Game: Pick Picknic

Thread: Re: A Modern Fairy Tale: In which a Custom Corn Cube Bag is used for the first time (with pictures!)

Daddys_Home — 2008-09-16T14:21:46+00:00

More than Powerpuff Girls: Saving the World Before Bedtime?

Thread: Re: A Modern Fairy Tale: In which a Custom Corn Cube Bag is used for the first time (with pictures!)

denverarch — 2008-09-15T15:10:07+00:00

I actually think this is one of the best games with a stupid theme in the hobby.

Good report

Thread: A Modern Fairy Tale: In which a Custom Corn Cube Bag is used for the first time (with pictures!)

EndersGame — 2008-09-15T14:36:56+00:00

A Modern Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, the Ender family lived in a little house. There was Mr Ender, Mrs Ender, and five little Enders. And they all were happy. And from time to time they played games, which made them even more happy.

Now as it happened, there was lots of corn at the Ender house.

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In fact, there were 78 cubes of corn! That's a lot of corn!

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One day, Mrs Ender was feeling particularly wifely and homemakerly. And so she made a Custom Corn Cube Bag. Otherwise known as The C.C.C.B. And really that is what this session report is all about. Mr Ender wants to show off The Custom Corn Cube Bag. Here's what it looked like:

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Isn't that magnificent? But back to our fairy tale.

Of course everybody knows that birds like to eat corn. In fact they LOVE corn! Especially blue, green and yellow corn.

And so from time to time, the Ender family invited the local poultry to a Pick Picknic. I mean, a Picnic. Sorry about the slight stutter. They carefully laid out on the table, six poutry yards, to ensure that the corn would be distributed fairly:

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Since the Ender family now were proud owners of The Custom Corn Cube Bag, Mr Ender declared that the evening was perfect for a Pick Picknic. Really, of course, this was all just an excuse to see The Custom Corn Cube Bag in action. But don't tell the poultry we invited about that, because they didn't know any better. You can keep a secret, right?

Mr Ender sat down with Miss K Ender (age 10), Miss C Ender (age 6), and Miss A Ender (age 4), and after the appropriate drum roll, the ceremonial Box Opening took place. But where was the ziplock plastic bag with the corn cubes? Oh...tragedy...it had vanished! Oh no, wait! Did I mention that we had The Custom Corn Cube Bag? Happy, happy, joy, joy, there inside the box, was the magnificent Custom Corn Cube Bag! And the colours shone magnificently under the flourescent lights! And there were corn cubes inside! And it was good. Very good!

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So Miss K Ender (age 10) declared the Sunday Evening Ender Family Pick Picknic officially open. After a rousing rendition of the Theme Song, she began carefully placing the corn cubes onto the poultry yards. Oh, did I mention that they were stored in a Custom Corn Cube Bag?

With the corn on the table, there they came, birds of every color, and of every name. Game hens, pheasants, ducks, geese, turkeys ... they all came to the Sunday Evening Ender Family Picnic. Birds of all types, birds of all colors:

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Birds of all shapes, birds of all sizes:

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For the most part, these birds feasted magnificently on the delicious corn (which, by the way, came out of the Custom Corn Cube Bag).

From time to time, however, they had to fight. Usually, the bigger birds won the fight, and got the corn from the little birds. But once in a while, a little bird was strong enough to beat up on a big bird and get the corn anyway. Here's a little bird called Vicky (who rolled a six) and beat up on his Great Uncle Vic (who rolled a one) to get 10 points of corn:

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Now unfortunately, this fairy tale also has a dark side. Every fairy tale needs some evil characters, and in this fairy tale, the evil characters were the foxes. To be fair, I should mention that these foxes were polite, and well mannered. They had a very good mother, after all. They even knew that before you eat a meal, you had to put a napkin under your chin, and say please and thank you. Here's what some of them looked like.

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But despite their good manners, these foxes did have one weakness. They loved eating birds. Despite being uninvited, they too came to the Ender Family Sunday Evening Picnic.

I will spare you of all the gory details. This is a family friendly website, after all. And this is a fairy tale, after all. We need a happy ending, after all. To make a long story short, one player ended with a ridiculously massive haul of 59 points. And there was much rejoicing.

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In the end, however, the little Enders all agreed that the Sunday Evening Ender Family Pick Picknic had been a big success. The corn cubes were placed carefully back inside the Custom Corn Cube Bag. The Custom Corn Cube Bag was placed lovingly back inside the box, for another day.

And they all lived happily ever after. Not least, because they now owned a Custom Corn Cube Bag.

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The End.

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EndersGame — 2008-09-15T13:49:22+00:00

Wonderful custom bag for corn cubes - made by the wonderful Mrs Ender

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EndersGame — 2008-09-15T13:46:41+00:00

Point scoring in a 3 player game: a massive haul of 29 (birds) + 30 (corn) = 59 points!

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EndersGame — 2008-09-15T13:44:11+00:00

Little guys don't always lose: 3 (+6) beats 6 (+1) in a battle to win 10 points of corn!

Thread: Re: Pick Picknic: Not just for the kids! (review and strategy)

Grimwold — 2008-08-10T23:30:24+00:00

Ed_the_Red wrote:
I would think having more farms than players is a good idea, to allow goodies to accumulate faster than they are removed. But your 1 card + fewer farmyards suggestion sounds workable - I'll give it a go next time we play with 3.I had wondered about that... maybe putting 2 cubes per yard would work to build up the cubes quicker.

Shame you're not around on Tuesday Ed... I was thinking of opening with this one

Thread: Re: Pick Picknic: Not just for the kids! (review and strategy)

Ed_the_Red — 2008-08-10T22:35:15+00:00

I would think having more farms than players is a good idea, to allow goodies to accumulate faster than they are removed. But your 1 card + fewer farmyards suggestion sounds workable - I'll give it a go next time we play with 3.

Ed

Thread: Re: Corn Wars..

Toasty — 2008-08-09T11:06:40+00:00

Thanks Grim, yes, we pretty much play that variant every time we play now, works quite well.

