Game: Zig-Zag

Thread: Re: English Rules?

dramaplastika — 2008-10-16T15:56:32+00:00

Hello,

You can find them in Rio Grande Games web:

http://riograndegames.com/uploads/Game/Game_219_gameRules.pd...

Thread: More players?

Lacota — 2008-06-12T12:58:33+00:00

Could you just shorten the tracks further (by a card or two) and increase the number of players? (Pawns not withstanding)

Thread: Re: Review: 4-player game of Zig-Zag

Hendal — 2008-05-03T12:05:58+00:00

How does it compare to Oden's Ravens?

How long where the games?

thanks for sharing.

Game On'

Thread: Re: are you allowed to backtrack?

LemonyFresh — 2008-04-24T16:27:10+00:00

Yes!

It's all part of the fun!

Thread: are you allowed to backtrack?

ackmondual — 2008-04-24T16:21:12+00:00

It's not something you'd wanna do often, but with some types of terrain being rare (only 2 to 5 cards each, total), it may be advantageous to backtrack around to make progress. At best, you'd need to collect one extra card to backtrack.

Of course, it should be acknowledged that you always have 2 alternative paths you can pursue, but I'm still curious about backtracking none of the less.

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willk_1230 — 2007-11-14T03:29:45+00:00

Zig Zag Play Layout

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willk_1230 — 2007-11-14T03:29:17+00:00

Zig Zag Overview

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willk_1230 — 2007-11-14T03:28:53+00:00

Front and Back of a Movement Card

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willk_1230 — 2007-11-14T03:28:28+00:00

Front and Back of a Path Card

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willk_1230 — 2007-11-14T03:27:54+00:00

Front and Back of a Finish Card

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willk_1230 — 2007-11-14T03:27:16+00:00

The 4 Zig Zag Finish Line Cards

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willk_1230 — 2007-11-14T03:26:41+00:00

Zig Zag Box Bottom

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Mr Penguin — 2007-10-27T07:13:10+00:00

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Walsfeo — 2007-05-16T03:22:25+00:00

Zig Zag pawn on the way to the finish!

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Walsfeo — 2007-05-16T03:21:45+00:00

Zig Zag being played by the Syracuse Board Gamers

Thread: Re: Review: 4-player game of Zig-Zag

TrojanDan — 2007-05-10T15:56:56+00:00

You're correct. You can't reorder. By "sorting" I meant showing the other players face up the order you picked them up in. So yes, no re-sequencing your cards.

Thread: Re: Review: 4-player game of Zig-Zag

Solamar — 2007-05-10T15:37:05+00:00

TrojanDan wrote:
The second phase (the "Running" phase) consists of sorting out the cards that you collected from phase one and determining how far you progressed along your obstacle cards.
Maybe I do not remember the rules right, but I thought that the second phase consisted of just running the cards. You were not allowed to reorder your cards at all. You must have picked them up in order in phase one. On the first mistake you made, you stopped. Did I remember the rules wrong here?

Thread: Review: 4-player game of Zig-Zag

TrojanDan — 2007-05-10T05:51:10+00:00

We played two rounds of 4-player Zig-Zag. The game is a chaotic hybrid of Odin's Ravens and Mamma Mia! There are two types of cards: obstacle cards and terrain cards. The goal is to collect the correct sequence of terrain cards to navigate the maze of different terrains depicted on a player's individual obstacle cards. The first player to completely navigate all of their obstacle cards wins.

There are two main phases of Zig-Zag, a dexterity "Collection" phase and a progress determining "Running" phase.

The Collection phase is largely dexterity based - how fast you can 1) flip over terrain cards, 2) find cards of a particular type that matches your needs, and 3) your dexterity in beating out the other players to pick up that card - determines your success.

This phase is very chaotic and requires quite a bit of multi-tasking ability. One problem that we found with this phase of the game after two plays was that people can easily cherry-pick: by not flipping over cards and just waiting for people to flip and pick up their cards. In the second game of play, one player just sat back and picked up cards that other players flipped over and easily won.

The second phase (the "Running" phase) consists of sorting out the cards that you collected from phase one and determining how far you progressed along your obstacle cards.

We thought it might be better to add a rule to the Collection phase where you can't pick up two face up cards in a row without flipping over at least one card.

Thread: Re: English Rules?

halanj — 2006-07-27T22:17:55+00:00

A pdf has been uploaded today and needs to be reviewed. Stay tuned.

Thread: Slip Sliding Away...

otha62 — 2006-04-26T23:45:37+00:00

Overview
Zig-Zag is a quick and chaotic card game for 2-4 players, designed by Hartmut Witt and Frank Schaubrenner. It was recently released here in the US by Kosmos/Rio Grande Games, but was previously published in Europe under the name Kreuz und Quer. The object of the game is for each player to quickly race through their own unique obstacle course, avoiding penalties on the way. The first person to successfully maneuver through their course and reach their goal card is the winner. Our games have averaged around 20 minutes from set up to finish.

