Game: Loco!

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siuchak — 2008-08-06T09:13:22+00:00

HOMEMADE ~ in red

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siuchak — 2008-08-06T09:11:57+00:00

simple Loco! cards

Thread: Re: First games of Loco! -- Simply brilliant filler

Martin Ralya — 2008-04-06T04:00:49+00:00

I've seen Quandary in the Loco! image gallery, and it does look neat. Thanks for the recommendation.

Thread: Re: First games of Loco! -- Simply brilliant filler

Runehardt — 2008-03-30T18:03:16+00:00

I found the board game version "Quandary" at a thrift store. It's pretty cool. It has nice heavy domino tiles in it.

Thread: First games of Loco! -- Simply brilliant filler

Martin Ralya — 2008-03-30T17:34:04+00:00

My wife Alysia and I hosted board game night last week, and one of our friends, Daniel, arrived before our other two guests. Not sure how long they were going to be, we broke out Loco! for the first time.

Loco! has the honor of having the worst game packaging I've ever seen: a flimsy box containing a tray that holds all but one of the chips, plus the deck of cards with the last chip shrinkwrapped on top of it. It was clearly shoehorned into a box not designed specifically for it, and the shrinkwrapping ensured that the cards were bent on arrival (since the chip forces the edges to curl up). I tossed the packaging and moved Loco! into a CCG case, with the chips in a baggie; it works much better this way.

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After having explained Puerto Rico and In the Year of the Dragon fairly recently, it was nice to be able to explain a game in just a couple of minutes: "explain" the one rule, show a couple sample plays, clarify that you don't have to take a chip of the color you played -- done.

From rules through the final play, our first game took less than 10 minutes, as advertised. Alysia caught on right away, and closed the hand; she won with 29 points to Daniel's 19 and my 17.

We decided to see if we could fit in two more hands before our other friends came over, and started our second hand. Daniel played the most decisively, winning with 18 points while Alysia and I both had 8 points.

While we shuffled for our final hand, Daniel pointed out that if you start with a card in each color, you get to decide when the game ends. I hadn't realized that, and we'd already seen how important laying the last card was to winning.

My final set of cards containing all but one of the colors, and while I did better than in previous hands I gambled too much on yellow -- I took all the yellow chips, and waited too long to play my yellow five. Meanwhile, Daniel and Alysia both racked up chips in more than one color, and Daniel won again with 35 points to Alysia's 32 and my 23.

Our final scores were Daniel 72, Alysia 69 and me with 48.

Loco! is one of the best filler games I've ever played, hands-down. Its fun:time and turn angst:time ratios are excellent, and -- as I'd read here on BGG -- there's a lot more going on under the hood than its simplicity suggests. We all enjoyed Loco!, and it'll definitely be making an appearance at future game nights.

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olavf — 2008-03-26T13:56:44+00:00

Replaced box

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Martin Ralya — 2008-03-24T04:26:27+00:00

Loco's box is awful -- ditch it in favor of a chip baggie and a CCG deck container

Thread: Three Player Quandary Ends with Big Swing

bnordeng — 2008-02-18T05:14:50+00:00

We've been playing a lot more three player games lately as my wife is pregnant and often too tired to play or she goes to bed early and the three of us still want to play more. So, we've been playing some different games that tend to work well with three players... San Juan, Ra, Thurn & Taxis, Torres, Can't Stop, Acquire, etc. We play some of these games with four too, but they all seem to work well with three. This time around, we tried Quandary which is one of the few games that I've had in my collection for more than 10 years.

Mo, D and I went through a very long first round. D was the first player and Mo was the player who ended the round. I was the only player who did not put down all my number tiles and I was also one color tile short of the others. At the end of round 1, all colors were worth 4 or 5 points; the scores were... D: 39, Mo: 39, Me: 38. I thought I was in okay shape considering I was the last player in the first round.

Mo started the second round and it was over very fast. I played the last tile and Mo ended up on the short end in this one as her yellow tiles were only worth 2 points a piece while D and I had 4 and 5 points tiles. The scores after round 2 were... D: 67, Me: 63, Mo: 58.

The final round was even more interesting than the first two rounds. I went first and Mo was picking up red while D copied everything that I picked up. I realized that to win I had to finish the round, picking up a 5-point tile so that I could finish ahead of D. I would also have to stay ahead of Mo. As Mo was picking up reds, I realized there may be value here and I grabbed one when I knew D wouldn't be able to catch me. D added the 4 red tile as the second-to-last red and picked up a blue color tile. He was guessing that I had the 5 red tile since I started picking up red color tiles. Turns out that Mo had the 5 red tile and she ended the round. D had 3 blue tiles and I had 2 blues that were worth zero points each. OUCH! The final scores were...

Mo: 85
Me: 81
D: 80

Mo jumped from last to first and D fell from first to last in the final round. Mo was 9 points out of first heading into the last round and then won by 4 points; a 13-point swing. I really like this game with three players. It's fairly short and the rules are about as simple as they get, but the choices are tough (typical Knizia).

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Ceryon — 2008-01-26T23:23:28+00:00

Cropped german box cover

Thread: Re: 2-Player Loco

Raul Catalano — 2008-01-16T19:04:50+00:00

TheGameCzar wrote:

We say "Stupid Ameritrash Rule" when we play a "0" card. No just kidding, the rule is stupid and we simply ignore it.

I completely agree: after the first play, we definitely ignored that useless rule.

TheGameCzar wrote:

When we play 2 player we randomly take out 4 cards. It does not break the game and helps to alleviate the guessing factor in the end game.

mmm ... interesting.
Perhaps I an dumb, but I don't find so easy to guess the missing cards, so I never felt the need to increase their number. Moreover, this guessing element can be an intersting driver for your strategy (in my experience in a 2-player game the last turns can be VERY tense and brainburner!)
But of course I'll try your suggestion, even if I fear it could make the game more "random" and less tense (like when you play in three or four).