Thread: Re: Pick Picknic: Not just for the kids! (review and strategy)

PlanetSmasher — 2008-08-08T17:19:37+00:00

I have never played with equal farms to the number of players. The way we play it seems to work out right for us, so we never strayed once we started playing that way. There is a nice balance of conflict and room to guess correctly to avoid everyone else.

Let me know if you try it with equal number of farms, I would be interested to hear if fewer farms make the fox cards a bit too good.

Thread: Re: Pick Picknic: Not just for the kids! (review and strategy)

Grimwold — 2008-08-08T12:48:29+00:00

Great review! Thanks.

I tried this with my lunchtime group today, 4 player, using the variant... it was pretty good. I was just wondering if you'd ever tried reducing the number of yards further... perhaps to 1 yard per player?

Thread: Re: Corn Wars..

Grimwold — 2008-08-08T12:42:47+00:00

Nice report Toasty... I tried this for the first time today, with my lunchtime group. We played a variant where you reduce the number of yards for fewer than 5 players... so with 4 we had 5 yards... it was pretty brutal. Only a couple of times did we agree to share the points, otherwise we duelled for them. In each of the two games the winner was the player who had the most points from chickens eaten by their foxes!

Good fun.

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Surya — 2008-08-04T12:33:40+00:00

The 999 Games edition

Thread: Re: Playing with children

seppo21 — 2008-06-19T02:17:26+00:00

While my girls (now 6 and 8 but playing this since 4 and 6) have never had any problems with the rules as written, I really like the ideas behind this variant. I particularly think it would help with the players at the lower end of the age range you mention above. Thanks for sharing.

Thread: Pick Picnic microbadges now available

jgrundy — 2008-04-17T22:34:11+00:00

[inlineimg]http://files.boardgamegeek.com/images/microbadges/mb_pickpic...[/inlineimg] [inlineimg]http://files.boardgamegeek.com/images/microbadges/mb_pickpic...[/inlineimg] (Buy one)

Thread: Re: Get this, or Nobody But Us Chickens?

cdunc123 — 2008-03-19T13:40:21+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

Thread: Re: Get this, or Nobody But Us Chickens?

grinningpik — 2008-03-13T23:01:27+00:00

I would also go with pick picnic over and above Nobody...

In my elementary school games club the favourite is Pick Picnic. The flow is just better. Both games have their moments with adults, but PP wins it with the kid vote.

Thread: Re: Get this, or Nobody But Us Chickens?

Karlsen — 2008-03-13T01:50:14+00:00

Pick Picnic

Thread: Re: Get this, or Nobody But Us Chickens?

Verkisto — 2008-03-12T19:58:25+00:00

In Nobody But Us Chickens, everyone has the same roles in that game, and it all depends on when folks play certain cards. It becomes more a Raj-type game than anything else, and those who are good at card-counting can more easily manipulate the game to suit their needs. People who prefer games with more knowable information would probably prefer it.

In Hick Hack en Gackelwack, there's a lot more chaos. Everyone's drawing from a common deck, so it's a lot harder to plan for certain things.

I think it would really depend on your tastes. For me, HHeG is better because these sorts of games improve because of the chaos. They're more a social experience than a cerebral challenge, though there are good choices you can make along the way. There's a lot more groaning and laughing in HHeG than there is in NBUC, and that's what makes the game interesting.

EDIT: I've played both, and opted for HHeG as the keeper.

Thread: Get this, or Nobody But Us Chickens?

cdunc123 — 2008-03-12T19:11:37+00:00

A question for those of you who have had a significant number of plays of both Pick Picknic and Nobody But Us Chickens:

If you had to recommend just one of these games for a family of four (kids = 1st and 3rd grade), which would it be, and why?

Just curious. I'm tempted by each, but I can't see myself owning both anytime soon.

Thanks!

Thread: Re: Losing the bits of corn.

HamiltonSmith — 2008-01-13T16:13:20+00:00

Just a thought.

In looking at the link for the replacement corn, I noticed that the cost for the corn was around 80% of the cost advertised for a new copy of the game by one of the online vendors. You do get a lot of blocks and extra colors, but the new cards and farm tiles might make handy replacements as needed.

Love this game, and play it with all ages. Great for family gatherings.

Thread: Pick Picnic Online?

gilby123 — 2007-10-30T19:41:47+00:00

I know I used to play an online version of this great game (Pick Picknic formerly known as Hick Hack in Gackelwack), but have lost the link and can no longer find it. Does anyone know if this game is still online?

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kohee — 2007-09-19T06:18:42+00:00

Thread: Re: Hoodwinked!

jgrundy — 2007-08-28T23:49:46+00:00

There truly is a tactical advantage to be gained in this game... if you are brought up as a card counter. Knowing that there are still three foxes, or none at all, to contend with your 6, or realising as the deck dwindles that you have the last bird of a partcicular colour... these can (but not every game) open opportunities for reaping rewards in the last few rounds.

Thread: Hoodwinked!

Toasty — 2007-08-28T22:15:53+00:00

We invited some friends round for an evening of food and a nice game of El Grande. But as the kids were still up, and they knew we were going to be gaming later, I suggested a quick game of Pick Picknic to settle the kids down before we packed them off to bed.

I could see they were excited and the adults were keen to humour them, so we had a 6 player game set up and raring to go. Our children know how to play and I explained the rules to those who were new to it. Everyone was up and running within a couple of rounds.

Playing with 6 players means there is plenty of competition for certain yard tiles and good opportunities for well played foxes. Tonight was no exception and corn was eagerly sought after and poultry cards being eaten left, right and centre.

When a yard is occupied with more than one poultry card, its normally up for sharing, especially if it involved the children. But it soon became obvious there was a side battle going on amongst the adults and ruthless tactics were being deployed.

As the half way mark ticked past the newbies were now fully up to speed with the nuances of the game, and were having a great time anticipating next moves and trying to capitalise on juicy corn laden tiles.

The children got caught up in this too and there was plenty of fun dice rolling battles to determine corn distribution. By the closing rounds it was obvious that the two newbies were edging in front and the game was ultimately won by one of them.

