Game: Crocodile Dentist

Image

Roswell — 2007-10-06T23:39:19+00:00

Back of the box

Image

Capitaine Grappin — 2007-06-26T13:04:11+00:00

Meeples in trouble

Image

EndersGame — 2007-06-19T19:40:41+00:00

Close-up of the mouth and teeth

Image

EndersGame — 2007-06-19T19:26:22+00:00

Wide open mouth

Image

EndersGame — 2007-06-19T19:25:27+00:00

Tooth tongs and teeth

Image

EndersGame — 2007-06-19T03:33:54+00:00

Back of gamebox (bi-lingual edition)

Image

EndersGame — 2007-06-19T03:33:29+00:00

Front of gamebox (bi-lingual edition)

Image

EndersGame — 2007-06-19T03:32:57+00:00

The crocodile

Image

ansi — 2006-10-25T13:39:04+00:00

Thread: Re: Shocking Roulette For The Sane

Ryno8 — 2006-10-18T21:14:40+00:00

Hmm... masochistic? Not me... Im more sadistic. If you could train a real crocodile to do what this game does, then Im in. But seeing a lame piece of plastic shut on my buddy's hands just doesn't give me the same joy as watching them jerk their finger out of the SR.

And kids? My two year old freaking loves shocking roulette... guess he's more of a man than most around here.

Also: People around here need to look up the definition of 'GAME:'

Per the American Heritage dictionary:

game: [geym]
•a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators.
•anything resembling a game, as in requiring skill, endurance, or adherence to rules

Shocking Roulette and Lame Aligator do indeed qualify as games... gmaes of chance.

Thread: Re: Shocking Roulette For The Sane

tuneloon — 2006-10-17T20:39:52+00:00

Geosphere wrote:

If you are not as masochistic as some of the Shocking Roulette fans around here, but want a simple, silly, makes you jump and giggle randomizer, this is the one.

Wow... I thought you were describing Shocking Roulette..... simple..... silly.... makes you jump and giggle.....

Everyone that I have introduced to Shocking Roulette has loved it in a sick and twisted kind of way.

In the words of John Bender

"So its sort of social. Demented and sad, but social, right?"

Thread: Re: Shocking Roulette For The Sane

jpact — 2006-10-17T03:44:33+00:00

You spelled "Lame" wrong. Just thought you should know...

Thread: Re: Shocking Roulette For The Sane

Geosphere — 2006-10-17T02:10:52+00:00

BagpipeDan wrote:
Geosphere wrote:
(although not nearly as stupid as shocking roulette)

You're a blasphemer and a heretic and I have contacted everybody you know: they won't play boardgames with you until you repent.

This will merely save the skin on my fingertips, thank you.

Thread: Re: Shocking Roulette For The Sane

BagpipeDan — 2006-10-16T23:54:14+00:00

Geosphere wrote:
(although not nearly as stupid as shocking roulette)

You're a blasphemer and a heretic and I have contacted everybody you know: they won't play boardgames with you until you repent.

Thread: Shocking Roulette For The Sane

Geosphere — 2006-10-16T20:24:49+00:00

Press a tooth. The mechanism will randomly determine whether or not the croc's teeth snap loudly and frightningly, though mostly harmlessly upon your finger.

When you ratchet open the jaw, whatever ingenious little mechanism inside that determines who gets bitten resets to another tooth.

The tooth which is the 'hot' tooth is random, but somewhat patterned. This makes repeated play kind of predictable, although it seems you can muck with it by changing just how forcefully you yank open the plastic green jaws o' death.

As a game, it is non-existant.

However, as a really stupid randomizer to determine who goes first (although not nearly as stupid as shocking roulette), this is an absolutely great device.

If you are not as masochistic as some of the Shocking Roulette fans around here, but want a simple, silly, makes you jump and giggle randomizer, this is the one.

Kids love it. It doesn't really hurt, but can give a good startling. For adults, keep it to the game starter and you'll have fun.

Thread: Re: Crocodile Dentist AKA Crocky AKA Zombie Crocky

Sprydle — 2006-07-04T09:11:53+00:00

Of course you can cheat if you're playing your kids--but c'mon you should be enjoying your time with them, not cheating them

However, regardless of the patten you can see and use with kids, I guarantee, once you know how the pattern works, it's very simple to foil it with, as I mentioned above, varying the speed at which the Croc's jaws are opened. Trust me, we have preofessional game designers, programmers, and game theorists (as well as mere artists like myself) playing this game--everytime someone thinks they've figured out a sure-fire way to win, they, uh, don't. Everyone knows how the "mechanism" works, but the randomness is provided by the bio-mechanics of the jaw-opener.

Thread: Re: Crocodile Dentist AKA Crocky AKA Zombie Crocky

DoctorWu — 2006-05-15T16:55:04+00:00

not random at all actually, there are a few patterns for which teeth will trigger the jaw that rotate, once you know the order of the patterns you can make it snap shut with a single tooth every time. Takes about 3 minutes to figure out the patterns if you're paying attention.

