The first review is by my 27-year old non-gaming coworker. When I say "non-gaming", I mean it. She does NOT like to play games at all. I was surprised when she left me this 35-second game review on my work voicemail this afternoon. Vasel and Nicholson, fear not! She's got a long way to go. (.mp3 format, 545 kb file size)
**available at http://www.nicholasdavis.info/Media/1520092052HKre.mp3


This second review is mine. My first on BGG. I guess I feel compelled to write a quick-something about this game because it's one of the few times that I've gone with the hype and truly enjoyed what I got. Thanks hype-machine! Sliders has been out of stock in town (and online) for quite some time now and yesterday I saw two on the shelf of my local Super Walmart. YAY! The worker informed me that they were both returns: unopened and unwanted. My heart went out to these lonely, abandoned boxes. Shh shh shhhhh.....everything's going to be okay.


I picked one up for my work (I work as a counselor at a shelter house for teenagers ages 9-17) and one for myself (my wife, 4-year old daughter, Acacia, and 11-month old son, Janek).


Oooooooooh, goody goody! I had a bounce to my step when walking out of that store like I was the coolest guy on the planet. Yep, I get excited when I find certain things. It usually happens with 'holy grail' finds, but Sliders has been on my treasure map for a short time, so I felt invincible walking through that parking lot. Where were my bodyguards for my $30 purchase?


Quite a bit has been written about the game already so I'll keep it quick.


The pawns (4 small ones of each color to keep track of the score and 4 large ones of each color that contain the ball bearing for sliding) are sweet. I can't say they are "beautiful" or "awesome", so I'll just go for a taste adjective and say they are "sweet". Are they sweet tasting? I'm not sure. At some point my son may be able to tell you....but I hope not.


As far as the tracks and rails go, they aren't indestructible by any means, but are of good enough quality that if taken care of properly, they will last a long time (which goes for any game). The same can be said about the 2 'target' boards you get (with a different 'game' on each side for a total of 4 'games').


Board one gives you different targeted zones with the ability to move that many spaces (outer edge is 1 and moving inward until number 5 at the bullseye) to get your pawns home. Board two is similar, with the exception of four "not-so-hot" spots that if landed on, kick your slider pawn off the board and it scores no points for that round. It's fun to knock your opponents into them! Board three has a hole cut out of the center that when landed in automatically moves one of your scoring pawns to home and similarly, board four's hole sends that slider piece out of the game for the round and forces you to send your highest scoring pawn (not already in the home area) back to start. Going off the un-railed corners of any of the boards does the same thing. Watch out!


Concentrate on advancing your own pieces, try your hardest to flick your pawn into someone else's to make them suffer! Mua ha ha ha ha ha. When my opponents give me that jaw-dropped look of "how could you??!?!" it feels good to simply say, "Sorry!" An apology has never felt so evil. hehehe


It should be noted that we have found it more effective to give your slider pawns a good finger-flick or wrist-flick - just enough to get it down the track. It seems that excessive force just makes your pawn (and other pawns) fall over (which sends them off the board for the round with no scoring capability). So take it easy, turbo!


This game is fun!. Good, "stupid" fun (with some strategy involved)! The teens at work had a blast with it, my wife is loving it, and my daughter feels like a bowling/darts queen when she wins! The rules are simple and effective. The game is easy to explain, easy to learn, etc. I like the versatility of the track/board/rail setup for different numbers of players (1-4) and different track shapes (L-shape for example). I'm quite excited to make some custom 'target' boards with different options to advance your own pieces or wreak havoc on those of your opponent.


One more thing: when anyone has a Big Lebowski "Donny" moment of going over that foul line with their fingers - I can't help but have a "Walter" moment of yelling, "Over the line! Mark it zero!"



**Thank you to Nick (Fygar here on BGG and over at www.ccgtradepost.com) for putting the mp3 on his site for me.