Game: Los Mampfos

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Carrotteer — 2008-06-29T12:36:16+00:00

donkey doo, come get your donkey poo here!

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afifter — 2008-06-05T14:17:00+00:00

Kids at the UK Games Expo 2008

Thread: Re: When does this game arrive in the USA?

autumnweave — 2008-01-19T20:20:45+00:00

Right now both Time Well Spent and Boulder Games have it in stock.

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nnoc — 2007-07-27T12:29:17+00:00

The oat biscuits

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nnoc — 2007-07-26T23:25:04+00:00

The twelve path tiles

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nnoc — 2007-07-26T11:05:24+00:00

The five mill wheel

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nnoc — 2007-07-25T17:11:35+00:00

Sample ACTION cards

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nnoc — 2007-07-25T16:24:17+00:00

Box back

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nnoc — 2007-07-25T16:23:12+00:00

Rules cover

Thread: Pooping Donkeys with the Niece

Guantanamo — 2007-07-04T04:45:32+00:00

We have our 12 year old niece (April) visiting us. She a very quite girl and fairly shy. It's hard to know what she will like. My wife asked if she like games, she kinda shrugged. But, we said we were going to have family game night and that we were sure we could find something she would be interested in. My children rattled off some games, and then I said "what about pooping donkeys?". With a raise eyebrow she gave that quizical look like 'he didn't just say that'.

So, after dinner we pulled out some games. My 6 year old daughter (Josephine) and 13 year old son (Alex) were playing a game of pipeline as the rest finished up dinner. They came in just as we were finishing pipeline. She refushed to play it, so I said "so do you want to try pooping donkeys?" Which she nodded to.

So, April, Josephine, Lillian (my 10 year old daughter) and Sabrina (my wife) sat down to play with me.

Well, she was ammused by the eating oats and dropping loads explaination and off we went. The game was fairly normal. At one point I was trying to put oats into the brown donkey when they got stuck. So I looked into the mouth and shook it. About 4 oats came flying out of it's mouth and hit me in the mouth, my wife and daughters were just laughing and said there was no way I was going to be allowed to kiss them good night now that I had donkey poop in my mouth.

My wife hardly ever plays games with us and isn't very interested in games. But, one other thing happened during the game of note. Lillian had decided she didn't know what was in one of the donkey's so without looking at the dial, she start spinning it. Sabrina looked at me with a questioning look ('what's she doing?') and I said 'oh, she's just randomly picking a color'. To that my wife replied; "she's not very German is she?" I just about lost it right then and there. My wife really does get me and my games.

Well, after a few poor guesses at the begining, April began to figure it out. There were a couple times that we several of us picked the same color and a large amount of oats went back into the donkeys. By the end of the game we had an amazing 4 way tie at 17 points each! Lillian had 14 (she is the one that normally wins). She smile and said she had a good time. So, it seems to have been a hit. Hopefully, we'll be able to get her into a few more games.

Thread: Re: Donkey 'biscuits' win over the kids

out4blood — 2007-06-05T00:08:16+00:00

Gecko23 wrote:
The 'oat' biscuits are the bits I'm not really enamoured with, they are small, a bit under 1cm in diameter, and round. Now, this is understandable when you consider how big the donkeys would have to be if they were larger, but this is a kid's game, and tiny, round easy rolling bits are easily lost off the table, and possible for good.

That's what you get for letting your kids play with your toys!

Thread: Re: spinner problem

kittyangel — 2007-06-04T23:40:45+00:00

I contacted Zoch and they send me replacement parts and it works now. =)

Thread: Donkey 'biscuits' win over the kids

Gecko23 — 2007-06-04T19:07:25+00:00

With Los Mampfos, another memory game offering by Zoch, the publisher's of Chicken Cha Cha, we encounter three very hungry Donkey's and scoring based on the inevitability of their digestive tracks. And like Chicken Cha Cha, this could become another classic kid's game.

The box is a quite a bit oversized for its contents, containing three wooden donkeys, a small bag of 'oat' biscuits in five colors, five color wheels, 12 hexagons for the movement track, and the rules.

The track bits are thick cardboard, the color wheels a bit thinner, and by the several posts in the game forum, have occassional issues with fitting together properly.

The stand out bits are of course the donkeys. They are wooden, about 4" tall with open mouths, empty bellies, and a lift up tail for 'relieving their excess weight' as they rules say... A nice touch is the embedding of small magnets in the tails to keep them closed during play.