Thread: Re: 2-Player Loco

teabo — 2008-01-16T15:28:24+00:00

TheGameCzar wrote:
We say "Stupid Ameritrash Rule" when we play a "0" card. No just kidding, the rule is stupid and we simply ignore it.
I'm inclined to do this as well.

TheGameCzar wrote:
When we play 2 player we randomly take out 4 cards. It does not break the game and helps to alleviate the guessing factor in the end game.
I will definitely give this a try. Thanks for the idea!

Thread: Re: 2-Player Loco

TheGameCzar — 2008-01-16T15:23:33+00:00

teabo wrote:
Also, the "mechanic" which requires you to say "loco" when you play a 0 value card, or else not take a chip, is out of place in a game where you may spend a fair bit of mental energy on what you are doing. I understand it is particular to this printing of the game, and I think it is unecessary (sic) at best.

We say "Stupid Ameritrash Rule" when we play a "0" card. No just kidding, the rule is stupid and we simply ignore it.

When we play 2 player we randomly take out 4 cards. It does not break the game and helps to alleviate the guessing factor in the end game.

Thread: 2-Player Loco

teabo — 2008-01-16T06:42:18+00:00

My girlfriend Laura and I won a copy of Loco! in the raffle at G.I.T.H.O.T. (Games In The Heart Of Texas) this past saturday. I was very interested in giving it a go, since I really enjoyed Too Many Cooks, another very light Reiner Knizia card game. We played three times over the past 2 days, and I developed some opinions of the game, at least as it runs with two players.

The game has a simple, UNO-esque look. Nothing too special, but the colors are vibrant and the cards are thick and easy to shuffle. They feel high-quality. The chips are solid and easy to handle. One complaint is that it is tough to return the game to the box, as the chips tend not to go back in like you plan them to.

The game is very easy to learn, as advertised on the box. You play a card (numbered 0 to 5), and then take a chip of any color. At the end of the game, each chip is worth an amount of points equal to the number on the top card of it's corresponding color. Two cards are randomly removed from the deck prior to the game, ensuring that you do not know exactly what your opponent is holding.

The strategizing starts early in this game, in particular, as soon as you get your hand. I imagine that the initial planning is less important in games with a greater number of players, but with two, you are more aware of what you will be up against, and therefore more responsible for combatting it.

For a game that initially appears very light, there's quite a bit to chew on each turn. You've got to be thinking about what your opponent has in hand, what they want to set up for themselves (in terms of making their chips more valuable), what nasty things they'd like to do to your chip values, and of course what you are able to do to respond to this. Of utmost importance as well (as I learned after losing twice) is keeping an eye on the end of the game as it approaches. The game is over when six of any color card has been played. Therefore, all of the choices and possibilities I mentioned earlier must be prioritized... you can only play so many cards, and it's vitally important to be prepared for the game to end.

As much as I respect the strategic depth of the game, I must admit I have some reservations about it. For one thing, in certain late game situations the victory can come down to good guessing about which cards were randomly removed at the beginning of the game. I imagine that this might be alleviated with more than two players, however. Also, the "mechanic" which requires you to say "loco" when you play a 0 value card, or else not take a chip, is out of place in a game where you may spend a fair bit of mental energy on what you are doing. I understand it is particular to this printing of the game, and I think it is unnecessary at best.

Overall, however, Loco! is surprisingly complex for a game of its simplicity. I would certainly recommend that card game fans especially give it a go.

Thread: 4 player tie in the second round!

steve perkins — 2007-12-18T12:05:04+00:00

Played Loco with 4 players and managed to get a full 4 rounds of play in as a end of night filler.

The reason I'm posting this session was because on the second round all four players scored 23 points! We had different chips, a different amount of chips (2 players had 5 chips and 2 had 6) and only 3 of the colours had the same points.

This was only our second playing of the game and I wondered how often this happens. The scores for the four rounds where as follows;

1st round / 2nd round / 3rd round / 4th round / Totals
Graham 9pts / 23pts / 24pts / 26pts / 82pts
Kevin 6pts / 23pts / 23pts / 22pts / 74pts
Tony 0pts / 23pts / 25pts / 26pts / 74pts
Steve 0pts / 23pts / 24pts / 30pts / 77pts

A great little filler game to end the evening.

Thread: Re: What to do in this rare situation?

Spire — 2007-12-07T05:08:59+00:00

Sanders wrote:
Last night, playing 4 player Loco we had a situation that has never come up before. All the colors had excatly 5 cards, and there were no more chips.
I just encountered this situation for the first time this evening during a two-player game.

A made a quick run to BGG and found this thread; with no definitive answer, we decided to keep playing cards without being able to take chips. This ended up extending the game by just one turn (of one player).

As a result, the game was won by a single point (48 to 47), by the player who didn't play that last card. If we had immediately stopped playing when the chips ran out, the game would have ended in a tie (45 to 45).

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Verkisto — 2007-12-02T20:16:05+00:00

Samples of the player cards and colors from my home-made re-theme of Loco! with a Cthulhu theme.

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Verkisto — 2007-12-02T20:15:10+00:00

Samples of the creature cards and colors from my home-made re-theme of Loco! with a Cthulhu theme.

Thread: Re: Thor

GaryP — 2007-10-17T18:27:04+00:00

Yes, you can also keep adding offering cards after the god stack is empty.

The action cards do seem like a gamble in the game, and the amount of them taken per game will depend heavily on groupthink. However, allowing direct replacement of them would only serve to decrease their value, making them even less appealing. Why should I bother grabbing one if it is likely to be replaced? I would lose any advantage from taking the card in the first place. In the current rules, those who gamble and take an early action card can drastically change the value of a color later. If others don't like that change, they have to make a significant investment to undo it.

Fortunately, the game is quick and simple enough that you can certainly try it out couple of times each way to see what you like better.

