Quack Shot

I’m taking a departure from my usual rigid review structure as it just doesn’t seem appropriate for Quack Shot.

Quack Shot is a game for 2 to 4 players who sit around a central rotating barrel which has a number of targets around the outside which are in 4 different colours. The players each control a firing mechanism of one of the four colours and have a supply of plastic darts close to hand. Each player tries to knock out the targets of their opponent’s colours by firing the darts at them. The targets are spring-loaded into the barrel so that when they are hit they (usually!) come flying out. The winner is the player who has any remaining targets intact when all three other colours have been completely eliminated. The barrel is battery operated and has a switch to start and stop it rotating.



I came across this game at my local games club – Finchley Games Club in North London – as they have a ‘Silly Games Night’ once per year, usually the week just before Christmas. I was initially sceptical as it clearly looks like a child’s game, but almost every member was duly signing up to play in the tournament so I put my name down as well. What followed can only be described as mayhem, chaos and a fantastically immense amount of fun.

The tournament was fairly informal with players just sitting and choosing to play whenever they liked, but with all results recorded and with each player playing a set number of games over the evening. In order to score points the game is slightly altered so that it ends as soon as all the targets of one colour have been hit. As soon as that happens the game is called to a halt and players then count how many targets they have left, scoring one point for each. Thus a player will score a total of 0-4 for each game.



After the set number of games have been played the scores are added up and the four best players then battle it out in a final for the coveted prize of being the Quack Shot Master (and a £10 voucher at FLGS Leisure Games).

This game is very silly and is clearly a child’s game but it was just so much fun! The sight of four middle-aged men sitting in anticipation with their Ducks primed, waiting for the switch to be flipped really is one to behold. The carnage as darts fly across the room and players desperately scramble to load their next one before all their targets are gone. The look on someone’s face as they misfire and hit one of their own targets. The whole room gathered around to watch the ensuing chaos. All priceless



This is a game that I would pretty much never play in normal circumstances, but for some reason when you play with a group of middle-aged men it just becomes right.

Rating:
4 in normal circumstances
10 if playing in a tournament with lots of grown men who should know better