The two downsides of the Donkeys that I've encountered so far are that the 'belly' hollow has a flat slope, so the biscuits tend to pile up and 'jam' the mouth. This is easily fixed by shaking the donkey a bit. The second is that they are made of some sort of fiber/chip board, not solid wood. One of my donkeys arrived with part of an ear flaked off, which was easily enough glued, but makes me think they could have used either better materials, or shipped them in bubble-wrap bags instead of just plain plastic ones.

The 'oat' biscuits are the bits I'm not really enamoured with, they are small, a bit under 1cm in diameter, and round. Now, this is understandable when you consider how big the donkeys would have to be if they were larger, but this is a kid's game, and tiny, round easy rolling bits are easily lost off the table, and possible for good.

The cards are the typical 'tiny' euro style, but they are nicely finished, and since they are just flipped over, not a problem to handle like they can be in other games. The deck itself is letter coded into 8 sub decks, which is another small irritation. You must first separate all 8 sub-decks, shuffle them, then reassemble them in order. Not truly taxing, but irritating. (See Der Untergang Von Pompeji for a similiar experience...)

The rules, despite this game still only being available via importers, are provided in several languages, including english. They are clearly written, easy to follow, and hey provide clear examples of both feeding donkeys and scoring. All in all it shouldn't take more than just a couple of minutes to explain to a child.

The game consists of turning over the top card from the deck, and either feeding a donkey, or scoring one.

The feeding cards display either one of the three donkey colors, or a striped 'wild' donkey. They show how many biscuits to feed the donkey on the top left, what colors are fed are entirely up to the current player, and how may steps to move the donkey on the top right. Donkeys can't share spaces on the movement track, if one would end its movement on an occupied space, it continues on to the first open one.

The 'poo' cards start a distribution of 'biscuits'. Like the feeding cards, they either show a donkey color or a 'wild' one. The current player announces the donkey that will be 'relieved', and everyone picks a color on their color wheel in secret. The wheels are shown simultaneously, then the donkey's tail is lifted to reveal the biscuits inside.

Each player then receives the biscuits of the color they indicated. If multiple players choose the same color, then the biscuits are split evenly as possible. If their aren't enough to go around, they don't get distributed. Any remaining biscuits go back in the donkey.

This procedes until a special 'stop' card is encountered, then all three donkeys are scored in turn, and whoever has the most biscuits wins.

I'm not sure what the inspiration for the Donkey poo theme was, since this could have been implented as many things. (Spices in jars, fruits in baskets, etc.) But needless to say its an instant kid attractor.

The game itself is solid, there is the problem of remembering which donkey was fed what colors, as well as trying to pick a color during scoring to get more biscuits than your opponents, which often means not picking the color it was fed most. My daughter admits that late in the game she starts speculating based on how many biscuits are on the table and in everyone's score pile.

Memory games are almost always good choices for playing with younger kids (4-6) and this one is interesting enough to be playable with older kids (8+) and adults can join in without being terribly bored. I couldn't imagine only adults playing it, but to each their own.

My only real gripes are the fragility of the Donkeys, I can easily imagine one breaking if dropped off a table, and the tiny oat biscuits that lend themselves to being lost so easily.

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zoe79 — 2007-05-19T04:48:08+00:00

Thread: Re: spinner problem

kittyangel — 2007-05-10T15:51:15+00:00

ya it is the disc that was the prob. Of course the cardboard being too thick dosen't help either.

I did email Zoch and I got reply today they said they will send me some new parts. Maybe I will even visit their office in munich when I am there next week. =p

thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Thread: Re: spinner problem

ColtsFan76 — 2007-05-10T14:41:02+00:00

OK. So completely disregarding the cardboard wheel: the two plastic pices won't connect to each other? In that case, I would contact the publisher and see if they can't send you new plastic pieces then.

I thought it was a matter of the cardboard was too thick, which lead to my first suggestion, and then the cardboard hole being too large for a snug fit. But if the plastic won't connect at all, sounds like you have something faulty.

Thread: Re: spinner problem

kittyangel — 2007-05-10T12:54:11+00:00

BrianMola wrote:
If it is too lose then flip the "wheel" part around and snap it in that way. That will tighten it up. I thought the problem was that the cardboard disc was too thick and you couldn't get the two plastic parts to connect.

well ok here is what is happeneing.

1 of the discs that goes with the arrows, the hole is too big. Which causes the disc not going into the mill wheel center. Another thing is, even if I could make the disc go into the wheel, the spinner is still standard size, while the disc is a little bigger, so I will never get the spinner "snuggly fit" into the wheel and the disc. Don't know if that makes sense. The problem really is that 1 disc (the black plastic one) is a tiny bit bigger than standard. oh well...

Thread: Re: spinner problem

ColtsFan76 — 2007-05-10T02:53:16+00:00

If it is too lose then flip the "wheel" part around and snap it in that way. That will tighten it up. I thought the problem was that the cardboard disc was too thick and you couldn't get the two plastic parts to connect.

