Game: Loopin' Louie

Thread: Re: [Loopin' Loiue (and Craps)] Pentathlon 2008

BastardToadflax — 2008-08-19T17:15:48+00:00

Seriously!? I did get really close, but I just couldn't get him to connect. I bow to your Louie-fu. I must practice more.

Thread: Re: [Loopin' Loiue (and Craps)] Pentathlon 2008

abrannan — 2008-08-19T17:08:05+00:00

BastardToadflax wrote:

It is, however, wise to mention that players may run interference even after they have lost their last chicken. In fact, if the only players with chickens remaining are on opposite sides of the apparatus, the game will last until the batteries give up without some other players trying to send Louie into a deadly chicken killing tailspin.

You clearly need to play more Louie... Dropping a shot across the board is very possible, and actually not that difficult. I've lost more of my chickens to the opponent directly across from me than from the player immediately before me.

Thread: [Loopin' Loiue (and Craps)] Pentathlon 2008

BastardToadflax — 2008-08-19T14:46:14+00:00

Loopin' Louie and Craps.

What two games could possibly be better suited to each other?

This past weekend I hosted an annual Pentathlon I've been running with a group of friends for the past several years. This year's events included (1) Mini-Trebuchet Artillery Range; (2) Sling Shot vs. Moxie cans; (3) a pellet gun shooting spree involving foam-boards cut out in our silhouettes ; (4) Loopin' Louie; and (5) Craps. The entrance fees of $10.00 each were used to bet in craps and the pot was split between the last man standing at the craps game and the overall winner of the event. The evening was then finished off with a pinata--because one is really never to old enjoy beating a pinata to death.

It seems a bit silly to file a session report for Loopin' Louie, but the fact of the matter is that even after firing a trebuchet and running about in the woods in a dangerous manner with slingshots, Loopin' Louie completely stole the show.

There were five contestants (each assigned an acceptably denigrating pentathlete name by one of their fellow pentathletes). A manner of tallying the results was needed so we could score the event as a whole. We played five rounds of Louie, with a different contestant standing out each round so that, by the end, every contestant had played four games. A player was awarded four points for being the last to have chickens, three points for being in second place, two points for being in third place, and, nonsensically enough, one consolation point for being dead last.

Louie is one of those game for which almost instruction is necessary. The apparatus almost speaks for itself. It is, however, wise to mention that players may run interference even after they have lost their last chicken. In fact, if the only players with chickens remaining are on opposite sides of the apparatus, the game will last until the batteries give up without some other players trying to send Louie into a deadly chicken killing tailspin.

Louie is a capricious pilot, but his trajectory can be controlled if you are lucky and deft in equal measure. By the second game most of us were gleefully sending red wide eye death from above raining down upon the other player's coops. Louie is also very addictive. So much so that even after the event was over, we kept playing it for the better part of an hour. Not even the trebuchet had that kind of draw. There's no real accounting for this phenomenon.

As for craps: all I can say is that the reports of shootings at dice games reported on purple pawn are most certainly not exaggerated. I was bankrupt early on in the game, arranged for a loan, paid the loan back and staged a slight comeback before losing all my cash a second time in a daring bet. While most of this game was played in the traditional manner--with a pair of six sided dice--we also played with a d4 and d8 in homage to Gygax's passing earlier this year. The latter form of the game utterly wreaks havoc with the statistics of craps and is not advised even though it's far more aesthetically pleasing.

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zombiegod — 2008-07-27T18:26:44+00:00

The last Chicken in the Coop

Thread: Re: "Motor Trouble"! Must... Kamikazee... Chicken... Coop....

Dweeb — 2008-07-25T11:30:14+00:00

in fact there's an extra one, but with no stickers on it. It must be a spare.

Wow! That spare chicken could be worth a bundle - lose one and the game is ruined!

Thread: Re: "Motor Trouble"! Must... Kamikazee... Chicken... Coop....

lindsayt — 2008-07-25T08:32:29+00:00

Lucky you. It looks like you got original version of the game - which is bigger (and probably slightly better) than the later version that we've got.

My 3 year old daughter has a playing style similar to your wife's.

My 5 year old son is a real devil at this game - and laughs his head off when we play.

We're still on the original batteries after hundreds of plays of this game. So you should be set-up for a lot of hours of fun...

I bought this game new, in a damaged box for £6 recently to give away as a present.

Thread: Re: "Motor Trouble"! Must... Kamikazee... Chicken... Coop....

Buster Brown — 2008-07-25T05:37:28+00:00

Excellent write-up Rob!!! Three months ago I purchased the very same version of Loopin' Louie from a local thrift store for three bucks, and it's a regular warm-up activity on our game nights. This and Liar's Dice seems to be our groups favorite starters for the night.