Some great final round play saw my daughter grab second place and the other 4 positions were a reasonably close call. Everybody enjoyed the session. My children were pleased to be playing a game involving so many adults. The adults new to the game were surprised at how cunning and strategic the game was and commented that it was a lot more challenging than they were first expecting. Which to be honest, was the reaction I was hoping for from the onset

Thread: Session Report

nickguay — 2007-08-23T13:47:00+00:00

This was about our 3rd or 4th game of Pick Picknic so most of us had a strong grasp on the strategy of this game already. We played with me, my wife Gaby and our good friend Tania. I can’t wait be able to add another couple players to this game because it is a lot of fun.

Here is how the game went. We had Tania do the new corn distribution and me giving out the new cards. We found that by splitting those 2 tasks amongst two players it increased the speed of the game significantly.

What I love most about this game is the shock, surprise and sometimes dismay when revealing who decided to go where so we always do that very slowly and one location at a time. We hang on to our 2 cards individually reveal them as Tania said the colors one by one. As an example, she would say “yellow” and then players would reveal the yellow cards they had chosen (if any). We found that made the game very suspenseful and more fun than just flipping up everything at once.

Gaby won by a long shot because she always lucked out by having the only fox on locations with a whole bunch of “chickens” which really racks up points big time. This is why I can’t wait to play with 5 or 6 players and see what happens when multiple players go to a location with foxes.

That’s it for this game report. I am sure to write many others on this game because the 3 regular players at my house love it.

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BrewB — 2007-08-06T21:50:22+00:00

Pick Picknic - what a hand - Age 4

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kilroy_locke — 2007-08-01T15:49:52+00:00

My crappy final score...

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kilroy_locke — 2007-08-01T15:49:27+00:00

Just call it a buffet...

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kilroy_locke — 2007-08-01T15:48:46+00:00

Ripe for the pickin'!

Thread: Corn Wars..

Toasty — 2007-07-10T08:05:48+00:00

To finish a night of gaming we opted to play a short card game, but for the first time we chose one the children’s games, Hick Hack (Pick Picknic). How would it stack up played with 4 adults?

Hick Hack is a simple card/tile game of collecting corn. Corn is placed on coloured farmyard tiles and corresponding poultry cards are played to determine who gathers the corn. The trick is to go for yard tiles that have the highest corn value or play it safer with lower scoring tiles. A dark element is introduced with the fox cards; they eat any poultry that stray into their yard.

We started play thinking this would be a ten minute giggle before we ended the night. However, the competitive edge took over and the fight for corn was on! Multiple players were hitting the same tiles on a regular basis and instead of sharing out, which we often do with the children, it was dice at dawn!

The fox card mechanic was then sussed and the gloves were off! Tempting yard tiles, with several juicy pieces of corn, were now a gamble for anyone brave enough to contemplate the move, as more than likely a fox would be hiding. In a couple of instances there was a fight between two foxes for the poultry card, which again was a first.

So the game descended into bluff, second guessing and greed, great fun. We played 3 games and the females of the group took the lion’s share of the corn, leaving the men crying foul. It was a surprisingly compelling session, bringing out the dark side of the game when played to the full extent of the rules.

Thread: Re: Playing with children

flieger — 2007-06-14T02:23:58+00:00

That sounds pretty good.
What age range where the children you played with?

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EndersGame — 2007-06-03T18:05:23+00:00

Clearer image of reverse of game box

Thread: Playing with children

hellium — 2007-05-29T10:16:59+00:00

I had a number of successful games this weekend with children ranging from nearly 4 to nearly 7.

These were mainly five and six player games.

I changed the rules so that

- All cubes are worth 1 point
- If two or more chickens go to the same yard they take corn alternatly starting with the biggest chicken. So 6's pick first one then 5's then 4's and back to 6's
- Fast chickens still pick one.
- The biggest fox gets the biggest hen and down the line as per chickens and corn.

They all loved it and were able to see who was the biggest and got the most biggest chicken or most of the food.

Thread: Re: Pick Picknic: Not just for the kids! (review and strategy)

PlanetSmasher — 2007-05-15T23:11:17+00:00

I have only played the correct 2 cards per turn version of the game once, so take my opinion as mostly hypothetical.

I see the reason to play 2 cards per turn as a way to make up for the lack of players choosing the same farms. By reducing the farms in play, you just as effectively increase the conflict without adding any potential confusion. The game will have a few extra rounds since fewer farms are restocked each turn, but it probably plays in about the same time since you only pick and resolve 3 cards instead of 6 each round.

It probably won’t make much difference in the fun factor either way you play, but I think the variant has two advantages when you are playing with young children:

1. You always play with the same rules (always 1 card per round even if someone else jumps in for the next game)

2. Fewer options each round can keep the game flowing better (both for picking and resolving cards)

The variant also make the 4 player game a bit more interesting.

Either way, I still recommend this one. I'm sure it will start getting to the table more often again during our summer camping season.

Thread: Re: Pick Picknic: Not just for the kids! (review and strateg

Doomfarer — 2007-05-15T12:29:12+00:00

Good review.

Just a question, how do you play with three players? The rules state that you should each play two cards per turn, but you seem to imply it's better to play with only four colours and one card per turn. Is this more fun in your opinion?

Thread: Foxes Tip the Scales

theaney — 2007-04-13T05:08:02+00:00

My son Ben brought out Pick Picknic this afternoon for a quick before-dinner play even though we haven't played it for quite a while. Keep in mind, that I don't think we've played it for at least 8 months and in prior games it was all about the bird poop. The -2 poop cards were the source of most of Ben's enjoyment with lots of squeals whenever they appeared.

This game was different -- he played to win. There were slight giggles about the poop, but this time he was playing his cards right. My early cards weren't great -- mostly Chickens when the chicken coop never seemed to have more than 2 points of food. Ben snapped up some really good collections of grain and racked up a good lead.

In the early game, the Turkeys had a good pile building, but I never had any gray cards, and neither did Ben. So, the goods kept growing in number. Finally, I had a Turkey and played it along with a Goose card since there were a few corn pieces there too. Much to my shock, Ben played Foxes on both. Not only did I not get the darned food, he grabbed 9 points worth of bird meat!