Thread: Re: Thor

eafisch — 2007-10-17T17:27:31+00:00

Sorry about that--I think I was multi-tasking at the time. I'm not now! I do believe the rules allow you to add offering cards however.

By the way, my little group found it almost self-defeating to grab an action card rather than a god card according to the rules. So we decided to play with the idea that you could immediately replace an action card with one of your own above a stack. (Perhaps I should put this last para under a Variants heading.)

Again, thanks for your reply, Gary.

Thread: Re: Thor

GaryP — 2007-10-17T14:40:22+00:00

No, read that last sentence again. I'm saying exactly the opposite: you can add an action card to a column even if all of the god cards have been taken.

Also, note that each column can only have one action card. Any action card may be used to remove an already placed action card. Doing so causes both action cards to be discarded. On a later turn, a new action card may be added to the column.

Thread: Re: Thor

eafisch — 2007-10-17T03:06:21+00:00

So, if I'm getting you correctly, you can't play any more action cards on a column when the god cards have all been taken. You can just play more offering cards.
Thanks for your reply.

Thread: Re: Thor

GaryP — 2007-10-15T14:12:26+00:00

A "god stack" refers to the set of "god cards" that get taken by the players throughout the game. The action cards are played above (not on top of) a god stack. (We make a column for each god: action card, god cards/stack, and offering pile spread downward.)

However, even though a god stack may be empty, you may still place an action card above the empty stack (and offering pile).

Thread: Thor

eafisch — 2007-10-13T22:43:22+00:00

The rules talk about "God stacks" in relation to various options. But I'm not sure what a "God stack" is!

Is it the pile with the God cards (which can disappear during a game)? Or is it the pile of offering cards? After all, you can play your action cards on "God stacks," so if there are no God cards left, can you play an Action card in a front of a pile of offering cards?

Thanks!

Thread: Re: Loco! - Crazy Simple Quirky Fun

Favre4MVP — 2007-10-12T17:32:31+00:00

Nice review. I recommend playing Loco as a 2 player game if you want something a tad deeper. The simple fact that you know every card available to all players *except* the 2 random discards makes this a little more tense. Fun game.

Thread: Re: Loco! - Crazy Simple Quirky Fun

TheCat — 2007-09-04T00:18:21+00:00

Great review. I never knew you could write so much about such a simple game.

Thread: Loco! - Crazy Simple Quirky Fun

Auzette — 2007-08-09T01:57:05+00:00

The only thing really loco about Loco! is the incredible simplicity that begs the question of *how* it could really be called a game at all. Short of putting a stick of wood in a box and selling it as a puzzle game, there's little that compares to the sheer minimalism in Loco! Yet, it's entertaining, light, teachable to nearly audience, and fun.

Theme: If colors can be construed as a theme, then perhaps that could be stretched into the theme for this game, but it's a lightly salted theme at best.

Goal: Score the most points. Simple enough. The key to victory lies in leveraging one's timing, choosing when and where you play your cards so they're worth the most points at game's end.

Playing: Loco! earns at least a silver medal for having the simplest rules ever. It's likely the only game that has the entire rules posted as a subtitle to the game. "Play a card. Take a chip."

It's really close to as simple as that, with one small quirk. The game comes in a small package with two types of components: cards numbered "0" through "5" in five colors, and five chips in those same five colors. The chips are laid on the table in piles in a circle, grouped by color. All but a small set of the cards are then shuffled and dealt out to all players.

Player take turns placing a colored card from their hand down in a pile next to its corresponding colored chip, then taking *any chip* from the table (this is the one quirk, and one that trips up folks during initial play). New players seem to carry with them an implied theory that a color chip must be taken from the same pile where they placed their color card, and it's a surprisingly hard habit to break away from for the first few games.

When any one pile has six cards laid down next to it, the game abruptly ends no matter how many cards are left for each player. The top card next to each pile counts as the final score for that pile. So, if players individually put down red cards of 2, 4, 1, and 3, all red chips are worth 3 points, matching the value of the last card in the stack.

After a couple games (which usually last for no more than five minutes unless there are cartoons to snatch the attention of participants like my kids... or me... or bathroom breaks inserted somewhere), players quickly discover the importance of timing. The value of colored chips wanes and waxes as players pile higher and lower value cards all over the table next to their corresponding colored chips.

A great portion of the game's intrigue (small scoped as it may be) involves placing cards on one colored chip pile and taking a different color chip. Players can stock up on a single color and hope to play the big purple "5" card towards the end of the game (which can only be estimated, not assured), but if another player sneaks in the purple "0" card, the prior player's plans are scuttled. Diversifying chips usually nets more average scores, but avoids having one's game plan sink faster than the Titanic.

Good Points:

* Fastest game in the West - It's literally a five to ten minute game, as there are few, but important, decisions to make. Unlike Uno, which could theoretically take forever (and always feels like it does anyway), players know they can count on finishing the game whatever circumstances arise short of a forest fire in the middle of the chips.

* Calculated risks - One can blast out with large cards and try to push through as fast as possible, but it's usually catastrophic if other players are even remotely attuned to the mechanics of the game. Conversely, a conservative approach might let more aggressive players sneak through bigger cards toward the end game and snatch just enough points in all their targeted colors to win. Players could choose to play middle range cards, hoping to discern patterns of other players and follow suit, with the hopes of bypassing them on the last few cards played.

* Age independent entertainment - Because of its simplicity, any child or adult that capably counts to six and learned five colors can join into the fun. Loco!'s brevity makes playing with kids an enjoyable venture, since Loco! has a shorter attention span than they do.

Bad Points:

* It's Simple... a little *too* simple for some - Truly, smashingly, gloriously, disturbingly simple. Depth scoffs at Loco! from its lofty perch. Folks looking for any sort of longevity to their games, or players wanting a deeper investment of time and thought, won't find much here to work with.