I'm glad they are producing the game again, but I sure do like playing good, fun vintage games like this.

Thread: Re: "Motor Trouble"! Must... Kamikazee... Chicken... Coop....

KenToad — 2008-07-25T04:23:33+00:00

I love this sort of thing ... great story and excellent pictures. Nice work.

Thread: Re: "Motor Trouble"! Must... Kamikazee... Chicken... Coop....

tankexmortis — 2008-07-25T01:37:33+00:00

Cool read, and fantastic photos. Thanks.

Thread: "Motor Trouble"! Must... Kamikazee... Chicken... Coop....

zombiegod — 2008-07-24T22:41:57+00:00

I passed up on this in my local Junk Shop a few weeks ago. This week I had a long overdue break from work, and after reading so much about it on the Geek checked in again. As I suspected it was still shoved into the dark damp corner of the shop floor, where it's probably lain for a fair few years, holding up the weight of 9-10 other games & jigsaws like Charles Atlas.

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"Hiya, how much is this, there's no price on it?" I enquired.

"Is it complete?" He responded.

"I've no Idea" I replied. The bowed out box was damp, & jam-packed solid with the crammed in cardboard insert and badly stuffed in bits.

"Errrr a couple of quid?!?" he offered.

"Nice one! £2.00 it is then."

I managed to fit it snugly into my rucksack and set off home on my motorbike with a pretty big grin on my face.

Tipping the contents out I opened the ziplock and counted through the Chicken Tokens. Well they're all present, in fact there's an extra one, but with no stickers on it. It must be a spare.

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All the Arms and paddles were present. one or two of them had some dubious (fingers crossed) kiddie food sploshed on them, but it wiped off to reveal gleaming plastic.

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And so it was that I began to set up the game proper. Attaching all the arms and paddles and filling the Coops with three Tokens apiece.

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I docked the Centre Cone and arm in the middle of the base and gave it a few lock/unlock tests. It swung smoothly setting & unsetting neatly.

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Lastly out came Loopin' Louie himself. The Red Baron, The Pilferer of Poultry in precious plastic. I clicked him onto the end of the arm and flicked the switch to the on position... Nothing.

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Not to worry, there was another battery included in the box. I quickly unscrewed the battery cover and replaced the duffer with the other included one. I gave this one a test before re-assembling... Nada.

Hmmmmm maybe, just maybe both batteries were discharged. It had obviously been sitting in that damp shop for many a year. So I nipped out to the local corner shop and bought myself two new batteries 'the price of which came to more than the game itself'!

I fitted one of the batteries and once again gave the On/Off switch a flick... Dead as a Dodo.

'Pffffff...' Next I decided to read up about any problems owners here on BGG might have experienced with their own copies of Loopin' Louie, and lo and behold I found a thread or two with possible causes. So out came the old (screwdriver) Scroggy.

The base was easy to take apart, just 3-4 small screws. You can then lift the lot wide open. I guessed there was either a wire loose, or the motor was totally blown, in which case I'd offer the rest of the game up as spares here on BGG.

Inside there's just the motor and a few cogs. One day I might take some photo's of it and do an exploded photo guide Haynes Manual style.

Anyway, I checked the wiring, it seemed O.K. I had a bit of a dis-assemble re-assemble of the cogs and central column and everything looked cool. I expected to see the motor covered in that white furry stuff, like when you see a corroded battery, but it looked in immaculate shape.

After a brief twist of the motor I flicked the switch again and
"Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!" The motor sprung into life.

I quickly re-assembled the base and set the game back up. The Tower Cone was unusually stiff and wouldn't disengage when you started the game. Also the central piece that locks the Tower cone upright could be slid straight out of the base. "That can't be right" I thought. Small kiddies and choking and all that. I guess I must've built it back up wrong. So I dis-assembled and re-assembled it once more, making sure the holding pin disengaged on the inside of the base. "phew!"

But why motor no work? Possibly damp?, bad contacts?, Locked up? I don't know, but it's been working A1 ever since.

So how's the game play?

Well you set ole Louie off on his route, and when he gets to your paddle area you slap it and he bounces up. If you don't time it right he'll knock one of your Tokens off the coop, and once all three tokens are gone you've lost. Simple as. That's how I see it anyway. The rulebook is missing, but it's not rocket science.

It's a great game for larger groups who just want to chill out and trash talk. I know I can get greedy with some manoeuvres, trying to keep Louie bouncing straight over to the West 'player on my left' time and time again.

My wife is absolutely terrible at it. More often than not the Tokens will end up falling out of the Coop because of her paddle mashing, rather than from the threat of Louie himself.

