Game: Cluzzle

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xaviar_nl — 2008-09-01T10:12:36+00:00

When the clay gets soft, the end result can turn out a bit... weird!

Thread: Cluzzle: The game for poor artists and great logicians

deitied — 2008-08-14T18:58:09+00:00

Ever played a game of Cranium? In my experience, everyone enjoys playing with the clay more than any other aspect of the game. If you are like me, you may have thought to yourself "Why doesn't someone make game using just the clay?". Well, someone has.

Cluzzle is a game that rewards poor artistic talents and strong skills in deduction. Each player starts with a small-ish, individual board (shaped similarly to the crust from a piece of pizza), a container of clay, four disks with question marks on it, a pencil and a guess sheet. The game also comes with sand timers, a center board with a scoring track and a deck of cluzzle cards. Each player gets a cluzzle card and has to sculpt something listed from their cluzzle card (using their clay) on their individual game board. There may be rules regarding a time limit for scuplting but, if so, we don't use the timers for that purpose. The trick to the game is to choose something from the card that you think the rest of the players from the game will be able to guess but you do not want them to guess it too quickly. After each player has finished scuplting their respective masterpieces, they can move their individual board so that it flushes with the outside edge of the main center board. The clay, individual boards and question disks come in six different colors allowing you to match them with each player so people know who to direct their questions to regarding each sculpture. Once all the scupltures are completed, you take turns asking each other questions (of the "yes or no" variety) about their respective sculptures. This is where one of the timers is usually flipped over, but my game group doesn't bother with the timers until questioning starts to stall. Once you determined what you think a given scuplture is supposed to represent, you write your guess next to the respective color in the first coloumn of your guess sheet. Once everyone has written down guesses for each of the objects, the players share their guesses with the respective scuplters. If anyone guesses the correct answer to one of the sculptures, that player (and any other player that guessed correctly) gets one point. The scuplter also gets one point. If no one guesses the correct answer for a given scuplture, the process is repeated for a second turn. Correct answers during the second turn earn the scuplter and correct guessers two points apiece. The process is repeated for a third turn if there are an scupltures that have still not been guessed correctly and three points go out to the sculpter and correct guessers in the third round. If a sculpture lasts three rounds without being guessed correctly, no points are awarded to the artist or guessers. So, you want the other players to guess what your scuplture is supposed to represent. You just want them to guess as late in the round as possible. The game is played over the course of three rounds, the player with the highest score after this is the winner.

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kilroy_locke — 2008-07-11T13:41:05+00:00

Round one!

Thread: Re: Clay, Crazy, Chaos, Cool. The 4-C Review.

domcrap — 2008-01-29T18:24:01+00:00

Blott wrote:
From what Dominic said to me, it sounds like Eagle really gave them the shaft.

I wouldn't say that Eagle Games actively shafted us. We were partnered with them when they went bankrupt and we got shafted in the process. There was a lot of carnage when Eagle Games went bankrupt and our story is not the worst of them. But with that said, yes, it has been a big pain in the buttay for us.

Dealing with thousands of copies of Cluzzle with dried out clay is only one of the hassles it has caused.

Thread: Clay, Crazy, Chaos, Cool. The 4-C Review.

Blott — 2008-01-28T19:38:19+00:00

Clay: I got Cluzzle for my wife, because she had seen it in a store and thought it looked like her kind of game. I’m not the artistic type, so I tried steering her in another direction. But she was adamant that this was the game she wanted, so I made a point of getting a copy as part of her Christmas gift. With excitement she tore open the shrinkwrap in hopes of playing the game the day after Christmas. Unfortunately we found rock-hard dry clay. (I won’t rehash this issue but needless to say that, if the box says “Eagle Games” on it, be prepared to go purchase some fresh clay. From what Dominic said to me, it sounds like Eagle really gave them the shaft.) After getting some fresh clay we were ready to play.

