Game: Game of Goose

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2008-11-18T22:29:16+00:00

Cayro version

Thread: Re: How to have fun with a game with an average rating of 2.87

EndersGame — 2008-10-22T02:42:04+00:00

Sounds like my kind of game, I wish I could have been there to witness that creative session! Clearly your "Game of Goose" is a gateway game to Calvinball! I can't wait until your kids are old enough to get beyond Calvinball and try Stanley Random Chess and Mornington Crescent!

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Thread: How to have fun with a game with an average rating of 2.87

cvandyk — 2008-10-21T23:44:52+00:00

Everyone who has played this game by the basic rules knows that it is an underwhelming experience. And that's an understatement. Sure it has a nice board. Let me show a few examples:

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However, as the last picture shows, this game is usually viewed as a collector's item only, not to be played, but to be stored in a museum, where the artwork can gather dust and be admired, and where the rules and game-play are quietly forgotten...

Because when you do play this game you realize how tedious it is. Roll the dice, move your goose. Roll the dice, move your goose. If you land on a certain space near the end you die and have to start over. Terribly boring stuff. Even kids know that this is not worth playing.

So what to do? Well, invent your own house rules.

When we play - and please note that I play this with my young kids, and not primarily with adults - we have people do "fun" activities whenever they land on a goose space. If they want to go the same number of spaces again they have to do something. Here are some examples from our last game:

The bridge: if an adult lands on this space he lies on the ground (on his back) and uses his legs to transport the youngest child high and dry from where his feet were to slighly past his head. Consult your doctor if you worry about your back.

Push-ups. Vary the number by age. If you have in-laws over you increase the number. If you're feeling like a good dad, do some with the kids on your back. Once again, make sure everyone (except perhaps the in-laws) consults a doctor.

Note by the way that it's quite important to be in charge of the whole thing so that you're not victimized by an unduly difficult task.

Here's another task my 4 y/o son particularly likes: make a nest for the goose. How? Go out the back door and collect some grass and show it to everyone and then go out the front door and throw it out. Voila! You've just built a nest. Sounds silly, and it is! But for a four year old this is quite fun.

Here's one I invented for my 5 y/o daughter when she landed on the well. Get a tupperwear bucket and go down the stairs (the well) and collect three items to bring back up. Easy enough. She got to move her goose again.

And then there's the prison. My 4 y/o son landed on this space. So we used a quilt to tie him up in the corner of the couch. Unfortunately he escaped so for his efforts we let him roll again.

Next turn dad (yours truly) landed on jail. Well, everyone knew what to do, and dad didn't have time to change the rules (the special dad exception). The kids were quick to tie him up and they made sure to cover his eyes thoroughly. However, the youngest (2 years old) thought this was an appropriate time to play peek-a-boo, so she helped him escape.

I would like to note at this point that it's important to keep people on their toes: if they can always expect the same task from each goose square things will get stale. It's when you're inconsistent that things get funny. Kids remonstrate with you, the in-laws wonder when the game will end, and so forth. Good stuff.

So, you might ask, who actually won our game?

Our 2 year old of course. Here are all the geese at the start.

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Our youngest played green. On her first turn she rolled a 5 and a 4. There is a special rule that if you get a 5 and a 4 on your first turn you get to move all the way to space 53. I'm not making this one up. Check out the spaces here:

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With a bit of lucky rolling, or should we say with some lucky interpretation of the dice she managed to win quite handily.

Even though I had the slowest start I came 2nd.

My sister in law - who started fast (she did some excellent push-ups, although we took it easy on her by miscounting), ended up last. The dice did not cooperate and after her goose died she didn't have much of a chance.

All in all, a good time was had by all. And that's for a game with a 2.87 rating.

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xavilongo — 2008-10-18T10:26:14+00:00

Spanish version

Jpwoo — 2006-02-03T20:15:29+00:00

Can somebody post what spaces have geese on them and the locations of the other 'special' spaces and the rules for them?