Conclusion: Loco! is a great inexpensive filler, particularly with casual gamers and kids. It's not as mind numbingly dull as the ever popular Uno, and does a good job balancing risks and rewards.

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-08-07T21:52:42+00:00

Promotional Card included in games

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Runehardt — 2007-06-28T00:26:25+00:00

Quandary is SATISFYING!

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Runehardt — 2007-06-28T00:25:35+00:00

Quandary - I think she's Hesitating?

Thread: Loco--it's no joke-o

Scott Firestone IV — 2007-06-01T21:41:25+00:00

Loco! is a small filler by the good Dr. Knizia. It's hard to believe this is by the same mind that brought us Tigris & Euphrates, but he's nothing if not eclectic.

Contents
In the small package you have 30 cards running from 1 to 5 in five colors, plus a Loco! card in each color, which counts zero points.

There are also 25 small chips in each of those same five colors.

The game is dirt cheap, so for the money the components are great.

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Gameplay

First you separate the colors into 5 piles, which are put in the middle of the table.

Then you shuffle the cards, remove two (or three depending on players) randomly and without looking at them, and then deal the remaining cards to the players.

A turn is simple: You pick a card and play it next to the color-corresponding pile of chips. Then you grab one of the chips from the table (it doesn't have to match the card you just played). The card goes on top of any previously played cards from that color, and now represent the worth of that color.

Each Loco! card is worth zero, and before playing one you have to yell out Loco!, otherwise you can't take a chip. (We don't play with that silly rule.)

The game ends when the sixth card of a color is played. You count up each chip in front of you, and the worth is based on whatever the top card is for that color.

The winner is the person with the most points from those chips.

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Conclusion
It's not brain-burning, but the choices are still interesting and fun--plus the removal of cards lends some great uncertainty. And it plays very quickly. It's a great filler for a great price.

Thread: Quandary - light fun set in 3 rounds - 3P

wwscrispin — 2007-05-19T22:48:28+00:00

I have played Thor and Loco! with others a few times and I decided that it would be a fun, lightweight game to play with my family. I had just received Quandary from EBay and I wanted to break it out.

The rules for Quandary are quite simple and I had explained them to my wife and eldest son in a couple of minutes. I set up the board and dealt out the tiles and we played the first game without any real issues. I did not push too hard to break anyone else's scores and instead just focused on making sure mine were safe by holding back a four or five. We all played it fairly safe by taking a mix of tiles and so all of our scores came in a tight grouping.

Final Score:

Me: 27
Son 1: 27
Wife: 26

In the second game my son discovered that aggressive play can be used effectively. He zeroed out the color that my wife had most of, to end the game and stop me from scoring two other colors highly. The effect on me was that I was unable to top his score this round but the effect on my wife was to reduce her score to only eight. She was not amused.

Final Score

Son 1: 27
Me: 27
Wife: 8

In the third round my wife and son played to save up high and low value tiles until the end to improve their positions. I won this round mainly due to having four of one color with a value 4 tile. The round ended before anyone had a chance to decrease the value of the row. My wife was able to bring one of my son’s main colors down to one and that brought him in at third this round.

Final Score:

Me: 35
Wife: 29
Son 1: 21

Total Score for the game:

Me: 80
Son 1: 75
Wife: 63

My son enjoyed it. My wife enjoyed it but did not love it. It is competitive, but light and quick. I find it a bit random and hard to make plans that actually come to fruition but I will continue to play to see if I can get better at it. It is most fun when you keep the pace fast and play multiple sets of rounds. I will try this with my younger kids to see if they enjoy it also.

Thread: Loco! not at all crazy ... but it is fun

riledguy — 2007-04-26T17:02:03+00:00

Loco! is a pretty simple little card and chip game easy to learn and enjoy. The game comes with 5 sets of colored cards labeled 0-5 and 5 chips to correspond to each color. The goal is to have the highest point total based on the chips you have in front of you at the end of the game.

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Play:
..Is very straight forward.

1. Deck gets shuffled
2. X number of cards are removed, based on the number of players, then the rest of the deck is dealt out to the players.
3. First player then places a card down in front of the appropriate chip pile of that color and takes a chip (which can be of any color.) The number of the card just put down is the current value of that color set of chips.
4. Person to the left then goes.
5. Repeat until....
6. One of the card piles has all six cards in it. The person who puts down that sixth card gets to draw a last chip as per usual.
7. Every looks at the top card in piles as they correspond to the chips they have collected and totals up their score. High score wins.

The game accommodates 2-5 players though the 2 player is really not worth bothering with. The 3 and 5 player games are good though I think its sweet spot is at 4.

Luck:
There is luck in the game specifically if you get a solid run of 1 color that is a big help. Also player order is pretty key as often the first player and sometimes the second player will be getting an extra chip which can make the difference at the end. The game plays so fast though you can play as many round as you have people and let each person get a chance to go first.

Skill:
There is strategy to the game in the order that you play your cards and if you are shooting to raise or lower the value of a stack. Also there is an element of having to read the other players and try to gage what they are going for and how to best stop it or in the least get points from their play for yourself. You can try not to make it look like you are hording a specific color (which often happens) as most players will hop in to take some of those chips if they think you are going to drive the value way up.

One last thing to keep in mind. .. putting down that fifth card in the pile is a big risk unless you know you have the sixth. You are letting someone else potentially end the game. Since their are cards removed in the beginning you never really know exactly which card pile or piles are going to have less then six and therefore won't be able to end the game.

Components:
The bits and cards in this game are pretty bad. Cheap paper, flat surface cards with no gloss. Cheap plastic chips that don't like to stay stacked. These components get the job done just not terribly well. It is not a big deal with the chips as they will last but the cards sill show wear and tear which is not good seeing as how fast this game plays there is going to be a lot of shuffling and handling. At least the game is pretty inexpensive.

Art:
Plain simple art. Nothing fancy here either but it gets the job done. Colors are bright and clear. The hues are all very different and clear but if you are color blind forget about it. The hues while different all have almost identical levels of darkness with the purple being only slightly darker.