He followed that up with a Turkey who grabbed the food I couldn't get. The rest of the game was pretty much split between the two of us with my cards perhaps getting an edge. But in the game, he had 67 to my 63, and it was that double Fox-card play that made his victory. Now, I might complain that, "oh, it was the luck of the cards," but the real reason is that Ben knew just when to ambush me at the Turkey coop!

Thread: Re: Pick Picknic and Multiple Intelligences

jgrundy — 2007-04-07T23:36:44+00:00

Thanks Steve.

There's a large advantage in card counting in this game. Memory is a significant element.

As the deck diminishes, if you've been counting cards, assessing the odds can be useful.

Thread: Pick Picknic and Multiple Intelligences

sdonohue — 2007-04-07T21:48:30+00:00

Pick Picnic is a light, fun game with colorful cards and fun illustrations. It relies on basic math and some simple strategies and is fun for kids and adults.

Components
The components are all of good quality and nice to handle. There are 6 cards for the poultry yards, 60 cards for the players and 78 cubes of corn in 3 colors: green, blue and yellow. There is also a six-sided die.

Game Play
The play of the game is pretty simple. Each turn each field gets one random bit of corn. The pieces of corn are worth 1 point (green), 2 points (yellow), or 3 points (blue). Players play 1 card facedown to each field (2 in 2 different fields in a smaller game) .
Once all the cards are out they are revealed. Any speedy chickens can grab one piece of corn, then foxes eat chickens in the field they’re in and finally chickens eat corn. If there are 2 foxes or 2 chickens in a field, then foxes have to fight for the chickens (they never share) and chickens can either share or fight if they can’t reach an agreement.
Fighting is handled by rolling a die and adding it to the number shown on your card, highest total wins.
The game ends when there is no corn left to put out and the winner is the player who has collected the most points worth of chickens and corn together.

Intelligences
This review is part of a series of reviews I’m doing as I evaluate games my wife may use in her classroom or that I’m using with my Boy Scouts. Apart from the normal review, I try to identify the kinds of intelligence that the game will use. For an explanation of multiple intelligences, see: my blog post at: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/786097

Logical-Mathematical
There is a fair bit of planning in the game and choosing which field to play in is very mathematical.

Interpersonal
Because chickens who eat at the same field can negotiate a settlement, having good interpersonal skills can help to maximize your score.

Age Appropriateness
The game is appropriate for most kids who can add up small numbers (1-6 at most). For younger children it is usually best to ignore the value of the individual colors of corn and just play them all as one point each.

Overall
The game is simple and a lot of fun. The cartoony artwork appeals to kids and I’ve never had one complain about the fox eating the chickens. It teaches basic math skills and some minor strategy and hand management. It may also be one of the easiest simultaneous turn games I know.

Thread: Re: Pick Picknic – Can a 4 year old play this game?

BrewB — 2007-02-22T22:38:49+00:00

I've selected many of the games I have purchased to play with my daughter based upon your lists for "Daughter the Elder" and "Daughter the Younger". Keep up the good work!

Thread: Re: Pick Picknic – Can a 4 year old play this game?

Karlsen — 2007-02-21T21:38:09+00:00

mvettemagred wrote:
He's still pretty rough on cards, so that's been my main barometer. It's the reduction in that sort of behaviour that led me to create Games that Daughter the Younger plays. I mean *really* plays as opposed to *plays with*, destroys or eats. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/15535

We haven't played Pick Picknic with her yet, although she has watched the rest of us play it quite a bit.

Thread: Re: Pick Picknic – Can a 4 year old play this game?

mvettemagred — 2007-02-21T17:34:53+00:00

Thanks so much for this thread. I recently bought this game to (eventually) play with my son. He's only 3.5 right now, so now I know to wait at least until the end of this year to pull this one out. He's still pretty rough on cards, so that's been my main barometer.

Thread: Re: Pick Picknic – Can a 4 year old play this game?

Karlsen — 2007-02-21T03:08:04+00:00

Good review.

I would agree on simplifying the scoring for a four year old, especially since the scoring for the different corn cubes actually drives the strategy of which cards you may choose to play. You will be able to introduce the full scoring over time though. We didn't get this until Daughter the Elder was six and we were able to jump straight into full rules at that age.

Thread: Re: Pick Picknic – Can a 4 year old play this game?

nnf1 — 2007-02-21T01:48:47+00:00

Stephen,

Great write up. We play this with our four year old son and it is actually fun as a three player because you get to play two cards still so more options for foxes having a feed

We do not count individual points for the corn. They are all worth one when we play with him so it's easy for him to work out what's best and to count at the end.

Well Done
Neil

Thread: Pick Picknic – Can a 4 year old play this game?

BrewB — 2007-02-21T00:17:34+00:00

Pick Picknic – Can a 4 year old play this game?

A review.

Preamble -

I ordered this game from one of the online retailers that advertise on BGG because I read in several Geeklists how this was a good game that COULD be played with children.

My daughter was one or two months past her fourth birthday when the package arrived in the mail. What made the greatest impression on me about Pick Picknic was the diminutive size of the box. “This is it?” I thought.

The best things come in small packages.

This phrase holds true for my daughter and Pick Picknic (I can’t believe how much punch they both deliver.) And I still can’t believe how much fun we have had playing a game that comes in such a small box!

Game Components -

6 - Cards representing the Poultry Yards (in six different colors)
42 – Poultry Cards with various values in six colors of the six types of birds corresponding to the six cards representing the Poultry Yards
18 – fox cards with various values in six colors corresponding to the six cards representing the Poultry Yards
78 – corn cubes in 3 colors (39 green, 26 blue, ad 13 yellow)
1-die

It’s hard to believe that all of this fits in a small box that measures no more than 5-inches by 5-inches by 1-5/8 inches deep (5”x5”x1-5/8”)

(On a side note, my daughter saw the wooden markers in my copy of Die Macher, pointed to them, and exclaimed: “Look, Daddy, big corn!”)