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Crazy: What I have found is that this is totally my kind of game, because there is no real artistic ability required. The sculpting round is a crazy dash to create that perfect imperfect creation. Trying to balance something that is not too obvious with something that is at least possible to be guessed is a lot of fun. It’s always humorous to me, when I get done early, sitting back and watching my family delicately manipulating their sculpt to get it “just so” as if they were a group of Michelangelos putting the finishing touches on David.

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Chaos: Then comes the question round, which is just utter chaos. This is the one round we do use the timer for, because it creates a fun tension as everyone struggles to figure things out without asking a question that makes it too obvious to everyone else. We often find ourselves bending the “only allowed answers” rule, but it’s all in good fun. It’s also funny how a question that you failed to ask in one game pops into your head from then on. In a specific instance, my wife was dying for us to ask her if her item was made of glass, but no one thought to ask it. So from then on, every sculpt she made, the first question asked was “Is it made of glass?”

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Cool: The final step is the guessing of answers. It’s always cool to see how someone will just pull out of thin air the answer to someone’s Cluzzle without having asked any questions that led them there. It’s this kind of event that keeps the game exciting and fun. My only (slight) complaint would be that you can have a real runaway leader issue when you play multiple rounds. But the rules make it clear that each sculpting round is basically a whole new game, so if you want to start over fresh, you can always do that. And frankly, as with most party games, it ends up being about the experience and not the actual winners and losers. I would recommend Cluzzle for anyone who enjoys a good party game. Don’t be intimidated by the “artistic” look of the game, a Joe Schmo can easily compete with Pablo Picasso in this enjoyable game.

Thread: Re: Are four questions too many?

tonyfung1205 — 2008-01-07T17:53:19+00:00

There are two questions per round per player in the first edition.

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StormShadow — 2008-01-01T06:59:35+00:00

What IS that?

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widjayaman — 2007-12-24T18:57:23+00:00

Rediscover the inner scluptor in you!

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

domcrap — 2007-12-16T00:19:58+00:00

Henry Rhombus wrote:
Or you can do what I did and pick up a cheap ten pack of Playdoh, then throw out the insert to store it inside the box. Yes, it's a hassle to have to buy something else to play, but Cluzzle cost something like $7, so it's not a big deal.

And the smell of Playdoh makes me feel like a kid again...

Eric
Editor, http://www.BoardgameNews.com

That's a great point. If you can get Cluzzle for $7 and Playdoh for $5, then you have a great game for only $12. That's a pretty darn good deal.

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

Henry Rhombus — 2007-12-15T06:42:43+00:00

Or you can do what I did and pick up a cheap ten pack of Playdoh, then throw out the insert to store it inside the box. Yes, it's a hassle to have to buy something else to play, but Cluzzle cost something like $7, so it's not a big deal.

And the smell of Playdoh makes me feel like a kid again...

Eric
Editor, http://www.BoardgameNews.com

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

domcrap — 2007-12-14T18:17:30+00:00

weasel wrote:
I had the same problems as the others here. I got a copy of Cluzzle in a math trade, opened it up a few days ago, and the clay is all hardened. I already wrote Dominic and he wrote a very nice email but mostly I've got an unplayable game. :-( Anyway, my recommendation is "Don't buy discounted copies of Cluzzle."

I'm really sorry about this. This is a continual thorn in our side.

About 6 months ago, North Star Games replaced all of the Cluzzle clay in their inventory with fresh vacuum sealed clay. You'll know if you have genuine North Star Games product because the entire clay container is vacuum sealed in a plastic package.

Unfortunately, there are a bunch of other Cluzzle games out there that we do not have control over. These games were liquidated when Eagle Games went bankrupt and they contain old rock hard clay. Some of the retailers we thought were selling the product that North Star Games supports, were actually buying the product from other people at discounted rates.

The only place that we can guarantee has the freshest Cluzzle clay (and man is it fresh!) are the stores that would not purchase from traditional board game distributors such as:

Target.com
Barnes & Noble.com

I hope this helps. You can also purchase directly from us, but we only have the ability to ship in cases right now, meaning 4 games at a time. Next year we will start selling our games directly from our website.