Game
Loco! is a fun game. It is nice as filler for both gamers and non-gamers and most everyone picks it up within the first game though they often won't "get it" after hearing just the instructions.
Simple. It plays fast. Makes you think. Is approachable (non gamers often give it a go.)

Thread: Re: Thor Review

kduke — 2007-04-14T13:19:16+00:00

Currently, this is the "right place." Thor is considered a "same game" as Loco, in BGG terms.

Note lower part of the Loco description, mentioning Thor as a candidate for its own page, but it doesn't have one now. (You can try a search for Thor, find it, hit the link, and you end up here on the Loco page).

So right now this is the only place for a Thor review, and I really appreciate this one. I've been considering the "which version?" question.

Thread: Re: copycat strategy

clearclaw — 2007-04-08T19:55:03+00:00

It works, Use it when applicable and useful. It often isn't useful.

Thread: copycat strategy

Poobslag — 2007-04-08T18:53:03+00:00

i'm going to use quandary terminology because that's the only one of these games i've played. this strategy especially applies to 2 player games. once you take the lead, you can copy whatever the other player takes, to minimize any risk of falling behind.

like, let's say you get an 11-point lead after the first two rounds of a two player game. if you always take the same tiles your opponent does, the only way your opponent can hope to gain points is with the last tile of each round. and if you play smart and end the game on your turn, they can do absolutely nothing at all! by employing the copycat strategy, the game is impossible to lose.

this is also an effective strategy during the last few rounds of a multiplayer game, after one player has established a lead. but... but it's so lame!!! any thoughts?

Thread: Re: Thor Review

kdean1 — 2007-03-10T04:11:52+00:00

Isn't this listed in the wrong place? We're considering Loco here.

Thread: Review by SOS (from 1999)

sos1 — 2007-02-27T01:10:30+00:00

Flinke Pinke is the poor man's version of Quandary. Instead of the fancy tiles and board of the latter, Flinke Pinke uses cards and small poker-style chips, and skips the board altogether. For one quarter the price, it's a better deal, unless you absolutely must have fine components in your games ...

The game is very quick - one round per player in the game, and a round takes only five to ten minutes. Yet there's a lot of room for tactical play here. There is no theme at all - it's quite abstract - but it doesn't have the heaviness that some abstract games have. It's a very light game in the good sense of the word.

The components are simple: there are five betting chips of each of five different colors. In addition, there are 30 cards - the 0 through 5 of each of those colors. That's all the components, but it's a good little game nonetheless.

Determine a starting player. The cards are shuffled, and some cards are removed if playing with fewer than five players. [See footnote.] The rest are dealt out evenly to all the players. The betting chips are stacked by color in the center of the table, and the game is ready to start.

On your turn, you play a card then take a chip. Cards are played to five piles, a pile consisting of only cards of one color. If I start with a red "1", for example, and you want to play a red card, you must (partially) cover up the red "1" on your play - there is only one pile per color, but you should be able to see which numbers have been played already. Only the top card shows the value of the color, however.

The chip you take doesn't have to match the color of the card you played, but it may. The chips are bets - when you take a chip, you're betting that that color will have a high number showing at the end of the game. Bets are public knowledge, and you must keep your chips in view at all times.

The round ends when all six cards of one color have been played. When that happens, everyone figures their score for the round. A score for a given color is the number of chips of that color you have, times the value of the top card of that color pile, which will range from 0 to 5. Your score for the round is your total for all betting chips you have, plus two points if anyone has more betting chips than you (i.e., had one more turn than you). Record the scores, and continue playing until each player has been first player once - highest overall total at that point wins the game.

The game plays quickly but creates some interesting decisions. Unfortunately, in this game most of your decisions look bad! If you play the fifth card on a pile, you're giving someone else the chance to end the round by playing the sixth card - and that sixth card might not be what you want to see as a final card for that color. On the other hand, you may not want to play on a different color because you'll either be lowering your own score or raising an opponent's.

There's also agony in choosing chips - you can only take one per turn, and though you may have your eye on red, everyone else seems to think green is the color of choice - so do you take that last green chip instead of your first choice? Do they really know something you don't? Or could you skip the green and try to make sure it's worth 0 points at the end of the game, thus hurting all your opponents at once? It's a tough choice - with everyone else rooting for green, the odds of you hurting it are actually poor - unless you have the right cards, of course ... But what does that mean? Having the "0" and "1" in a given color can be very potent - but not if they're covered up. And so on -the choices are usually tough in this game, both for chip play and card play.

But tough in the good sense - it's a game of skill, bluff and a little luck. I like the game a lot, and I'm not a big Knizia fan. I only like about half a dozen of his games, but this is one of them.

[Footnote: at least one English rules translation on the net leaves this step out. Here it is:

* If playing with two players, remove the "5" value cards.

* With two or three players, shuffle the cards, set aside three cards without looking at them, and deal the rest out evenly to all the players.

* With four players, shuffle the cards, set aside two cards without looking at them, and deal the rest out evenly to all the players.]

Thread: Lovin' Loco!

boyan — 2007-02-09T19:30:45+00:00
I rate games on a 3-point (-1/+0/+1) system using multiple dimensions. You're encouraged to play the game for yourself and make your own decisions.

(-1) ART/DESIGN : I really don't like that it looks like Uno.
(+0) COMPONENTS : The cards, markers and box are good.
(+1) LEARNING : Very easy to learn. 5 minute set-up/teaching at most.
(+0) CHALLENGE : The opponent reading aspect is appealing.
(-1) COMPUTATION : Requires only basic addition and multiplication.
(-1) THEME/MYTH : No real environment or mythos to the game.
(+1) FAMILY/KIDS : Ideal for mixed company, especially children.

(+1) OVERALL : Thumbs up. Loco! is certainly game to keep on your shelf.