Theme -

The theme plays an integral part in understanding the mechanics of the game. As described below: birds eat corn; fox eats birds, etc. etc. But green corn? Really? Why green? Yellow corn, white corn, red corn and even blue corn I’ve heard of, but green corn? Still, I wouldn’t let it deter you from trying this game.

The Goal -

Gather the most corn and/or poultry points.

Corn:
Yellow = 3 point
Blue = 2 points
Green = 1 point

Poultry (Birds):
3,4,5,6 or -2 points depending on the value depicted on the card.

Rules/Game Play -

There are six yards where the various types of birds (segregated by type/color) would congregate for purposes of eating corn.

Each player is dealt a hand of cards which is maintained throughout the game (5 cards each when there are 4 or 5 or 6 players; and 6 cards for each player when there are only 2 or 3 players).

Feed the birds phase:

At the start of each round, select six corn cubes at random and place one on each of the yards. (As birds will not feed in all of the yards every turn, there will be created situations where some yards start building up more corn than others.) This is also a part of the game my daughter enjoys: she will often ask for the privilege of ‘feeding the chickens’.

The search for food:

Players will play either a chicken or a fox card face down. All cards are revealed simultaneously and the birds (and foxes) will be placed in the yard matching their color. (When playing only 2 or 3 players the players play 2 cards each – but they must be two different colors). The goal is to get food – be it poultry or corn.

Poultry Eat Corn:

When the cards are simultaneously revealed – each bird will take his/her fill of corn. When a bird finds itself alone, it eats alone. When a bird is joined by others, they must figure out how to share the corn (Either agree on a split; or roll a die-six and add the number on their card as described in the rules to resolve conflicts).

Fox eats poultry:

When the cards are simultaneously revealed – if the birds are unlucky enough to find a fox in the same yard with them – they become ‘fox food’ and are eaten. If a fox happens to find himself in a field alone or with other foxes only – the fox goes hungry. When a fox is joined by other foxes AND one or more birds, they must roll the die per the rules to resolve conflicts.

Fox eats bird poop:

When the cards are simultaneously revealed – if the fox should find bird poop (a poultry card worth negative two (-2) points) then the fox has to eat shit – literally – and take the two point penalty.

The game ends after a fixed number of rounds – the last round is denoted when the last six corn cubes are fed to the chickens.

In General -

This game is a blast! It involves hand management which is always fun when playing with little kids. There’s nothing more amusing than watching a four year old child thumbing through their cards mumbling to themselves and finally saying: “I’m going to play THIS card”.

This is a game that a four year old child can play and play fairly well. The only accommodation that must be made is in scoring. A four year old has difficulty scoring corn worth 1,2, and 3 points depending on the color. Resolving conflicts may also present a challenge and therefore ‘agreeing to split contested corn’ is often the preferred method to die rolling. However, adding up the numbers to resolve a conflict presents a good math problem for a small child, as such we often add up the scores using my fingers and in the end I’ll ask my daughter which is ‘more’ (i.e. mommy has ten and daddy has eight – which is more?)

Conclusion -

All in all this is a game that can be played and enjoyed by children as young as four. I find that the adults can play ‘for points’ while the children play along for ‘fun’.

Scoring in the end is a little complicated for a four year old, but they get an immense amount of satisfaction from having a lot of corn and/or a lot of cards – regardless of the actual value.

This game packs enormous punch for such a small package and is one of the best values and most portable games I own.

Most importantly, children will learn something about the food chain.

I highly recommend this game – especially if playing with children or non-gamers. It is a game that can be taught quickly to everyone including ‘grandma and grandpa’.

-Stephen Brewbacker
(Real Men Play Board Games with Children)

Thread: Pick Picknic: Not just for the kids! (review and strategy)

PlanetSmasher — 2006-12-28T00:09:40+00:00

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General:

Pick Picknic is a silly themed simultaneous action selection game by Stefan Dorra. In this re-theme of Razzia, players will attempt to gather the most corn to feed their chickens or play foxes to eat their opponent’s birds. The player with the best feed flock will win. A great game for kids and good light filler!

Components:

6 Farm tiles (4” cardboard squares in 6 colors)
78 Corn Cubes (1/2” wooden cubes in 3 colors: Green, Blue, and Yellow)
60 Cards (birds with values -2,3,3,4,4,5, or 6 and fox cards valued 4,5,or 6 for each of the 6 colors)
1 wooden die (standard 6 sided)

The components are of good quality. The cards are similar in size and quality to those in Ticket to Ride. My cards have started to show minor signs of wear after about 30 plays, but they seem like they will hold up for quite a few more plays before it will become distracting. The Doris Matthäus artwork is well done and very fitting for a fun, light game.

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Set Up:

I highly recommend using the “1 more farms than the number of players” variant at all times. This variant will increase how often players chose the same color farm. For this variant, only place out the number of farms equal to one more than the number of players. Remove all the cards for the colors not being used from the deck, and place them and the unused farm tiles back in the box.

Deal 5 cards to each player (6 if playing with only 2 players) and place a cube on each farm. The color cube dropped on each farm should be randomly selected, so just grab a handful of cubes at a time and let one fall on each farm without looking at the colors.

Game play:

Each round is made up of 3 steps:

1.) Pick a card
All players chose a card at the same time and hold it out in front of them face down so no other players can see it.
Once every one has chosen a card, all players reveal the cards at the same time

2.) Resolve the cards

Each card will have a color and one of the following:
• A bird and a number between 3-6
• A fox valued either 4,5, or 6
• A fleeing bird with a -2

The color card played will determine which farm the player will be going to that round. How each farm resolves will depend on all the cards played for that color.

1. If a bird card is the only card played of a color, it will eat all the corn (collect all the corn and add it to your score pile)
2. If more than 1 bird is played of a color, the players have 2 options

They may split the cubes anyway they can agree on (it does not have to be even)
OR
They can fight for the corn (each player rolls the dice and adds the total to the number on their card until 1 player wins, that player takes all the corn)

Foxes don’t eat corn, only birds

If no birds are at the same farm as a fox, the foxes on that farm will not collect anything (again, foxes do not eat corn!)
If a fox and at least 1 bird are on the same farm, the fox will eat all the birds on that farm (the birds will not get any corn)
If 2 foxes and at least 1 bird are in the same color, the foxes have to fight (roll and add it to your fox number, highest total gets the birds)
Foxes may not split up the birds!