The 2 old batteries now work, so I've enough cell-power to keep Louie Loopin' for a good few weeks at least.

I also managed to assemble and sort out the box inlay, which was a bit of a puzzle. Now everything fits back in the box neatly enough.

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Lastly I re-arranged his eyes. As whoever applied them in the first place made him look kinda spaced out. Now he has a more sinister appearance.

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BTW I took all the Louie photographs. Hope you like 'em.

Overall:
2 players - 6 fluffy chicks
3 Players - 8 red roosters
4 players - 10 roasted chickens

Thread: Anyone want to combine an order for Loopin' Louie?

pHr0sT — 2008-07-24T15:50:16+00:00

Hey there! I've found a place online that has the newest version of Loopin' Louie online. It is smaller than the original version but just as much fun. I was looking at placing an order with multiple copies to save on shipping. It is much cheaper to ship it to the USA then to Canada as well. If anyone is interested post here or geekmail me ASAP!
With 2 people it will be approximately $35 each... with 3 people around $32.

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zombiegod — 2008-07-23T21:33:59+00:00

Instructions - Page 4

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zombiegod — 2008-07-23T21:32:48+00:00

Instructions - Page 3

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zombiegod — 2008-07-23T21:31:45+00:00

Instructions - Page 2

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zombiegod — 2008-07-23T16:49:09+00:00

Instruction sheet

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zombiegod — 2008-07-23T16:47:29+00:00

Paddle

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zombiegod — 2008-07-23T10:01:46+00:00

A set of Chicken Tokens, and one 'blank' extra.

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zombiegod — 2008-07-23T09:49:29+00:00

Check out those evil eyes.

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zombiegod — 2008-07-22T16:52:24+00:00

Chicken Coop

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zombiegod — 2008-07-22T16:13:34+00:00

Centre Cone

Thread: Re: The Zen of Louie

eevans24 — 2008-07-22T03:57:29+00:00

When you can snatch he chicken out of my hand, then it is time for you to go.

Thread: Re: The Zen of Louie

Octavian — 2008-07-09T19:16:22+00:00

But the student was perplexed. "But Master, I have learned the art of sending Louie to the west, and of course any peasant can pluck the chickens to the east. But surely the North is untouchable. I must depend on my east and west neighbors to pluck his chickens for I do not see how I can drop Louie into such a small place with one hop."

The Master stopped to skip a stone across the still waters of the pond. "So you assume you must do it with the first hop, do you..."

Thread: The Zen of Louie

eevans24 — 2008-07-09T03:57:44+00:00

He asked his master: Master? Is Loopin' Louie too slow?

The Master replied: Speed is a consideration of illusion young one. A Loopin' Louie Master knows that to understand the task at hand, one must have balance, balance in the mind, balance in the hand and balance in the fingers. For the chickens will only fly when Louie is lifted to the heavens with precision and dexterity. To release the chickens from their earthly condition, slow or fast, it matters not.

The Master continued: The center of your Loopin' Louie Universe is located in the South. Look to your Western Neighbor. He who looks to be your best friend may be your worst enemy. Use stealth and guile to destroy your Western Neighbor first. Use hard, choppy shots to upset the balance of the other players. Encourage your foes to turn on the Western Neighbor. Use these tactics and you will succeed in the Louie.

Your Northern Neighbor is like the horizon, always just out of reach. To overcome the challenge of the Northern Neighbor deliver Louie in a high, broad arc. Ignore the Eastern Neighbor. Arc over his chickens for they are not yet plump and ready for cooking.

Once you have dealt with the Western and Northern Neighbors, finish the Neighbor to the East. With the other 2 opponents neutralized it is but a matter of time before the victory is yours.

Look not to speed, but to dexterity, timing and stealth, and Louie shall be your spirit guide, always.

Thread: Re: getting there was half the fun

Angry Duck — 2008-06-18T06:27:50+00:00

Hey, how come I wasn't playing Loopin' Louie? Oh, I get it ... ... was I one of the suckers painting the baby room?

Thread: Re: A photo comparison of the Classic and 2006 editions

kvn299 — 2008-06-03T22:22:41+00:00

Good catch! I never noticed that.

Thread: Re: A photo comparison of the Classic and 2006 editions

sisteray — 2008-06-03T21:59:33+00:00

Don't forget the difference in the paddles. The new paddles are beveled the old ones are flat.

Thread: Re: Replacing lost tokens - suggestions?

Twinge — 2008-05-24T18:23:35+00:00

I just bought a few of these to help complete a friend's set, and I have an update on the details:

They are considered "Item 10" (shown behind the buttons on the rack itself). More importantly, they are now Hook 16, NOT Hook 9 anymore. I don't know why they were changed; some of them I saw even had a 16 pasted over the old number 9, but 16 seems to be the new correct number.