Loco! is a game that 5 people can play in close to 15 minutes. In fact last night, we played something like 4-5 games of in about an hour. The game is very easy to learn and if you keep pressing with a brisk pace of the game, it prevents analysis paralysis. I'd say the game is ideal for ages 6 and up, but experienced gamers will certainly enjoy the play as well.

There are five suits (each ranging from 0 to 5) and five markers to go along with each suit. Each marker's value is determined by the last card played in that suit. The real strategy of the game is not in completing your sets but in reading your opponents. If your opponent plays a Green 1 and still takes a Green marker, then you can assume that they've got another higher value Green card that they'll probably play next round. When you don't have a strong hand to work with, you can always just take the colored marker that you think the others will inflate. So, Loco! is an excellent game for learning how to evaluate your opponents (as skill that is the foundation for many other more complex games).

The major flaw in Loco! is that you don't actually have to buy the game to play the game. This is a common trait for the creator, Reiner Knizia. Take any numbered cards of five colors and find matching baubles to work as your markers. You can now play Loco! In fact, you could just take the 1 through 5 cards from another Knizia game (like Lost Cities) and you're ready to go.

Thread: Re: First play with wife and 5 year old son

Larry Welborn — 2007-02-02T00:37:54+00:00
xman@pcisys.net wrote:
Wow, I think it is very impressive for a 5 year old to figure out that last play...go ahead and buy a frame for that upcoming MIT scholarship! It's unlikely that my 8 year old would get that on a first game, but we have not played Loco with him yet. Time to break it out tonight, I guess.

Also impressive is the way you lopped 30 points off Mom's total at the end of your report! 'Bout time we saw some Dad solidarity around here. I hope she doesn't check BGG, or that your couch is comfortable.

Yeah, I was surprised too. I'll find out next time if he really understands or if it was luck.

As to Mom's score . . . opps. I actually reversed the two numbers, she scored 15 in the final round and 45 overall.

Thread: Re: First play with wife and 5 year old son

xman@pcisys.net — 2007-02-02T00:28:41+00:00
Wow, I think it is very impressive for a 5 year old to figure out that last play...go ahead and buy a frame for that upcoming MIT scholarship! It's unlikely that my 8 year old would get that on a first game, but we have not played Loco with him yet. Time to break it out tonight, I guess.

Also impressive is the way you lopped 30 points off Mom's total at the end of your report! 'Bout time we saw some Dad solidarity around here. I hope she doesn't check BGG, or that your couch is comfortable.

Thread: First play with wife and 5 year old son

Larry Welborn — 2007-02-01T22:57:38+00:00
I picked up a copy of Loco! for $3 during Fantasy Flight's pre-Christmas sale, but did not have the opportunity to play before today. With the family home due to a snow/ice storm, we decided to play some games and I brought this one out. I explained the simple rules to my wife and son and we were off.

In the first round, my son played all of his high cards early. I explained the advantage of holding on to high and low cards and we talked through the rest of the first round. At the end of the first round, the scores were my son and wife 24 points each, while I trailed at 22.

The second round proved to be a low scoring one as several low cards were played then the round ended quickly as I perceived it an advantage to end it. The round scores were me with 16, my son with 13 and my wife with only 6 points. Totals were me 38, my son 37, and my wife 30.

The final round saw a very tight game and it appeared that my wife would pull out a close victory as I lacked any cards to affect her best color, red. However, my son, in a mildly surprising move, chose to end the round by playing a red 2 instead of a purple card that would add more points to his score. When I asked about it he stated that lowering the red value hurt my wife and me more than the purple card would help him. He was right.

The final round saw my son and I tie with 23 points while my wife scored 45. Final scores were me with 61, my son with 60 and my wife with 15.

A fun game that we will play again soon. I am interested to see if my 4 year old daughter will be able to understand the game, so we will try a 4 player game next time.

Thread: Re: I'm loco for Loco!

Rew B Slippers — 2007-01-11T12:06:36+00:00
I got introduced to this just yesterday (the Flinke Pinke edition) at a local game group & whole-heartedly agree with your review.
It's simple enough to teach to anyone, quick enough to hold even the shortest attention span, yet has enough of a risk/bluff/strategy element to keep the more 'gamery' amongst us from dismissing it.
A nice review & a very nice game!

Thread: I'm loco for Loco!

kasuga3 — 2007-01-11T05:29:05+00:00
I've always said that Reiner Knizia was the king of elegant game designs but this is ridiculus.

Play a card and take a chip. That's all there is too it!

Is it even possible to have an easier rule set than Loco! and yet have so much tactical depth. I think not!
This is a lightning quick little "filler" that can be played with 2 to 4 players.

Game Components

The game comes with 30 cards. They are numbered 0 thru 5 and in 5 different colors.
There are also 25 plastic chips; 5 in each color.
The game also comes with a small little rule booklet.

The cards are a standard size and of adequate quality. The Plastic chips are also fine. They really don't need to anything too spectacular. The game plays very quickly and is very portable. My one minor complaint would be that the packaging isn't the best and I'll probably end up looking for a different way to store the little game.

Game Play
Set Up
Loco! is very simple and can play very quickly. First shuffle up the 30 cards. Then a certain number of cards needs to be removed from the deck and then the rest of the cards can be dealt out to the players evenly.
4 player game - remove two cards
3 player game - remove three cards
2 player game - the rules say to just remove two cards, but my group has found that for a 2 player game it is more fun if 4 cards are removed.

Once all of the remaining cards have been dealt out to the players, put the chips on the table. Group the chips according to their color.

Now we are ready to play Loco! Start with the player to the left of the dealer and continue in a clockwise manner. On your turn, play a card from your hand near the chips of the same color. Then, take any chip from any of the groups. There is no need to take a chip of the same color as the card you played. Chips are placed in front of the player in plain view of the other players. When another card of the same color gets played, the card is placed on top of the previously played card but in such a way that the value of the card underneath can still be seen.