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

weasel — 2007-12-14T17:32:16+00:00

I had the same problems as the others here. I got a copy of Cluzzle in a math trade, opened it up a few days ago, and the clay is all hardened. I already wrote Dominic and he wrote a very nice email but mostly I've got an unplayable game. :-( Anyway, my recommendation is "Don't buy discounted copies of Cluzzle."

Thread: Great Party Game with the Right Group

maksum — 2007-10-20T16:55:47+00:00

Cluzzle is a party game. Period. If you try to play it "seriously" or with too few people it likely won't go over too well. Having said that, the game can be quite fun and good for some laughs.

Overview:
Cluzzle is a game in which each player (up to 6 - but there's no reason why you couldn't add more by adding more colors) is given a blob of play dough and a few "guessing" tokens. Each game is played in 3 rounds in which people try to use deductive reasoning to guess each other's sculptures (based on drawing cards and choosing from a list of objects on those cards.)

Here is what really makes the game clever though: There are no teams, and you DON'T want to make your sculpture too good! You see if your object is guessed immediately and by everyone you will earn a point, but so will everyone else - essentially not progressing you toward victory any further. However, if it is not guessed at all you don't get any points. Since each subsequent round awards more points you want it to finally be guessed after 2 or 3 rounds of answering questions (Yes or No questions such as "Is your object edible?" or "Is it something you can wear?")

So the best you can do is have your object guessed in round 3 and by only one opponent, rewarding yourself and a single opponent the maximum of 3 points. Likewise, if you think you know what an opponent's sculpture is and you believe nobody else does, you may want to confirm with obscure questions that will confirm it to yourself but not give hints to anyone else... and then perhaps wait until the 3rd round to finally make what you believe is the correct guess.

How it Plays Out:
Like I said, if you have a group of 4-6 people that can laugh at each other and enjoy a light party game, then I think Cluzzle is quite a unique idea and plays out very well. People who love party games and have never heard of it often respond very positively to the game, from my experience. If you have people in the group that tend to take things too seriously, get upset for not winning, or harp on someone for not following the rules precisely, then you're better off to play something else.

My Rating:
I'd give it a solid 8 according to BGG's rating system: "A Very Good Game". Again, this rating is recognizing that it's a party game.

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

domcrap — 2007-07-27T14:51:05+00:00

SybotCB wrote:
I reread my post, and I wish I hadn't of been so harsh... I was frustrated.

No problem. I think I took it in the right light. It's good for us to hear how our customers honestly feel. That is the only way we can figure out what is important to people.

The clay in Cluzzle has always been a difficult issue to deal with. Right now, we are confused about who to market Cluzzle to. Specialty toy shops and mass market buyers see it as a children's game, mostly because of the packaging and because there is clay in it. They do not want the greasy modeling clay because the parents will dislike how it can stain things. But the current price is too high to get into those channels. The current price is ok as an adult party game, but they usually prefer modeling clay (but not always).

In the end, we might decide to design a Kluzzle Kids game which is cheaper and has play-do and then bring back the modeling clay to Cluzzle. But this would not be for a while because our plate is full right now with other things.

Note to game designers out there: Don't design a game with clay in it!

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

SybotCB — 2007-07-27T05:47:40+00:00

SybotCB wrote:
I had the first edition of Cluzzle, which I traded away when Tanga put Cluzzle on and I bought it. The reason was because it got rid of Money and stuff.

We used to play Cluzzle quite a bit when we had the 1st edition. But the second edition of Cluzzle Clay officially sucks. I have two copies of Cluzzle and both of them had every tub with unusable clay. I say throw out the tubs and just use the baggies.

Three separate occasions where we were going to play Cluzzle in the last couple of months where we had to put it back and play something else because we just couldn't get the clay to work.

I tried the "Clay Maintenance" once on the website, and the only thing that worked somewhat was leaving the paper towel in there overnight, That made it workable for the next day (But still never quite as good as the first edition clay), but then, the next time we broke it out to play it was once again dried up. And there is no way before game night when I'm ever just going to know the night before we might be playing Cluzzle, maybe I should get the clay ready for tomorrow just in case.