The other relevant info (2 packs for 67 cents, 1 1/8", white pearlescent look) was still the same.

Thread: Re: Drinking loopin' louie

lemur25 — 2008-05-18T08:27:34+00:00

well i really would like to build an 8 person version like someone demonstrated in the picture area and i've also found that since ive played before that if i get me and some girls that have never played i can get there closes off pretty quick, so if anyone is looking to sell a copy with a none working base id be interested in buying if its the original copy not the new one.

Thread: New Loopin' Louie Microbadge available

LordP — 2008-05-08T10:42:46+00:00

A new Microbadge for Loopin' Louie is available:

[INLINEIMG]http://files.boardgamegeek.com/images/microbadges/looplouie5...[/INLINEIMG] Click here to get one.

Thread: Re: Why is this game hyped? Is it a virus launched at Gathering?

johnclark — 2008-05-07T23:50:36+00:00

I bought the game recently and it is definitely better than Hungry Hippos. Not sure if its better than Pitchcar but it is sure a lot quicker.

I guess it comes down to if you like dexterity and/or short silly games.

Thread: Re: Question About Loopin Louie

tomchaps — 2008-05-02T20:49:34+00:00

We've played with our toes--it works pretty well, actually.

Thread: Re: Question About Loopin Louie

smithhemb — 2008-04-27T23:18:00+00:00

Dweeb wrote:
The only problem I have with Loopin' Louie is that you pretty much NEED 4 players.

Two players playing two-handed is a lot of fun.

Thread: Re: Question About Loopin Louie

ytter — 2008-04-27T22:26:29+00:00

Louie doesn't move very fast. You will easily be able to knock him away from your own chickens if you are the only one playing.

The fun comes from knocking Louie just right so that he flies over the other players paddle and directly takes out their chicken. The physics are quite entertaining as well as the times when Louie lands just right, for no other reason than perfect chance.

Thread: Re: Question About Loopin Louie

Randy Cox — 2008-04-27T22:23:26+00:00

haitu wrote:
Ok, what i mean is, Louie (the machine spinning), is it slow? It seems like it is too easy.It's not a video game. The speed doesn't make a whole lot of (if any) difference. It's all about the bounce.

Thread: Re: Question About Loopin Louie

haitu — 2008-04-27T21:34:58+00:00

Ok, what i mean is, Louie (the machine spinning), is it slow? It seems like it is too easy.

Thread: Re: Question About Loopin Louie

Dweeb — 2008-04-27T20:56:44+00:00

Not sure what you mean by "slow", but I've never thought of it that way. The only problem I have with Loopin' Louie is that you pretty much NEED 4 players.

Thread: Re: Question About Loopin Louie

Bagherra — 2008-04-27T20:48:25+00:00

I'd be surprised if a single game lasts more than 2 minutes. Especially if you use the newer smaller version.

Thread: Re: Question About Loopin Louie

Jim Marshall — 2008-04-27T20:46:29+00:00

Slow isn't a problem with Louie. Getting past 'oh, just one more game then!' for the 18th time might be....

Thread: Re: Question About Loopin Louie

rri1 — 2008-04-27T20:39:17+00:00

Slow???????????

Thread: Question About Loopin Louie

haitu — 2008-04-27T20:29:11+00:00

I want to buy the game but I'm worried the game might be too slow. I've seen the videos and it looks really fun. I love dexterity games and my room mates and I always play competitive so I was wondering if Looping Louie could fit our game rotation.

Thread: Re: Where to get in US?

jrachfal — 2008-04-25T20:11:31+00:00

Not sure which on-line stores you consider "normal", but Gamesurplus has a ding-n-dent copy in stock:

http://www.gamesurplus.com/site/product.cfm?id=82A6A2F7-DC17...

Thread: Re: Where to get in US?

turtleback — 2008-04-25T19:46:30+00:00

I bought mine a few weeks ago at Board and Bits.

Thread: Re: Where to get in US?

karp — 2008-04-25T14:59:14+00:00

scottandkimr wrote:
Is this available in the US? The normal online stores do not have it.

At one time Firebox sold Loopin' Louie in there US online store, but there aren't any current plans for stocking it again. You can still order it through their UK store: http://www.firebox.com/product/1390. It's about $45.50 USD shipped. I've ordered through both the US and UK sites and have had good experiences.

I do know that amazon.co.uk also sells Loopin' Louie for a few pounds less, but I'm not sure if they ship toys/games to the US. Other than that I haven't seen it in stock at any of the US game sites for quite a while (Boards and Bits used to sell it for $35 before shipping).