Out of the Box
The game components include 48 travel cards, 28 obstacle cards, 4 goal cards, and 4 wooden pawns (red, blue, green, yellow). Each travel card represents various types of terrain (water, sand, cobblestones, clay, grass, checkerboard, etc.) while each obstacle card has 18 areas that match the terrain on the travel cards. The four goal cards show a racer crossing the finish line on four types of terrain (water, sand, meadow, and cobblestones). The cards are well done and nicely illustrate the racing theme.

Set Up
Each player selects a pawn and is dealt one goal card. For 2-player games, each person is dealt 8 obstacle cards; for 3 or 4 players, 7 cards each are dealt. Each player chooses 2 obstacle cards to discard while keeping the rest. The discards are shuffled together to form the penalty deck. The players form their respective course by placing the obstacle cards that they kept end-to-end and face-up. At the beginning of their course they place their respective pawns, and at the end of the course they lay down the goal card they were dealt, perpendicular to the cards forming the course. The 48 travel cards are then laid face down in the middle of the playing area, where all players have equal access to them. The first round is then ready to begin.

Game Play
There are two phases in each round, the collection phase and travel phase. The first phase is collection; the object is to collect travel cards that you need to advance through the various terrain that makes up your obstacle course. Once all players are ready to collect, the youngest player yells “Zig-Zag!” and every one begins to turn over the travel cards simultaneously. If you need that card you place it in your hand face down; if not, you leave that card face up on the table. The key here is that you must collect the travel cards in order; for example, the first card you choose to keep will be the first card you play during the travel phase, the second will be the next, and so on. You cannot go back and look at the cards you’ve kept and you cannot change their order in any way once you’ve put them in your hand. You may end this phase by yelling “STOP!” when either of 2 conditions is met: first, when all travel cards left in the playing area are face up; second, when you think you’ve collected enough travel cards to cross your finish line. Once “STOP!” has been declared by a player, the travel phase begins.

Traveling is similar to travel in Elfenland and Odin’s Ravens; i.e., you advance by matching travel cards to the appropriate terrain spaces. The player who yelled “STOP!” begins the travel phase. During this phase, you turn your collected travel card pile to where the first card collected is face up. If that travel card matches one of the terrain spaces adjacent to where your pawn currently resides, the pawn may advance to that space. Then the second travel card is checked and so on; you keep advancing your pawn one terrain space along your obstacle course as long as each succeeding card matches the space being moved to. If you have a travel card come up that doesn’t match any adjacent terrain, then your turn is over for the round and the rest of your travel cards are discarded. Play then continues clockwise for the next player to travel in the same manner. When the last player has traveled, if no one has reached their goal card, the travel cards are gathered, shuffled, and laid face down again for another round. NOTE: If you yelled “STOP!” before all the travel cards were face up, and you didn’t reach your goal card during the travel phase, you must take a penalty. A penalty consists of drawing an extra obstacle card from the penalty deck, and adding it to your course.

The first player to reach their goal card wins the game.

Strategy
Not a whole lot of strategy here, but there are a few things to consider. First off, when deciding on which obstacle cards to keep and how to place them, don’t depend on one terrain type; it’s easy to get stuck and not move far (especially in a 4 player game) if other players are looking for the same type. This is especially true since the terrain types on the travel cards are not evenly distributed; some types have more cards than others. Hence, it’s better to make sure your obstacle cards have as much variety of terrain spaces as possible, giving you alternatives if a certain terrain becomes unavailable during the collection phase. When possible, try to travel along either the middle or the ends when maneuvering through your obstacle course since the spaces are larger in those areas and you can travel farther with fewer cards. Also be careful when collecting travel cards to make sure those cards are playable in the order you collect them. In all the chaos of collecting cards at the same time as other players, it’s easy to grab a wrong card and one bad card can make for a very short trip during the travel phase. And, obviously, you need to make sure that if you call “STOP!” during the collection phase before the remaining travel cards are face up, that you can make it to your goal card. Adding a penalty obstacle card to your course can be hard to overcome.

Conclusions
Zig-Zag is a good little game for what it is; a quick, fun, and chaotic filler that you can play with your kids. There’s no deep strategy here; if that’s what you seek, look elsewhere. However, if you’d like an entertaining little diversion that both adults and kids can enjoy together, Zig-Zag would be a good choice. During our last game, we played with 2 adults, a teenager, and a first grader. The game played quickly, every one grasped the rules easily, and the adults had just as much fun as the young ‘uns; can’t ask much more of a filler. I currently rate Zig-Zag a 6.

Thread: English Rules?

byrongeek — 2006-04-09T04:02:28+00:00

Does anyone have the English rules for this game please?