I'd like to know if there's any update on that as well.

I'd just like to say that Dominic and North Star Games is awesome and sent me some of the 1st edition clay.

I reread my post, and I wish I hadn't of been so harsh, especially since Dominic specifically stated earlier in the thread that they were trying to make good as best they can. But it was the next day after our Wednesday Game Night and it was the third time that we tried to play Cluzzle since getting the updated version. I was frustrated.

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

domcrap — 2007-07-20T13:17:35+00:00

SybotCB wrote:
I'd like to know if there's any update on that as well.
Sorry about this Chris. It's been hard to know what to do. We received a lot of complaints with the 1st edition clay: that it was greasy, left a residue on your hands, and stained clothing and table cloths. That is why we changed to the water based clay for the second edition. But water evaporates!

We are still undecided what we'll do for the next print run... (so give us feedback... (well,... I guess you already have))

I think I have a few packages left of the first edition clay. Email me your address and I'll send you some of the "good stuff".

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

SybotCB — 2007-07-19T21:43:22+00:00

I had the first edition of Cluzzle, which I traded away when Tanga put Cluzzle on and I bought it. The reason was because it got rid of Money and stuff.

We used to play Cluzzle quite a bit when we had the 1st edition. But the second edition of Cluzzle Clay officially sucks. I have two copies of Cluzzle and both of them had every tub with unusable clay. I say throw out the tubs and just use the baggies.

Three separate occasions where we were going to play Cluzzle in the last couple of months where we had to put it back and play something else because we just couldn't get the clay to work.

I tried the "Clay Maintenance" once on the website, and the only thing that worked somewhat was leaving the paper towel in there overnight, That made it workable for the next day (But still never quite as good as the first edition clay), but then, the next time we broke it out to play it was once again dried up. And there is no way before game night when I'm ever just going to know the night before we might be playing Cluzzle, maybe I should get the clay ready for tomorrow just in case.

I'd like to know if there's any update on that as well.

Thread: All the Fun Sans the Sun

darlok — 2007-07-09T20:38:28+00:00

I'm a hardcore gamer, meaning that boardgaming has become one of my number one hobbies. I peruse the geek regularly and often evangelize the hobby to non-gamers.

I've tried to build my game collection like a chef would prepare a menu. Though sometimes I look for games to fill a certain situation. For me Cluzzle was a reactionary purchase designed to entertain 6 non-gamers during a dinner party. It totally worked out and have been very happy with the game.

OverView/Rules/How to play:

Contents:- 110 Clue_Cards (each with 9 items/clues printed on them)
- A round gameboard with a scoring track on it
- 6 containers of clay*
- 6 pencils, 6 sets of 4 question markers
- Packet of two sided scoring sheets, for people to write down their answers

The gameplay is quite simple; each player receives a set of clay, a player mat where they'll place their sculp and a card containing 9 items. The players can choose any one of the 9 items to sculpt. This is important, b/c some people will be nervous thinking that they have no artistic ability and panic thinking they'll be stuck should they receive a difficult clue. It's best to explain that part early on to alleviate any anxiety that some players may experience.

Next players choose their item and sculpt away. There is no time limit here, but it's a good idea to stay within the suggested 5 minutes so players are not waiting around, but at the same time allowing players enough time and not create stress.

After all players have finished sculpting, they push their mats containing their artwork around the center board. This now starts the 2 minute question round, time is kept by a 2 minute sand timer. Each player receives 4 question tokens, and can thus ask 4 questions about the other sculptures. There is no turn sequence, it's a just a free for all asking other players questions about their sculptures.
Questions can only be answered as follows:
-Yes
-No
-Sometimes
-Partly
-I dont know

Since you may only ask a total of 4 questions during this round, it's important to pay attention to the questions/answers that other people are asking in order to try and figure out what people have sculpted.

Once the two minutes is up, you then have 30 seconds to write down your answers for the other players sculpts. After the 30 seconds begins the guessing phase. In a sequence a round the board, each player states their guess for each sculpt.