Good luck finding a copy. It's absolutely worth the $45 in my opinion. Alternatively you can order Bobbin' Bumblebee (see this thread: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/308441), but I'd recommend steering clear. Loopin' Louie is FAR superior!

Thread: Where to get in US?

scottandkimr — 2008-04-25T14:15:05+00:00

Is this available in the US? The normal online stores do not have it.

Thread: Re: Not In Front Of The Children

Ed_the_Red — 2008-04-15T21:55:21+00:00

Great write up!

I introduced this to my gaming group today, having only played it with the children before, and they absolutely loved it! My oldest son (only 9, but we let him play LL anyway) was included, as he often is for the start of gaming sessions, and he was especially thrilled as he proceeded to beat the pants of everyone else - must be an inherited skill, ahem ahem.

Thread: Loopin' Louie vs Wings of War

turtleback — 2008-04-09T05:57:40+00:00

Hi

I just posted a picture to Wings of War Miniatures that features Loopin' Louie vs the Red Baron. I did not think I should post it twice, but I thought it was mildly amusing. You can see the picture here:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/320505

-David

Thread: Re: Brand new Louie did not work at all. Anyone else have this problem? A simple fix...

FIREBOUND — 2008-04-07T06:25:51+00:00

I also picked up the German version for B&B... no problems at all.

Thread: Re: Brand new Louie did not work at all. Anyone else have this problem? A simple fix...

ytter — 2008-04-07T04:45:52+00:00

Mine worked fine out of the box, I bought the German version from Boards and Bits, and it was in tip top shape.

My adult game group frequently requests this game to finish up the game nights. Very addicting!

Thread: Brand new Louie did not work at all. Anyone else have this problem? A simple fix...

Bjork — 2008-04-07T01:43:34+00:00

Hi everyone,

I picked up a brand new shrink-wrapped Louie a few days ago for my son's 6th birthday. Luckily I had read on BGG that it is wise to open up the box and attach all the stickers, etc, and I did. But I also double-checked that I knew how to set it all up for the big day, and that's when I discovered that Louie's motor did not work at all. I tried changing batteries, etc, but all to no avail.

Eventually, I got out the screwdriver and opened up the motor housing, and there I discovered that the soldered connections to the battery terminals were BOTH entirely disconnected, showing big globs of solder that indicate a very poor soldering job. I re-soldered them then and there, and now Louie is flying happily, with a few days to spare.

I wonder if anyone else has had this experience. I'm just feeling lucky that I did not wait until Jack's birthday morning to find find out that his cool-looking present was kaput.

Now I'm happily looking forward to Saturday morning.
See ya,
Lee.

Thread: Re: My two-year-old's first game

usmc61 — 2008-03-28T18:40:02+00:00

I still have my copy at our vacation spot in Westport WA. We would play this game a lot, it was always great fun.

Thread: Re: Not In Front Of The Children

usmc61 — 2008-03-28T18:36:07+00:00

This game brings back some SERIOUS memories for me. I remember playing this as a little kid, good times. Great review.

Thread: Re: Strategic use of paddles (?)

Jiing — 2008-03-24T08:48:48+00:00

YEAH! You might have completed it, or at least 'pretty much'.
I didn't think it so deeper, even my first thought had earned me praise from gamers in my country.
I am glad to learn more form you. Thanks!

Thread: Re: Strategic use of paddles (?)

webvader — 2008-03-23T22:20:28+00:00

Jiing wrote:
Thanks webvader! I have followed your suggestion to add c and /c in my previous post. It looks good now

About 2b case in your post, I can also see it in my games, especially when playing kids hit the paddles like crazy.

It seems the strength order is 2b > 3b > 3a > 2 > 1 in my normal battery power case.

Yeah, there are actually two "2b"s :-)

One is the highest strength super strong smash that directly goes across before the center base has rotated even 5 degrees. This one only seems to work after fresh batteries have slowed down a touch otherwise no matter how hard you smash it, the base has already rotated too much.

These type of hits often result in chickens flying right out onto the table.

The original "2b" that I was talking about was actually just a perfectly timed hit with a normal 180 degree of base rotation while Louie is in the air. This involves just the perfect amount of airtime at near vertical and is usually a pretty rare shot.

Which puts your strength notation at:
2b(smash) > 3b > 3a > 2b > 2 > 1

1, 2, and 2b-normal are with Louie not exceeding vertical but coming back down on the same side as he was hit on. Thus he follows the path of the normal rotation and his airtime is related directly to how many degrees he travels as the base rotates. I would classify these as "normal" shots.

2b-smash, 3b, and 3a involve Louie acheiving the vertical position and then coming down on the OTHER side of vertical. I would classify these as "loop" shots.

