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ArtEmiSa64 — 2007-12-28T19:31:18+00:00

game components

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igniche — 2007-11-04T06:08:34+00:00

back of the box

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igniche — 2007-11-04T05:54:58+00:00

box cover

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igniche — 2007-11-04T05:42:17+00:00

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igniche — 2007-11-04T05:31:52+00:00

aliens on the board

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big-chad — 2007-07-25T08:01:52+00:00

Mid-Game on the Medium level

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big-chad — 2007-07-25T08:00:00+00:00

Neblis trying his luck, he lost the previous two games by knocking all the Aliens off and going into a negative score.

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desanhill — 2006-01-17T04:26:31+00:00

The landing party

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desanhill — 2006-01-17T04:18:20+00:00

The game on the other side of the board

Thread: Buy it on sale

Gecko23 — 2005-05-26T20:24:19+00:00

I have to admit the little bowling pin aliens drew me in. That and the utter lack of dexterity games in my collection.

The game comes in what I must refer to as a pizza box. If you like a sturdy box, you'll like this one. Corrugated all the way. But don't get me wrong, its printed nicely with various views of the game, and descriptions in english, french and spanish. (I think.)

The components themselves follow the trend of cheap and practical. Everything is made of wood, which I'm a fan of, but I get the impression that none of it would survive many drops off the kitchen table. Not that I recommend doing that with any of your games of course.

The gameboard constists of a 'ufo' piece, the playing surface, and a orange alien with a rocker base that screws into its center. This is a nice feature, since it allows you to adjust the center of gravity of the whole setup making it easier or harder. The board is double sided as well, supporting two different games.

The rule book is short and clear, and also multi-lingual. The aliens themselves are little wooden bowling pins with felt bottoms.

Game play is straightforward, with players alternatively placing, then removing aliens from the ufo as the dice indicate. Like Saturn, Bamboleo, etc, riskier pieces near the edges are worth more points. Or alternatively, placing aliens, then getting points by shuffling them around.

I tried this game out with my children, and although my 8 year old daughter did pretty well, usually tying me, but causing a tip over more often, it involved far more fine-motor control than my 4 year old could muster. The game ended on his turn every time with a cascade of the one or two aliens that had been placed. Which wasn't at all satisying for anyone involved. Playing again with just the older players was ok, but wasn't really thrilling due to some flaws.

I wasn't really impressed with the smoothness of the rocker base. The instructions say that you should start with the screw at its longest extension, then shorten it until the board just rights itself slowly. The closest I was able to come was with the screw completely extended, and even then it was flaky. The board continued to sit at odd angles even when empty of aliens. And when aliens were present, it tended to jump and lurch instead of dip and sway.

All in all I'm not completely disappointed by it, it was really cheap (ebay $5 + $4.50 shipping), and fills a void on my game shelf, but I'm not deeply impressed either.

I'll admit I'm also not really enraptured with the dexterity/balance genre, although I do like to play occassionally and certainly don't actively dislike them.

I'd recommend this if you are a balancing game fan, like aliens, and can get a copy cheap. Otherwise I'd pass.

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apecage — 2004-01-26T12:48:26+00:00

Game: Balancing Aliens

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Thread: Buy it on sale

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