Scoring is also fairly simple but very important. If a player guesses correctly they score 1 point during first round and so does every player that wrote down the correct answer. The sculptor also receives 1 point, and they pull their sculpture out of the center denoting it's been guessed correctly. If no player correctly guesses a sculpture it stays around the board and you begin Round 2 with another set of 2 minute guesses, along with 30 second of writing down answers. During the second round, correct answers are now worth 2 points for those answering correctly as well as for the sculptor. Rinse and repeat for the 3 round, should sculptures not have been guessed during round 1 or 2 and but correctly guessed in the 3rd (and final round) will yield 3 points. Sculptures that no-one could figure out, yield 0 points for the sculptor. After the third round, that counts as a game. Typically it’s suggested you play 3 games. Thus everyone get's to sculpt 3x's.

The scoring mechanic is where in lies the strategy of the game. You don't want your sculpt to be so easy that it's guessed in the first round, but you also don’t want it to be so abstract that no-one can guess it.

My Thoughts:

This game is really fun. Of course know your audience. It's not a game i would break out if i were having over a couple of guys and we were going to play some games. But it's really fun for parties, it's great for non-gamers and it's good for couples. We’ve played it a bunch of times now and every time it’s been a complete blast! It's really amusing to see some players working their clay, redoing sections and to see their final rendition. A lot of laughter also comes out of the question rounds as people attempt to figure out the cluzzles(clay puzzle). Many of the clues lend themselves to highly amusing sculpts. My wife did a Winnie the Pooh as a pot of honey with his butt sticking out, no-one guessed it but after it was revealed it made a lot of sense. You have to imagine the line of questions like ‘Is it Hard?’ ‘Can you eat it?’ ‘Would you wear it?’

Critiques:

The components in the game are ok at best. It's nice that it comes with pencils and the timers. The 110 clue cards each with 9 items on it more than generous for very long shelf life. Unfortunately though the clay i received was unusable. There are suggestions to add water and kneed the clay which seems to have worked for some gamers, but didn’t really for me, a few colors were just beyond repair. I spent $5 for a set of 10 small containers of play-doh which works perfectly and acts to expand the # of players to 10, not to mention provides fond childhood memories once players catch a whiff. The overall graphics are nice and allude to the light and fun nature of the game.

Final Words:

You know your group and know what kind of game this is. For me, I got exactly what I was expecting. The fun we had with this game even the few short plays was well worth what I paid for the game, including the extra 'clay'. With my regular group I would imagine we'll use this as a fairly regularly filler and it will help to draw in the woman-folk, which is always a plus. In many ways this game really fits the bill of what a boardgame should be. It's easy to learn, accessible by all types of gamers, it's social and provides a lot of laughter and fun. The scoring mechanic will also allow for some strategy so even stingy bgg'ers should sculpt away.

I would recommend this for those that enjoy party games, or those with a decent size group of gamers looking for a fun filler!

Thread: Re: # of players?

darlok — 2007-06-25T19:13:42+00:00

domcrap wrote:

James,

You are correct that the game works fine with more players. In fact, I think the game is BETTER with more players. You are also correct that the time gets messed with when there are more players.

There is usually enough time to ask about 20 questions during the 2 minute "question asking" rounds (Of course, this depends on the players). This means the game works best with:

3 players = 4 question tokens each
4 players = 4 question tokens each
5 players = 4 question tokens each
6 players = 3 or 4 question tokens each
7 players = 3 question tokens each
8 players = 2 or 3 question tokens each
9 players = 2 question tokens each
10 players = 2 question tokens each

Alternatively, you could add more time to each round using the same math (about 10 questions can get asked in a minute).

I hope this helps!
Dominic

Dominic,

Thanks for the speedy reply, i will likely reduce the # of question tokens with more players. I bought this mostly b/c i was having a dinner party with non-hardcore gamers who did in turn want to game, and we were more than the typical max of players "5". So cluzzle worked out really well, everyone enjoyed it and i'm looking forward to another round.