Edit: to 'geek' it up a bit more and further illustrate the "loop" vs "normal" shots and the hang time involved I made up a little table :-)

I am calling 2b-smash "2c" now ...

L = Louie's travel before first bounce
B = Base's rotation during this time

[c]
"loop" shots "normal" shots
2c 3b 3a 2b 2 1
L: 180 270 225 180 135 90
B: 0 90 45 180 135 90
[/c]

From the base's rotation, you can see which shots actually are the quickest and which take the longest amount of time. From longest (most air time) to shortest (least air time) they are:
2b, 2, 1&3b, 3a, 2c

While the strength of the paddle hit is still:
2c > 3b > 3a > 2b > 2 > 1

It makes a bit of a bell curve I think.

Thread: Re: Strategic use of paddles (?)

Jiing — 2008-03-23T15:58:36+00:00

Thanks webvader! I have followed your suggestion to add c and /c in my previous post. It looks good now

About 2b case in your post, I can also see it in my games, especially when playing kids hit the paddles like crazy.

It seems the strength order is 2b > 3b > 3a > 2 > 1 in my normal battery power case.

Thread: Re: Not In Front Of The Children

Suke — 2008-02-18T16:28:52+00:00

This sounds an awful lot like Bobbin' Bumblebee...in fact, exactly the same! Except you have a bee and honey instead of an airplane and chickens...But I've played the Bee version of this game and it is a lot of fun.

Thread: Re: Drinking loopin' louie

out4blood — 2008-02-17T06:50:21+00:00

lemur25 wrote:
So me and my friends love this game at parties for our drinking variation. Drink every time you lose a chicken, and in a mixed group, take off an article of clothing if you get out first. Are we the only ones who do this, and if not does anyone else have any good "party rules" for this game?

Strip Louie! I'll have to try that!

Err ... on second thought ... I'm not sure I wanna see people in our group nekkid...

Thread: Re: Drinking loopin' louie

lemur25 — 2008-02-17T05:57:42+00:00

well if every one is already drinking heavily then a run a way leader shouldn't happen, also with only four players being able to play at a time the drunkest tend to lose there spots to new (more sober) players. this is also why i plan to build the super eight person loopin louie. with that said, if anyone has a copy with a non working base i would be willing to buy it.

Thread: Re: Not In Front Of The Children

yosemite — 2008-02-16T22:44:18+00:00

My sons, age 29 and 31, now live in Chicago. We visited in December, when I delivered a copy of the game for EACH of them AND took my own to actually PLAY. (They likely thought I was nuts buying them a KIDDIE game for Christmas!) Everyone present played several games and had a BLAST! The language around the table was anything but little-kid talk, that's for sure!!!

I LOVE this game! Thanks for a GREAT write-up!

Thread: Not In Front Of The Children

IdeasMan — 2008-02-16T20:46:58+00:00

Loopin’ Louie is a game that I bought solely because it had a good reputation on BGG. It has a rating above 7 and for a children’s game that makes it pure gold. Frankly, if it hadn’t been for BGG, I’d never have touched the game. Luckily, I heeded the recommendation of BGG and bought it.

Here’s why you should do the same, and why you shouldn’t waste valuable gaming time letting the children play this game – it’s far too good for them.

Components

Loopin’ Louie comes in a deep, square box with suitable cheesy graphics on the outside:

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My version is the English (UK) MB Games version (yes, the new version) and the box side says 2-4 players, age 4+ and a 10-minute playing time. The only thing they got wrong is the age range; it’s definitely 18+. The box looks like a typical pre-school toy that gets unwrapped on Christmas day, played with for 30 minutes, then lies broken and abandoned in the corner until thrown out during the summer holidays.

Inside the box is:

a central base containing a battery-powered motor

a bag containing four plain white arms with chicken coops at the end that slot into the base – and are quite a loose fit, so hold on to yours with your other hand during play

a bag containing Louie in his aeroplane, along with a dozen plain blue disks that will transform into chickens at some stage

a bag containing the 4 paddle flippers that players will use to defend their chickens from Louie’s antics

a balance arm on a central cone that plugs into the base unit

two sheets of stickers

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Everything is made of plastic and looks cheap and cheerful, but the bits are surprisingly robust and should give many hours of pleasure before you need to get another copy. Luckily the game is often on sale and doesn’t feel over-priced if bought for £10, $20, 15 euro or less.

So now we come to the two main negative points about Loopin’ Louie:

1) It looks less sophisticated than Tickle-Me-Elmo

2) You have to assemble the game yourself

The look of the game undoubtedly puts adults off buying the game, unless they have a 2-year old in the house, and MB games is closing off a huge potential market by not making this game look more grown-up.