What's this all about? Well, the goal of the game is to get as many points as possible. The chips you take are worth points. The value of each chip is determined by the value of the top most card of the same color. If the last card played near the green chips was a 2, then every green chip you have is currently worth 2 points. The game ends when the sixth card of any one color has been played. The player who played that card may still take a chip.

Review
Now its true that I tend to like games designed by Reiner Knizia. He has a real knack for designing games that are extremely elegant. Meaning, the rules are very simple and straight forward and yet because of the scoring, the decisions that one has to make can be very difficult. That is to say that the game has considerable tactical depth. While one is playing Loco!, one needs manage one's hand and carefully time the playing of cards and the taking of chips all the while trying to discern what cards an opponent may have by taking note of the chips they are taking. This game can have a bit of bluffing element too. Its just terrific!

The other reason I like Knizia designs is that alot of his games involve not just playing the mechanics but outwitting or out guessing your opponents or even manipulating them. Its not how well you can play the game but how well you know your opponents and knowing what they might do and then making the appropriate decision. (kind of like Texas Hold 'Em Poker). Other Knizia games where this comes into play are games like Ra, Modern Art, Taj Mahal, Dead Man's Treasure, and Samurai, among many others. I guess thats true of most any auction game, but nobody does auction games like Reiner Knizia.

For these reasons, Loco! is an extremely elegant game, and it is alot of fun. For a game that plays this quickly and yet is this much fun, you'll be addicted and loco for Loco! in no time.

Thread: Thor Review

RandallPeek — 2006-12-24T08:53:04+00:00
This review will be relatively short and sweet, as is the game it reviews. Thor is a re-themed Flinke Pinke with added components to allow a sixth player as well as optional action cards which add a lot of chaos to the game.
Thor was released back in 2002 by Nurnberger Spielkarten & Heidelberger Spieleverlag, two companies of which I know next to nothing. I imagine the forner did the printing while the latter did the licensing from Dr. Knizia. The box is about the size of two standard decks of cards in length and roughly two decks in thickness. The cards are of good quality, being rather long and slender. They are, for the most part, brightly colored artwork of Norse gods on a dark background. Everything is quite nicely done.
The game is adequately described elsewhere, but in short it is a stock market game with players playing market cards (offerings here) to affect a particular stock's value, and then taking a share of any available stock (God cards here). When the sixth card of a color has been placed, the game ends, and each share is worth the current value of its stack's top card. This ranges from a low of 0 up to a high of 5.
It is nice to have components for six players, but I doubt it would be much fun to play with that many. The more players there are, the less control a player has, since there is a great randomness to what cards are initially in hand, and there are not many opportunities to draw god cards.
I think that all versions of this game have a sweet spot of four, with either three or five being playable as well.
The new game mechanism is a set of fourteen action cards which are shuffled into a separate stack and can be drawn from in lieu of taking a god card. An action card is then played on a future turn in lieu of playing an offering card, and in most cases has an effect on a single god's value. There are cards that add or subtract from the current value, as well as some powerful ones that will automatically raise the value to five or drop it to zero, regardless of the current offering. Any action card can be played to negate a previously played action, causing both to be discarded.
While a nice addition to the game, it is not one that necessarily makes it a better game. The game thrives on its simplicity, and the action cards add a very strong layer of chaos to a game which already has that in abundance. The second drawback of the actions is that there are few times when a player will want to draw one rather than taking a god card, which is potentially worth more at game's end.
Overall I think that Thor is a nice game. I wish I had the overproduced Quandary version, but Thor is no sluuch in the looks department. I will use the action cards on occasion, but frankly those times will be the exception.

Thread: Re: Is it worth playing/owning with 2-players?

MontyCircus — 2006-12-21T04:59:42+00:00
Thanks everybody

Sounds like it's not for me then.

In theory I could get people to play games; but in practice...it's friggin' impossible. So if it's not great with 2 then it would just sit there forever.

Thread: Re: Is it worth playing/owning with 2-players?

skrebs — 2006-12-21T03:07:25+00:00
If you'll regularly have three or four, then I'd buy it, but not with only two. It "works" but there are so many other better two player games out there.

Thread: Re: Is it worth playing/owning with 2-players?

Karlsen — 2006-12-21T01:56:09+00:00
It works with two players and it is cheap (in Australia which probably means you would get paid to take it other countries). It is better with more than two though.

Thread: Re: Is it worth playing/owning with 2-players?

Mr.Baggins — 2006-12-20T22:55:10+00:00
I'd disagree. I played it twice with my wife, and we gave up on it. The problem is that with only two players, you tend to be well invested in all five colors, which makes for less of a "take that" game and makes it very cerebral. And Loco is not that enjoyable as a cerebral game.

YMMV and all that, but both me and my wife would much rather play Lost Cities, Guillotine or Caesar and Cleopatra than two player Loco.

Thread: Re: Is it worth playing/owning with 2-players?

Lord_Prussian — 2006-12-20T22:40:49+00:00
I only recently stumbled onto this game. I've played it several times, but only once as a 2-player game. It seemed jut fine with 2 and even better with 3 or 4. Take it for what it is: a very short game with a dose of luck and just enough control to keep it interesting. I think in that context you will find it is worth owning and playing with 2 players.

Thread: Re: Is it worth playing/owning with 2-players?

Favre4MVP — 2006-12-20T22:38:56+00:00
Personally, I think it's best with 2 or 3 players. Most of my games have been with just 2 players.

Thread: Is it worth playing/owning with 2-players?

MontyCircus — 2006-12-20T22:35:19+00:00
?

Thread: Re: What to do in this rare situation?

mardeck — 2006-12-09T08:00:17+00:00
The Quandary rules have no such limitation. In our games, it's not at all uncommon for one or more colors to be gone before all the tiles/cards of that color are played.

Thread: Re: What to do in this rare situation?