Why would you want to make it snap shut everytime...to try to convice your kid who has made you play for an hour that the game is broken. Of course, this backfires on me and makes my kid think I'm just really really bad at this game.

Image

Sprydle — 2005-12-12T22:19:17+00:00

Zombie Crocky, here's looking at you, kid!

Thread: Crocodile Dentist AKA Crocky AKA Zombie Crocky

Sprydle — 2005-12-12T08:43:26+00:00

I was surprised to see so few ratings for this game, since although it is pure luck, with absolutely no strategy or thought necessary, I would have expected a few more parents to pipe up about it.

Just so we're clear from the start, this "game" is pure luck--as such, it must viewed in the same light as pulling the arm of a slot machine, or marking off numbers in a bingo game. Nope there's not much to it at all. But on the good side, it plays extremely fast--just minutes from start to end. And if you have a room full of young ones playing, it can, indeed, be a raucous, good time, as squeals of anticipation are mixed with equal parts of "don't pick THAT one," and "pick THAT one!"

Basically, the game works as follows, you pull open the Crocodile's mouth which, I believe, spins a spring-loaded disk of some sort, resetting a semi-random, trigger tooth. Players take turns pressing a tooth until the trigger tooth is pressed and the Crocodile's mouth snaps shut, thereby eliminating that player. Play continues until only the winner is left unbitten. The bite, by the way, is painless, but always surprises to players, making everyone jump a little. For parents, it's a blast to watch the action and reaction of your kid(s) and their friends. Plus, you don't have to play "dumb" to let your kids win; they have just as much of a chance to win as you do.

There is no planning, no strategy, and no frustration at having to move a pawn along an endless track. Just press a tooth, and if the Croc bites you, you're out. Either way, the next player steps up and presses a tooth. Simple, mindless, and pretty fun.

It is worth noting, however, that the disk-thing which "chooses" the trigger tooth, selects the tooth in a counter-clockwise fashion. However, cheating, by always choosing a tooth behind the last trigger-tooth, can be foiled by re-opening the Croc's mouth with a different amount of force/speed each time, with fast always being preferable because the disk will spin more the one revolution before selecting.

Preventing cheating is important if you want to use "Crocky" amongst adults interested in gambling for a pot (of whatever--money, drinks, dinner, the last piece of pie...). By incorporating a pot that the winner gets to take home, you increase the adult interest significantly. We have several different gambling variations we use, playing one round after work, usually with between 10 and 20 players. Depending on the variation, the game may last 15 to 45 minutes and the winner walks away with $10 to $40. Post Katrina, we actually played "Crocky-aid" and raised over $600 for the Red Cross, and the winner walked away with an armfull of prizes donated by all the players.

In summary, I rated the game a 5 -- with kids it is definitely fun enough to pass a half-hour’s few games quickly and with a load of laughs. With adults comfortable with turning it into a gambling game, it's good enough for a single play and you'll reap those same laughs, and if you're lucky, some winnings to boot!

And, speaking of "reap" if you check the photo-section, you'll see the "zombified" version, I created this year, for Halloween.

Thread: Only good for giggles.

Kobra1 — 2005-12-10T03:16:38+00:00

Crocodile Dentist

The Components (Bits):
There is only one component to this game, the Croc himself. The quality of his production actually isn’t that bad, just some toy grade plastic, a few teeth that you can push, and some spring systems inside. The box is decent and does the job, and the instructions are about 50 words.

The Setup and Rules:
Well the rules are 50 words or so, and take about 1 millisecond to explain. There is no setup, you just open the mouth of the croc and start pushing teeth. So I cannot fault the rules and setup in anyway, they are accurate and fitting.

The Theme:
No theme, just a Crocodile who seems to need dentistry work done, and you push down on his teeth – which I assume is to indicate you are performing dentistry on him. Tacked on, useless theme really.

The Gameplay:
The gameplay is nothing more than taking turns pushing on the teeth of a crocodile and hoping his jaws don’t come smashing down on your fingers. That’s it folks.

The Depth and Tactics:
No depth or much tactic that I can find here other than you get to decide which teeth to push down. It is pure 100% luck, with no chance to use skill to overcome the game systems. Absolutely a disaster for anyone that doesn’t like luck based mindless kid games.

Summary:
This really is more of a toy than a game, but it is classified as a game because it has a couple of systems in place to take turns, but its resemblance to a game ends there. The game is a poor quality, pure luck child’s game with absolutely no redeeming qualities for teaching a child anything about gaming other than taking turns. The age group for this game is 3-6, and the only saving grace I can find for this game is that children in that age group seem to get lots of giggles watching the mouth slam down on their parent’s hands. For that, the game does get SOME credit, as anything that makes a child laugh so hard they can hardly breath does have a place in my household.

Kobra
www.boardgamespiel.com

Thread: A use for this game

Colorado_Jeff — 2005-07-28T20:21:03+00:00

This poor game deserved a comment. (Well no, maybe it didn't... )

I just spotted this on a shelf at my FLGS and had to grab it. It'll be a perfect way of determining first player for any game. Last one "bit" goes first.