Having to put the thing together is also a bit of a bind. Sure, the game is designed to come apart for easy storage, and I’m fine with that. But you have to snap Louie onto the balance arm, snap the paddle arms onto the chicken coops and then stick dozens of stickers all over the place to make the blue disks look like chickens, the chicken coops look like chicken coops, the aeroplane look like an aeroplane and so on. You could play the game in it’s vanilla state as a sort of post-modern uber-cool statement and it will play just the same as if you spent 30 minutes sticking, re-sticking, cursing, re-re-sticking and gluing the stickers in place – usually upside down. If you’re giving this game to children – No! Don’t do it!! It’ll only be wasted on them – then I’d recommend opening up the game, assembling it yourself and re-packing it. It can be very fiddly getting all the stickers in the right place and little hands probably haven’t got the dexterity for it.

Right, you’ve overcome your horror at playing a game that wouldn’t challenge an amoeba, that looks like My-First-Talking-Roundabout™ and that you have to assemble yourself. Don’t worry, you’re over the worst, it all gets much, much better from now on.

Game Setup

To get the game ready to play you have to put new batteries into the central base, then attach Louie, who is placed at the end of the end of the balance arm, onto the top of the base. Take a paddle/coop for each player and attach them to the base, put 3 chickens on the top of each coop and assume the position. With two players, you’ll want to be facing each other, three players is a slightly awkward T-shaped setup, but you can rotate positions, and four players is the best number to have. (With five players, use a House Rule that the winner/first loser sits out of the next game, so everyone gets their turn at the game.)

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Game Play

Louie is placed in an unstable vertical position and he’ll stay vertical forever as long as nothing happens to him. But then, someone switches on the motor and, oops, he’s off. Louie starts to rotate and eventually, either through increased angular momentum or an uneven table, or an inconsiderate nudge, Louie will tip over and come crashing down towards your chicken coop in a reckless attempt to decapitate your Dutch Bantams.

Left to his own devices, Louie’s natural motion is to rotate in a nearly horizontal circle with the bottom of his aeroplane grazing the top of your chicken disks:

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If nobody did anything, Louie would hit the top of every chicken in under a minute, and when Louie hits a chicken it tips slightly and falls through a slot in the side of your chicken coop – one dead chicken. Lose all your chickens and it’s game over, man.

Enter the hero with his incredible powers of manual dexterity – that’s you. Each player has a paddle/lever that they can use to bat Louie up into the air, above the heads of their chickens, preserving poultry from an early death. (How this fits thematically into the game I have no idea. Who’d use a seesaw to bat an aeroplane out of the way when a cheap SCUD missile from the Middle East would do the job so much more effectively?) Your paddle can give Louie a bump that puts him over your chickens and gravity brings Louie back down to harass some more innocent fowl and, thanks to the weight on the other end of the arm that holds Louie's aeroplane, the decent is fairly gentle and balletic - unless he's spinning like a whirling Dervish.

Each player uses their paddle as Louie comes their way to save their chickens. But, as your skills increase, you realise that you can also make Louie target opponent’s chickens as well as saving your own pullets. With one smooth blat on your paddle, you send Louie soaring over your own coop, leave him hanging, poised in mid-air, before swooping down above the futile flapping of your opponent's paddle, crashing into those hapless chickens. Yes! Result! And so the fun begins. After a while, you’ll be trying to create all manner of amazing acrobatic feats; spins, dives, climbing into the stratosphere and diving out of the sun to take the head off the next unwary chicken.

If you want a real-time-strategy game, then Loopin’ Louie is it – in spades. If you fluff the hit the first time, you get another chance five seconds later. You need to think quickly, react faster still and prepare to change plans in an instant.

Loopin’ Louie is a ruthless wargame, where the winner takes the spoils. There’s no prize for coming second, there’s no quarter asked or given, it’s an absolute bloodbath, and it only takes 10 minutes to triumph over your puny enemies and reign supreme in the chicken wing market.

For 10 minutes you’re manically flapping your paddle, cursing fate, your friends (who become your deadly enemies once your first chicken bites the dust), the wonky table and every other ~~excuse~~ reason you can conjure as to why you’re always the first to lose all their chickens. Face it, you’re rubbish at this game, but you’re too proud/stubborn to admit it. Just one more game and you’ll prove your superiority; just you wait and see.

Never mind the dicefests of Titan, the backstabbing of Diplomacy, the chicanery of Intrigue or the carnage of every other wargame on the planet; Loopin’ Louie distils war into a 10-minute romp where strategy, dexterity, psychology, quick thinking and a huge dose of luck combine to teach every gamer just how humbling an experience it is to lose.