Thread: Re: spinner problem

kittyangel — 2007-05-10T01:49:12+00:00

well the problem is that even if I can force the wheel hole to be big enough to take the black disc, the spinner will still be loose when I try to pin on the wheel. maybe I will just leave that one out the game and if someone wants to be the fifth person he will just have to use the spinner holding it in place with finger.

we don't have kids, but i thought the donkey is so cute.

Thread: Re: spinner problem

Sprydle — 2007-05-10T00:18:47+00:00

This is a common problem--if you only have one disk that doesn't work well, you're way ahead of me! I only had one the fit correctly! the advice I received was to use extreme force (they mentioned pliers but the pliers I have don't fit) so I used a cutting board and another flat piece of wood and literally just put the disk between and leaned on the thing. So far so good, everything is holding together fine and the spinner part is still moveable.

Great game with the kids by the way!

Thread: Re: spinner problem

ColtsFan76 — 2007-05-09T23:26:47+00:00

i had the same problem with Los Mampfos and Pirate's Cove. Just keep pressing hard and twist it a bit, sometimes that helps lock it. Your thumbs may be bloody when your done, but it should eventually lock. Might want to take something small and round and press on the cardboard to help flatten it in that area also.

Thread: spinner problem

kittyangel — 2007-05-09T23:01:16+00:00

Has anyone else have the problem? One of my spinners will not fit into the disc. The disc's hole is a tiny bit bigger than the standard, so the disc will not go into the pellet mill wheel.

Thread: Re: When does this game arrive in the USA?

kittyangel — 2007-05-08T16:07:28+00:00

jtakagi wrote:
As far as I know, I don't think it will have a US release. You may have to import it from Germany. I'm not sure the theme would fly as a kids' game over here...

lol are you sure? Kids here love poop jokes. In fact my brother in law who is 25 is still making those jokes. =p

but yes I don't think it will be released in US. I got my copy from gamesurplus.

Thread: Re: Biscuit-pooping Donkeys hit American Shores

kittyangel — 2007-05-08T15:47:52+00:00

Now in stock in Gamesurplus for 3bucks less. But they are waiting for restock which is coming in 2 weeks. I just got their last copy last night. They have it for $36. This game is so cute...

Thread: HE WITH THE MOST POO WINS!

zoe79 — 2007-04-09T20:25:41+00:00

What kind of grown adults sit around and play with piles of Poo?
Well I know I do! I'm a 27 year old girl who still giggles at potty humor, it's great!

Friday night my friends and I played Los Mampfos and had a ball.
In between giggles and suggestive mouth noises, we were able to see who used to lose the "Memory" game growing up.

Surprisingly my most intellegent friends, including my ever so wise boyfriend, didn't do as well as I thought they would. They made frequent mistakes on what was the most common color, and ended up having to split the second or third most common.

I on the other hand seemed to have a pretty easy time remembering it all. The majority of time I raked in the most of poo.
My piles of poo towered over the competition!

Give me a game where I get to make noises and make jokes, and I'll be all about it!

Thread: Re: donkey choking on biscuits

skeletodoc — 2007-04-04T02:33:26+00:00

Another way to add food is to backdoor it in from the rear without looking in! Sort of an enema-like suppository!

Thread: Re: Biscuit-pooping Donkeys hit American Shores

skeletodoc — 2007-03-27T21:50:41+00:00

Now available at Bouldergames.com for a buck less too!

Thread: Re: Biscuit-pooping Donkeys hit American Shores

ColtsFan76 — 2007-03-27T12:35:56+00:00

Just 2 Left!

Thread: Biscuit-pooping Donkeys hit American Shores

ColtsFan76 — 2007-03-21T11:34:19+00:00

I just happened to be browsing through TimeWellSpent.org and noticed they got their 2nd shipment of Imports late last week. Included in that was everyone's favorite crappy Donkey game. From what I can see, no US supplier has these and TWS doesn't even have an add up yet on BGG. Looks like after I placed my order, only 5 copies remain.

You can check it out here:
https://www.timewellspent.org/html/gamepage.php?id=1636

(and I am not getting compensated for this - just a loyal customer who supports low prices and great service! - and think everyone should have at least 1 donkey pooping game in their collection)

Thread: Re: Butt-load of donkey doo

generalpf — 2007-03-01T18:34:51+00:00

For the life of me, I can't figure out why someone gave this review a . Well ~~excreted~~ done.

Thread: Butt-load of donkey doo

Dimbus — 2007-03-01T16:01:14+00:00

Los Mampfos may look like a game for kids uupon first impression, but you better pay attention if you want to win.