Birds eaten are kept in the players score pile with their eaten corn (each bird will be worth the number of points listed on the card at the end of the game)

The Scared bird (the -2 card):

If not other card is player in the same color as the -2 card, it will collect all corn in an area just like a normal bird

If any other card is played in the same color (either a fox or bird), the -2 player will eat a green corn and run. If no green corn is on that color, the bird will not get any corn. If a fox is on that color, the fox must eat the -2 bird (it will be worth negative points at the end of the game)

3.) Pass out new cards and place a corn cube on each farm

After each turn, all the played cards are collected into a discard pile (except for the birds eaten by foxes). One player should then pass out a card to each player (the discard pile will be shuffled and reused when you run out of cards)

Another player should randomly add one corn cube to each farm (always add one cube even if there are still cubes on the farm).

End of Game / Score:

Keep playing until there are not enough corn cubes to place one on each farm and then count the score.

Each corn is worth 1-3 points depending on the color.
Green = 1
Blue = 2
Yellow = 3
Each bird card eaten by a fox is worth the number on the card (3 to 6 points).

The player with the highest total score wins.

Strategy:

There’s a ton of luck in this one, but a couple of things may help give you a bit of an edge (if you really feel the need to play it competitively):

1. Keep track of the foxes; there are only 3 of each color in the deck. All 3 foxes of one color will rarely all be in the discard pile at once, but it can make you feel safer playing a 6 bird on the farm with the most corn knowing there’s only 1 fox out there instead of 3 (you will still be eaten by the fox anyway, but it’s good to know there’s sound strategic thinking behind your choice).

2. Know the score. You don’t need to keep track of the exact amounts for every player, but having a feel of about where you are in the pack and who the leader is. I mainly look at who wins the bigger turns (when the fox eats 6+ points or birds or a pile of corn is won by a single player) and try to put the rest of the players into a “ahead”, “behind”, or “about even” status. Knowing where you stand can really help in the decision to negotiate or not. As an example, say you and one other player trailing by 10 points are on the same farm with 10 points of corn and have the same number bird. It’s around turn 10 and you are sharing the lead with 1 other player. I’d offer the 50/50 split and would most likely accept a 60/40 in their favor if no other farm had more than a few points on it. You may not agree, but a minor lead with only a few rounds will likely work out better than being 1 of 3 players tied for the lead.

3. Take the odds into consideration when negotiating deals. Since only a single D6 is rolled by each player in a fight, the odds for a +1 or +2 advantage might not be worth the risk (about 2/3rds advantage with +1 and around 5/6ths with +2. With +3 or more, the advantage is up in the 95%+ range). Are 1 or 2 more points worth the 1 in 3 shot of losing? If you have the advantage in the fight, you can always attempt to split the cubes more in your favor. An “I’ll take 5 and give you 2 since I have the advantage” deal may be accepted (or at least set up a 4 to 3 point counter offer).

4. If you have a higher score than a player on the same farm, think about splitting it rather than fighting. The game only lasts 13 turns with 5 players (more with fewer players if playing with the ‘one more farm than number of players’ variant); each turn leaves your opponents with fewer chances to catch up. If you have the lead and split a high point total farm, you will extend your lead over the players who did not split and maintain the same advantage with the splitting player…not bad for absolutely no risk. Of course if you are trailing, you should just fight it out since it’s likely your best chance to get back into the game.

Note: I was using this tactic until I was asked why I sometimes split the corn and sometimes force the fight. After explaining it, no one splits it anymore.

Even if you do know the exact number of foxes left in each color, it’s always going to come down to the luck of picking the right card each turn. Do you go for the farm with the best score in corn or go for the second best farm to avoid a possible fox? Should I play a fox on the second best farm thinking everyone will avoid the obvious best choice? Should I play my duck on the best farm since everyone else will not expect you to actually try to play on that farm?

The best strategy for Pick Picknic is to not take it seriously and just have fun.

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Overall:

I really like this game for 4 reasons:

1. It’s fast paced. A typical game is over in about 25 minutes.

2. It’s simple. Perfect for gaming with the family (everyone from the 5 year old nephew to grandma loves it)

3. It’s such a silly theme and so dependent on luck that it’s almost impossible for anyone to take it too seriously. It’s just a fun game, win or lose.

4. No intimidation. Once I’ve explained the theme and they get a look at the cards, all the standard “this looks complicated” comments from non-gamers are surprisingly absent.

5. The smack talk. For some reason, this game seems to pull it out of our normally quiet game group.

While less strategic than most, Pick Picknic still gives the impression of meaningful decisions (even if it is mostly luck that determines the winner). I’d highly recommend this game for anyone who may need a simple game for non-gamers and/or children. It also works well on game nights as a ‘no more thinking’ closer or “recharge” game after a serious flop or brain burner.

Note: This review was written after 31 games played using the 'one more farm than number of players' variant described in the set up section of the review.

Thread: Re: The Blind Birds

Sinister Dexter — 2006-11-20T16:59:09+00:00

I agree with Isaac. I have no idea how this variant makes any sense. It completely removes any strategy the game has.

Thread: 1HW Pick Picknic

aanemesis — 2006-09-13T16:30:12+00:00

The One Hit Wonder quickie game review [0002]

Premise: This is for BGG'ers who already read other lengthy, detailed reviews and want a benchmarked comparison and categorization. I myself had read the other reviews here and viewed the photos. Have you ever read a glowing review of a game but is puzzled what the big deal is after trying it? Perhaps the reviewer likes games you don't, have a different benchmark and different complexity preference. My review is based on [usually] just one play to see if I like it, and more importantly if I'd like to add it to my collection. Rules are explained to me by owner. The other players tend to be newbies, except for the owner.
Category: Takes into account rules complexity, level of strategic thinking and length of time required to play. Only 5 categories: Light, Light-Medium, Medium, Medium-Heavy, Heavy.
Benchmark: I really like Puerto Rico COLOR=#CC6633]M[/COLOR, Twilight Imperium 3rd ed COLOR=#CC6633]H[/COLOR, Railroad Tycoon COLOR=#CC6633]M[/COLOR, Age of Steam COLOR=#CC6633]M-H[/COLOR, Power Grid COLOR=#CC6633]M[/COLOR. I don't like Settlers of Catan COLOR=#CC6633]L-M[/COLOR due to the randomness. And I'm not a big fan of card flopping.