Some Observations On Gameplay

If you hit your paddle too hard, your chickens might fall off the coop – dead from the shock of your wallop – so take care and learn the art of the gentle, but perfectly placed, tap.

Some chickens seem super-glued to the coop – and they always belong to other players. If everyone drops their chickens into the upper part of the slot on top of the coop, then there is no chance of deliberately wedging a chicken in place – not that anybody would stoop so low, no siree. Even so, sometimes those chickens just won’t die. Of course, when it’s your heroic chickens, fighting off the depredations of the maniac Louie, then it’s only natural that they stay put.

Kismet/justice/Sod’s Law plays a huge part in this game. If Louie doesn’t fall at the start of the game, then the person who gives him a nudge inevitably loses a chicken in the next ten seconds. If you hit Louie in a wild, uncoordinated way, you’ll only watch him whiz round, do a complete circuit, missing everybody else's chickens, and take out one of your own. Play rough with this game and it’ll wreak its revenge, and it won’t be served cold. Justice comes hot and swift in this game.

Use one hand to hold down your paddle/coop as this helps to stabilise the game and usually prevents sudden chicken death from over-eager paddle slapping. This also helps to anchor the game on the table, preventing it sliding away from those with an over-strong paddle slap.

Skill really does play a huge part in this game, but there’s enough randomness to make it interesting for all parties, from the young and feeble to the old and feebler still. The paddles can be set in two positions - easy and hard - so you can up the difficulty for those too skilled for you to beat.

Don’t get carried away with the acrobatics, concentrate on the getting him off your chickens first, and then try for the well-aimed drop-shot onto someone else’s coop. Of course, if you’re cunning, you’ll throw in the occasional wild loop-the-loop just to unnerve the opposition.

If you take this game too seriously then everyone else will gang up on you and blitz your chickens quicker than Superman on turbo-boost. If winning means everything to you, then this isn’t the game for you, although everyone else will think it’s actually the perfect game for you.

Stock up on LOTS of batteries, you’re going to need them. The only improvement I'd make to the game would be the ability to use a mains adapter to power the game, so you don't need to change batteries during play. (Invest in two sets of rechargeable batteries for this game and keep them charged/charging at all times.)

If you play this game in public, you’ll have dozens of people eager to give it a go, so make sure you’ve got the rest of the day free. Never lend this game to anyone; you’ll never get it back again.

Is Loopin’ Louie The Game For You?

ABSOLUTELY

It’s the perfect game for everyone:

at a party
as a family bonding activity (dad's are expected to be the first one out EVERY time)
at family gatherings (although I wouldn’t play it in the church during a wedding, getting it out before the speeches at the reception is just fine)
as a game day starter/finisher
as an icebreaker with those terrible kiddies who’ve just moved in next door

Absolutely everyone on the planet should enjoy this game – no exceptions.

If you play this game and don’t have fun; there’s something wrong with you. This game is all about having FUN, then having some more FUN and then having some more FUN, finished with a big dollop of FUN. If you’re not having FUN, you’re either dead, or might as well be. This game could be professor of FUN at FUN University, FUNtown, FUN County in the United States of FUN.

This game is pure-dead-brilliant. It’s taken all the enjoyment of gaming and distilled it down into a short exercise in frustration (when you lose) and ecstasy when you win (purely down to your superior motor skills of course, no luck involved).

Get this game and bring it out at every opportunity. It’ll make friends and influence people like nothing else on Earth. After watching the Big Match, this is the game to unwind to, especially if everyone is on their fifth pint. Bring it out when dinner is smouldering at the bottom of the oven and everyone is waiting for the pizza to be delivered. Use it to wake everyone up in the morning, it's better than coffee.

I’ve played this game with just about every demographic there is and, once people get over the childish look of the game, EVERYONE HAD A BLAST – and I do mean everyone.

This game deserves to be in every home – go out and buy a copy today.

And don’t waste this game on children; it really is too good for them. It’s like Scalectrix, Hornby model railways, and model aeroplanes; use the children as the excuse to buy and own the game, but only bring it out when they’ve all gone to bed. But do remember to keep the noise down in case you wake them up and they want to join in all the fun.

(And when they ask what all those rude words mean that they heard from the top of the stairs, you've only got yourself to blame. If you don't like losing, you should learn not to swear.)

Thread: Re: Why is this game hyped? Is it a virus launched at Gathering?

autumnweave — 2008-02-05T07:01:57+00:00

I think that when playing with adults the fun starts as you get better and better at aiming your shots.

Flailing away is fun, but hitting the shot correctly so that it glides gently over the reach of the next players paddle to land just in time to knock out his chicken token, or even the shot across the board where you take out the player opposite you. It's a game of skill Or at least that's what I keep telling everyone.