DangerMouse — 2006-12-08T15:14:41+00:00
I have the Fantasy Flight Loco version. Rule 1 states, "Choose one card from your hand and place it next to the stack of chips of the corresponding color." No where in my rules does it state that a player may continue to place cards to the corresponding color once the pile of that colored chip is exhausted.

You're kidding right?

Thread: Re: What to do in this rare situation?

familywontplay — 2006-12-07T21:44:59+00:00
I have the Fantasy Flight Loco version. Rule 1 states, "Choose one card from your hand and place it next to the stack of chips of the corresponding color." No where in my rules does it state that a player may continue to place cards to the corresponding color once the pile of that colored chip is exhausted.

Therefore, if all the chips in that pile have been taken, then a card cannot be placed there. This means that if I am left with only cards of one color, and that chip pile is gone, I can no longer play even though others can, as long as there are chips for their card colors (even though they may still take any color of their choice). This offers a level of strategy in which players can control who gets cut off.

Suppose I have the green Loco & green 5 card, and therefore am assured of each of my green chips being worth 5. If another player takes the last green chip before I am able to play the green 5, then I am possibly thwarted from an enormous score.

Rule 2 states, "If all the chips of one color have already been taken, you must choose a chip of another color." To me this means only that if I play a purple card next to still existing purple chips, and I want a yellow, but yellow are gone, I have to choose another color (opposed to let's say, stealing a chip from an opponent). I don't see that this rule would allow a purple card to be played if all the purple chips were gone.

Thread: Re: Anyone have a nice copy of the rules in English?

spearjr — 2006-12-04T13:11:19+00:00
I made up this copy of the rules to include in the 10 copies I picked up. The rules are based heavily on Gnomekin's review.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/fileinfo.php?fileid=20412

Thread: Re: Anyone have a nice copy of the rules in English?

Littlepig — 2006-11-29T06:03:57+00:00
Okay, I got into photoshop and made a nice version of the rules - it's made to be cut down and put in the box, and even with coloring fairly similar to the original rules. (This is a Christmas present, so I want it to be nice!)

I posted the file this afternoon (still pending) and then realized I'd made a mistake, the pages are in the wrong order. So once the file is up, I'll have to delete it and then upload the fixed one.

So to summarize - check back in a week or so, and there should be a pretty version of the rules that you can print, cut out, and stick in the box!

- Joy

Thread: Re: Anyone have a nice copy of the rules in English?

shurtliff — 2006-11-28T06:58:37+00:00
Thanks Joy! Was looking for these rules as well to include with my 20 copies of these soon-to-be Christmas presents!

Thread: Re: Anyone have a nice copy of the rules in English?

Littlepig — 2006-11-28T04:59:09+00:00
I worked out a translation today, I think it's pretty accurate. (I took advantage of the cheap price on Funagain too!)

I want to format a version that will fit inside the box, and once I do, I'll post the file. For the time being, here's my translation. (If you're aware of any errors, let me know.)

LOCO!

Loco! Is a game for 2-4 players. The goal of LOCO! is to earn points by playing the right cards and choosing the best markers. The winner of the game is the player who ends the game with the most points!

Equipment

6 red cards, 6 blue cards, 6 green cards, 6 purple cards, 6 yellow cards, and 25 markers (5 red, 5 blue, 5 green, 5 purple and 5 yellow)

Setup

1. Sort markers by color and place them on the table in five piles, as shown in Illustration 1: Placement of Pieces
2. Shuffle cards.
3. Randomly choose two cards (or three cards for a 3-player game) and lay them face down to the side. These cards will not be used in the game.
4. The remaining cards are dealt so that each player has the same number of cards.

Game Play

The player to the left of the dealer goes first. After their turn, play continues clockwise around the table. During your turn, play is as follows:

1. Choose a card from your hand and place it in a pile beside the markers of the same color. (For example, if you choose a red card you place it by the red markers.) If there is already a card in that pile, place your card over the previous card, so that the number on the previous card is still visible (as shown in Illustration 2: Game in Progress). If you play a “Loco” card then shout “LOCO!” (Explanation to follow.)

2. Choose a marker from any pile (it does not have to be of the same color as the card you played) and place the marker in front of you. The other players should always be able to see what markers you have. If all the markers of a color are taken, choose a marker of a different color.

Loco Cards

There are five “Loco” cards in the game, one of each color. These cards have a value of zero. Immediately when you play a “Loco” card you should shout “Loco!” If you forget to do this before the card touches the table, you may not take a marker this turn.

Game End and Scoring

The game ends when the sixth card of any color is played. The player of the last card may then take a marker.
Each marker is worth points according to the top card that is the same color as the marker. For example, each yellow marker is worth 4 points, if the top yellow card has a value of 4. A player with three yellow markers would receive 12 points.

Notice: “Loco” cards have a value of zero. If the top card in a color is a zero, all of the markers of that color are worth zero points.

Players tally up their point totals from their markers. The player with the most points is the winner. (For an example, see the illustration on the back side of these instructions.)

Game Variant

For a greater challenge, play a number of games equal to the number of players, with each person taking a turn as dealer. Players total up their points after each game. When all players had a turn as dealer, the winner is the player with the largest total number of points.

Thread: Re: Anyone have a nice copy of the rules in English?

Valien — 2006-11-20T22:28:06+00:00
*bump* I'm also looking for a nice English rules summary. Even if someone has the translated rules I'd format them in Word to make them nice.

If anyone finds a copy, lemme know!

~allen

Thread: Re: Anyone have a nice copy of the rules in English?

MrUnicorn — 2006-11-17T00:01:50+00:00
sroney wrote:
The questions I had based on the review was whether the chips you have taken are kept out where people can see them or not.

Yes, chips must be kept out in the open (per Fantasy Flight edition). Allows for a bit more calculation/confrontation. Other than that, the rest of the rules seem to be contained in reviews. LOCO!!!