First impression, nice quality components, artwork and wooden cubes! Since discovering the civilised pasttime of playing euro/designer boardgames, I've come to love wooden cubes and a lot of games that has them. When I brought my significant other to a boardgame cafe to convert her to my hobby, or at least give her some insight into what I'm "obsessed" about, she remarked that this game is "cute". "Cute" vote from a non-gamer female - a HUGE plus point. The artwork and colours are certainly very appealing. The entire game fits inside a small box, and set-up is quick. This is as far as you get from the set-up of Twilight Imperium 3rd ed. - you can finish a game of Pick Picknic while setting up TI3!

The rules are simple - another plus point. Here I hesitate to repeat what other reviewers had already written [see 1st sentence of Premise] given the simplicity of the game. There is no serious confrontation in the game - another plus points if you're playing with kids. A duel between ducks/pheasants/other fowl only comes about if players play cards on the same yard and decide not to "haggle", so it is possible to tell them to work things out. But the option to duel is there and players simply throw dice and add the result to the number on their card that was played. A game that encourages interaction, albeit at a simpler level, gets another plus point in my books.

Winning condition is also simple: players are simply trying to acquire the most points by getting the cubes [comes in 3 colours worth 1,2 or 3 points] and to a lesser extent numbered fowl cards. The latter comes about by playing fox cards where you think other players will be placing fowl cards - usually where there's a build-up of "corn" i.e. the cubes, uncollected from previous rounds. Pick Picknic has a high fun factor, and I highly recommend this game to play with kids and non-gamer females, and as a fun time filler. Category: Light. Conclusion: definitely worth adding to collection.

Note: review originally written in August 2006. I have since added this game to my collection, and my kids love it.

Thread: Re: How does this play with 2 players?

macls29 — 2006-07-14T22:31:42+00:00

See my review

Thread: Review for 2 player Pick Picknic

macls29 — 2006-07-14T14:51:31+00:00

This is intended to be a review of Pick Picknic as a two player game.

Pick Picknic is a small box game that combines bluffing and turn-by-turn area control.

Object - Collect the most victory points by collecting (eating) corn, or other players' poultry

Teach-ability - very fast, "let's just play a round or two and you'll catch on" is a viable teaching method

Length - 15 minutes

Setup - shuffle and deal 6 cards each, place six tiles (fields) on the table, randomly place one corn marker on each area. One minute

Gameplay - Each turn, players secretly select 2 cards from their hand. The cards vary in three ways. First, by color; this determines where the card's action occurs (which field). Second, by type (regular poultry, fleet fowl, or wolf); this determines the action of the card. Third, by rank. This determines the strenght of the card (combined with a d6 roll) if there is a conflict in an area. Players then reveal their cards and collect their victory points (eaten corn and poultry), replace their played cards, and distribute one corn to each field.

Strategy - The corn comes in three types; 1-3 points based on color. If a field goes "uneaten" for several turns, the victory points available by eating corn increases. This is where the game gets interesting. Is your opponent going to try to "eat" a field? Then send a wolf to keep your opponent from scoring, and eat their poultry for victory points. Think your opponent is going to send a wolf after you on a certain field. Send a "fleet fowl" which allows you to snag a corn, and leave your opponent with a negative victory point meal.

Theme - feels like it fits... we found ourselves making farm noises

Fun Factor - high. Pick Picknic has confrontation without a "backstab" feel, guessing games, and tension. You have enough cards to have good stategic options, but there is a fixed limited; I found myself wishing "If only I had a pheasant right now!"

Bits - very nice, portable, with fun artwork. However, the blue and green corn squares are much too difficult to distinguish, which does lead to a problem in play involving the fleet fowls.

Variations - none at this time

Overall - Enjoyed it enough on the very first play that my wife and I played it a second time in the same sitting.

Thread: Six-Player Game

mlvanbie — 2006-06-20T08:24:46+00:00

Six adults needed a quick game. I saw someone else's copy of Pick Picknic and suggested it. My initial hand contained a lot of 5- and 6-point poultry. As the game progressed I tended to hold on to high-point poultry and send out cheap ones to middling fields. Foxes tended to find other players' poultry in the good fields and I sent out my foxes to good effect. After repeated fox visits to one field (now bulging with corn) I sent out a safe bird to collect the loot. I ended up about 10 points ahead of the second-place player (who had a good stack of poultry collected, but also many -2s), who was well ahead of others. I had a duel that lasted through three ties despite my superior card, which may have encouraged several players to avoid negotiation.

Thread: Re: The Blind Birds

hedden — 2006-05-03T21:15:43+00:00

I actually tried this variant as a "strategy" once while playing against my younger sister, who I've never beaten at Pick Picknic - I usually come in second. I realized that there is something about the way she thinks in this game that I cannot figure out, and that she can't (or won't) explain to me. So I thought, why not randomly pick a card to play and see if that messes up her strategy? I didn't ever even look at my cards, just shuffled them around and blindly drew one to play each turn. Result: she still won, and I came in 3rd of 4. Of course, I couldn't help but point out to the 4th place player that they had trailed even this random-selection tactic.

In the next game, I resumed my regular strategy and was able to tie for 1st, the other 1st-place player being my sister, naturally. So her unbeaten streak continues.

Thread: Re: The Blind Birds

Verkisto — 2006-05-03T17:46:12+00:00

chaddyboy_2000 wrote:
Wow! This variant sounds great! My one gripe about Pick Picknick is that it makes me think too hard. This should greatly improve the game.

Hm. My sarcasm detector is reading 9.8. Either it's defective, or Chaddyboy doesn't like the variant.