Initial setup consists of tiles set up in a circle, with the donkeys being placed in separat tiles. On a player's turn she/he reveals a card that will either feed a donkey a certain number of oat biscuits or have the donky excrete said biscuits. If the donkey is eating the biscuits, the player announces how many and which color and then moves the donkey around the circle equal to the number the donkey ate.

If the player draws a "donkey poop" card, then all the players choose secretly (using a dial) which color the donkey ate. Once all the choices are revealed the donkey is emptied and the colored biscuits are split between the players that chose the colors in the donkey (with any uneven splits or non-chosen colors being fed back into the donkey). This leads to a great amount of punning (Holy crap that donkey ate a buttload of blue biscuits). At the end of the game all of the donkeys are emptied and the player with the most biscuits wins.

Sounds simple, no? The complexity of this game is two fold. First off it is a memory game, which is tougher than one might think, considering the donkeys move around the board. But memory alone will not win you the game. You also have to gauge your fellow players and decide which colors they will pick.

As an example: the brown donkey is chosen to poop. Everyone knows the brown donkey has eaten a lot of red biscuits (say 6). If each of the 5 players picks red then they will each get one biscuit. I decide to be different and pick blue (since I remember the donkey has eaten 2 blue biscuits). When the the dials are revealed everyone has chosen red but me. We search the donkeys poop and find 6 red, 2 blue and one yellow. I would get 2 blue biscuits and my fellow players would each get 1 blue biscuit and the remaining red and yellow biscuits go back in the donkey.

This game is a lot of fun and shouldn't be overlooked because of its theme. Give it a try and you may surprised at the brain power you use trying to get donkey feces.

Thread: Re: When does this game arrive in the USA?

Sprydle — 2007-02-19T06:08:04+00:00

Best

4 to 8 year olds'

game

EVER

In fact, you can't make them stop laughing...so hard in fact you should play on carpet because they'll be literally falling out of their chairs. No hyperbole here. Especially when you have to re-feed the um donkey poops to the donkeys.

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itiswon — 2007-02-12T18:58:21+00:00

wheel of biscuit

Thread: donkey choking on biscuits

Alan Kwan — 2006-12-30T14:35:27+00:00

While each donkey has room inside it for over 30 biscuits, occasionally a donkey would seem to "choke" on the biscuits after swallowing a few. The biscuits are choked at the neck, and you can't put more in.

This is caused by the nature of the shape of the space inside the stomach. It is not like a normal piggy bank, for which beyond the mouth is a drop-off into the large space. Instead, the space is formed atop a slope on the under side (running from the neck to the tail); this makes the biscuits fall out naturally when the tail is lifted. However, sometimes the biscuits rest on that slope in a thin layer, and when the stuff accumulates up to the neck, it blocks further biscuits from going in.

This problem can be easily solved by shaking the donkey, preferably in the direction perpendicular to the slope (i.e. in a 45-degree direction towards the up and back of the donkey). In fact, this causes a nice distraction in the game, so that when players have to do this, they would more easily forget the contents inside the donkeys!

Thread: all donkeys are not born equal

Alan Kwan — 2006-12-30T14:22:09+00:00

In the card deck, there are more cards for feeding the grey or brown donkeys than the white one: 2 more cards each, for 6 more biscuits fed.

I'm wondering, why is that?

Thread: Re: fruit biscuits

RPardoe — 2006-12-16T03:00:01+00:00

If you look at the edges of the box illustration, you will see..

orange = oranges (right hand side - behind the brown donkey)
green = pear (left hand side - behind the white donkey)

PS - The rules also call them oat biscuits so I guess they are fruity flavoured oat cakes. But I didn't realize donkeys were coprophagic.

Thread: fruit biscuits

Alan Kwan — 2006-12-16T02:30:03+00:00

According to the box illustration, the red biscuits represent strawberry flavor, the yellow ones are pineapple, and the blue ones grape.

What flavors are the remaining two, orange and green?

Thread: Re: When does this game arrive in the USA?

smithhemb — 2006-05-02T10:25:46+00:00

Took Los Mampfos into an American kindergarten this week and, by the end of class, half the kids were saying "Now where can my Mom get this?" To which a few added "And will that store have the jewels in the mine game (Diamant) too?"

Thread: Re: When does this game arrive in the USA?

jtakagi — 2006-04-23T23:12:46+00:00

As far as I know, I don't think it will have a US release. You may have to import it from Germany. I'm not sure the theme would fly as a kids' game over here...

Thread: When does this game arrive in the USA?

gregdjohn — 2006-04-23T20:29:44+00:00

When does this game arrive in the USA?