisfaction, it's wonderful. The serotonin and dopamine-inducing visuals of the bright, brilliant marbles. The instinctive flow-like process of choosing a pattern of marbles to then pick up, combined with a cognitive kick of puzzling which way to place them, then watching and hearing them roll down the tracks, is like goldust! Simply so cool, and therapeutic.
The simplicity of Marbelous is a big win. It is a good game for families, being marketed at age 8 years and up, but it's also a great game to play in a small group of adults (up to 4 players), perfect for a relaxing wind down after work or a busy day of adult duties! It's the type of game where there is headspace leftover to chatter and catch up, a big must for me, that's for sure.
Another big 'plus' of this game is the opportunity to play it solo. Perfect for a recharge of those social batteries, especially during a summer with the likes of weddings, hen parties, picnics and birthdays! It can just be picked up and played whenever, without the need to arrange a group meet up. Wonderful wonderful!
Overall Verdict
Me and my friend really enjoyed Marbelous. It gave those comforting nostalgic sparkles, whilst not feeling outdated or at all boring. It makes you think, providing escapism and immersive play, but it's not complicated or difficult to follow. It's an all-rounder, a crowd pleaser, and I definitely recommend it to others!