Frankly, I don't like the idea of this variant, either. The whole point of the game is the bluff/double-bluff element of the game, and this variant gets rid of that entirely. Why make a good game as random and pointless as Uno?

Thread: Re: The Blind Birds

wmshub — 2006-05-03T17:27:20+00:00

Yes, this reminds me of my favorite Lost Cities variant: Instead of choosing a card to play or discard, you simply pick a card at random from your hand, play if you can, otherwise discard. Gets rid of all those irritating decisions!

I've been trying to come up with a a similar system for Power Grid, but haven't come up with anything playable yet.

Thread: Re: The Blind Birds

chaddyboy_2000 — 2006-05-03T17:08:52+00:00

Wow! This variant sounds great! My one gripe about Pick Picknick is that it makes me think too hard. This should greatly improve the game.

Thread: The Blind Birds

friedricetheman — 2006-05-03T16:40:22+00:00

Instead of being dealt 5 cards and replenish one card at the end of every turn, all the cards in the deck are divided equally among all the players. Then, each player shuffle their deck of cards and put them face down. Now, insteading of choosing a card in hand to play, take the first card from your pile and play it face down.

This will make a very interesting situation (Fox going hungry, chickens fighting over one corn etc.). We even have a session where 2 foxes were fighting over one chicken who is trying to eat a 1 point (green) corn. This is while the other player's chicken is free to eat 5 corns!

Thread: A rainy day play time

hseldon — 2006-04-23T00:36:02+00:00

So we played this twice more today while the rain was coming down. My daughter is getting into it and enjoys trying to play wolves on me when she can. In the first game she started figuring out to go after fields with the most corn, or to play a wolf on it to eat my chickens trying to go there. We finished this one up at 37 to 36 points. The second game she got a little distracted and was hoarding red fowl for some reason.

Oh, another rule change that we use - when we both send in the same color chicken, the one with the highest number wins. Helps her numeracy improve.

Thread: 4 Year old is getting better!

hseldon — 2006-04-21T22:54:08+00:00

So I played this twice with my daughter today. We are getting closer and closer to the actual rules. She knows how many cards she should have, how many to play and that they have to be of different colors. Today she was able to play completely on her own. We only count the corn bits as one point no matter what color they are. She was going after fields that had more corn in and playing her highest number in that color. She even was able to play foxes to eat my fowl fairly well.

This is so much better than Candyland or her Dora matching game!

Our house rules: We get 5 cards, play two, must be of different colors. We count each piece of corn won as one point. We do not keep cards that the foxes steal, yet. She understands the Fleet Fowl card gets to sneak corn and run away if others are there.

Thread: A fowl picnic

hseldon — 2006-03-12T20:37:47+00:00

My friend Mark gave us this game a while back and it was time we played it. This was our second play, and the first time with three players. Much more entertaining with three than with two. I bet four would be best though. My daughter, Simone, is 4 and she played with Mr. Ziggy as a team. She enjoyed picking out which color to play, although the strategy is not for her at this age. She got some of the basics down, and I think she is learning some important game play behavior at this point. So, this is a nice family game, much better than the typical ones that adults might get tired of quickly. Oh, we are pretty sure that I won, as I had much better luck at playing my fox cards then Mark or Chriss did, so I got to eat their chickens pretty often. Simone's helping hand probably assisted in keeping Mark's score low, but that was not the point of this round of gaming.

Thread: Decent Filler and/or family game.

Kobra1 — 2005-11-12T00:50:40+00:00

Pick Picknic

The Components (Bits):
All of the boards, bits and cards are very good in this game. The six play boards are thick with a nice linen finish, and wonderfully fitting artwork. The cards are fairly small, perfect for the smaller hands in the family. The corn cubes are gloss painted wood and are very fitting. Best of all, the box for this game is tiny, only about a 5x5 cube for the total package. Great stuff.

The Setup and Rules:
Setup is fast, roughly about 1 minute from the time you open the box until you are ready to play. The rules are only a couple of pages and very easy to understand, and nicely illustrated. For setup, all six of the “yards” are placed in the middle of the table, then a single random cube of any color is placed on each yard. Six cards are dealt to each player, and the game is ready to begin.

The Theme:
The theme is very nice in this game, and is highly appealing to children. Both of my kids love the theme and artwork in the game. Doris Matthaus did a wonderful job illustrating this game and creating a nice theme for children and families.

The Gameplay:
Gameplay is very simple in Pick Picknic. Each player plays a single card, and conflicts for each yard are resolved. The cards are in each color represented by the six different game boards(yards), and the player plays numbered cards attempting to “Win” the corn on that respective yard. The highest card number for each yard, wins the corn in that yard. If a player played a Fox for that yard, then he gobbles up the birds, and the corn stays. They are also -2 cards that allow the player to run in and grab a green corn and escape unscathed. It really is that simple! Nothing compelling, but certainly fairly fun for families.

The Depth and Tactics:
This really isn’t a luck based game as commonly believed. I can consistently win this game 8 out of 10 times I play it, and that isn’t luck. This game can be classified as a “Light” family and childrens game, but is fun enough and interesting enough for almost anyone to enjoy. There is a good bluffing element in the game, as well as learning and observing your opponents actions. Do you play a high fox on that yard filled with corn and hope everyone else plays there? Or do you play a high bird there, hoping the other players will assume someone will play a Fox there and avoid it? This game does have strategies, but they are all very light and basic.

Summary:
Pick Picknic is a good game that anyone can enjoy. Every non-gamer we’ve introduced the game to really enjoys playing it and asks for additional play. It isn’t a gamer’s game by any sense of the word and doesn’t pretend to be one.. Pick Picknic is extremely easy, accessible, and is fun enough for the entire family. It’s a good filler with its snappy 10-15 minute game duration. I created a variant for this game that I really enjoy, and it works very well for 2-3 players. We play double the cubes each round, and double the cards. This creates an fast and tactical game that is a real crowd pleaser for almost anyone. My only concern with Pick Picknic is that given its very simple gameplay, and rather childlike theme, that the replayability may suffer in the face of family games with more meat.

Kobra
www.boardgamespiel.com