Thread: Re: User Review

Jpwoo — 2006-02-03T20:08:08+00:00

The board is a big, made of wood, about 40 cm square and 1 cm wide.

I'm guessing you mean 1 cm thick here?

Nice review!

Thread: User Review

hibikir — 2005-04-05T01:10:17+00:00

El Juego de la Oca: The review

This ancient game is the reason that games like Candyland and Snakes and Ladders don't sell all that well in southern Europe. It's traditional roots and cheap price make it the most common kid's boardgame in Spain.

The game's designer is unknown. Some historians claim that the game originated during the crusades, and was originally played on a nautilus shell. The numbers where the negative actions are placed match numbers with special significance to the Templars, so this theory might not be far from the truth. What is well known is that Phillip II of Spain brought the game to the Iberian Peninsula, where it still as popular as it ever was.

Components
When referring to game components, I will be referring to the traditional copy of the game that you can find in 1 euro stores in Spain.

The board is a big, made of wood, about 40 cm square and 1 cm wide. One side of the board is used to play La Oca. The other side can be used to play Parchis(a.k.a Pachisi). The game's colorful art has not really changed in the last 40 years: The only difference between the newest boards and the one my grandmother used when she was a kid is that the newest versions have a few color changes to make the game more appealing to kids. Every single space in the board has its own unique picture: there are no boring, single colored spaces here.The board is too big to carry on trips, but the construction is sturdy enough that it will survive the clumsy hands of a toddler. It might be too sturdy: I've seen it used as a weapon by malicious 6-year olds.

The playing pieces, on the other hand, tend to be rather flimsy. Small, non descriptive plastic discs that come with a Parchis set. The box that holds the counters should probably be kept away from children: My sister ate more than a few pieces when she was 4. The dice are also choking hazards, having the same size as a the dice from those 32-D6 blocks you can find at most game stores.

Gameplay
This is a roll-and-move, zero decissions 'game'. The players roll the die, advancing the specified amount of spaces. There are many special spaces in the board that can make you go forward, allow you to roll again, skip your next turn, be unable to move unless you roll a certain amount of pips in the die, or even send you back to the beginning. Most of this special squares have a small rhime associated to them, that the players recite as they perform the special actions.

The most common of those special spaces has a goose, or in spanish, oca. Whenever someone lands in that space, he is moved to the next goose on the board, and can roll again. Other special spaces include, among others, 'La Muerte'(Death), that sends you back at the beginning, a Maze, that sends you to to square 30, two bridges that connect to each other, and let you roll again, a Jail, and the most feared of them all: the Well. In the cruel variant I was taught, if you fall into the well you lose your turn until somebody else falls into the well, to the desperation of the poor toddler that chances are he won't be able to even roll a die for the rest of the game.

Whoever lands exactly in the last square, number 64, is the winner, and can claim that his wonderful die rolling skills and mastery of the game's strategy are inferior to none. Laughing whenever you beat your son/little sister is not just allowed, but expected.

Why should I buy El Juego De La Oca?
To begin with, it's really, really cheap. The Spanish board also doubles as a Parchis board, so you really get two games for the price of one. Also, it's the best first boardgame that I've ever seen. It doesn't just teach how to take turns, and some basic arithmetic, but the rhimes and multitude of different pictures make this a much more interesting game than the competition. Also, there are few squares that send you backwards, so it is shorter and less frustrating than chutes and ladders. Only 64 spaces as opposed to 100 makes the game end much, much quicker, so even the smallest of kids won't get bored before the end of the game. After the kid outgrows the game, you can just flip the board over and play Parchis instead.

Why could I hate this game?
Thera are no decisions to be made in this game, so few adults ever want to play this. It's short enough that one playing is tolerable, but I don't see any serious gamer wanting to play this, ever.

Conclusion
In my opinion, this game has the privilege of being 'The Best of the Worst'. If I'm stuck playing a roll and move game with a little kid, I'd pick this one over the abysmal competition. Still not a game any serious gamer would ever want for himself.