-
James

Thread: Re: # of players?

domcrap — 2007-06-25T15:40:38+00:00

darlok wrote:
Is there any reason that you couldnt play with more people? Like would the math of the scoring/questions, etc be off with more people...i'm guessing the only difference might be with the time...
James,

You are correct that the game works fine with more players. In fact, I think the game is BETTER with more players. You are also correct that the time gets messed with when there are more players.

There is usually enough time to ask about 20 questions during the 2 minute "question asking" rounds (Of course, this depends on the players). This means the game works best with:

3 players = 4 question tokens each
4 players = 4 question tokens each
5 players = 4 question tokens each
6 players = 3 or 4 question tokens each
7 players = 3 question tokens each
8 players = 2 or 3 question tokens each
9 players = 2 question tokens each
10 players = 2 question tokens each

Alternatively, you could add more time to each round using the same math (about 10 questions can get asked in a minute).

I hope this helps!
Dominic

Thread: Re: # of players?

edosan — 2007-06-25T15:06:41+00:00

I'd think that it would go a little too long, but I can't imagine any real gameplay issues.

Thread: # of players?

darlok — 2007-06-25T14:55:07+00:00

I know the game comes with enough clay/boards for 6 players, but since my version had clay that was unusable, i bought some playdoh instead. I bought a variety pack and now have like 8-10 colors.

Is there any reason that you couldnt play with more people? Like would the math of the scoring/questions, etc be off with more people...i'm guessing the only difference might be with the time...

-
James

Thread: Re: Are four questions too many?

darlok — 2007-06-25T14:51:34+00:00

how many questions are in the first edition?

four is a kind of a lot, maybe three would work. There was only one that didnt get guessed at all during our game. It was a sidewalk, which is a tough thing to sculpt...

Thread: Cluzzle - An Art Teacher's Review

Hutchboy — 2007-06-15T02:27:59+00:00

Clay + Puzzles = Cluzzle, a board game that can be an exceptional tool in the classroom,
adding fun while building students high order thinking skills. Cluzzle immediately
caught my eye as a game that can capture student’s attention and be accessible to all
students. The basic premise of the game is for players to make a sculpture for others to
guess. Sculptures that are never guessed receive no points. Sculptures guessed quickly
receive a few points. Sculptures that require some thought, but eventually are guessed
receive the most points. In essence, the game is not about being a great sculptor, rather
your ability to ask the right question, listen carefully, and shrewdly imbue ambiguity in
your artistic creations (an easy job for most of us). In this review, I will be focusing on
the benefits of this game in the classroom, which will briefly touch on the overall process
of the game. If you would like a more complete run down of how the game works, check
out these links:

http://www.thedicetower.com/thedicetower/index.php?page=cluz...

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/157999

Great components
The game is made of high quality components that lend themselves to the abuse that
students unintentionally and sometimes intentionally put upon a classroom resources.
Each player or team receives a clay station of one of six colors, a small tub of clay
matching their clay station, four round & thick cardboard coins with question marks on
them matching their color, a small pencil, and a guessing sheet. The clay stations provide
a place for students to create their sculptures and help keep the clay from getting all over
tables. The clay station and the question coins are made of durable thick cardboard
wearing well against student’s abuse. My only suggestion might be to add a little bit of
water to your clay after each use to prevent it from drying out. The game also includes
two sand timers that keep the game moving and circular scoring track also made of thick
cardboard. Best of all, the box vary conveniently holds all of the components

Higher Order thinking skills
Students are challenged throughout this game to use higher order thinking skills under the
guise of fun. After each player/team finishes their sculpture they are brought to the
center of the table around the scoring track and the question phase begins. Each
player/team has four question tokens to symbolize their four questions. They may ask
other teams yes/no questions about their sculptures during this two-minute question
phase. In order to make correct guesses the students need to synthesize their observations
of the sculptures, the answers received from their questions, and the answers from other
people’s questions. Asking the right questions can be critical as well as flexing their
synthesis skills.

Intrapersonal skills
If played with a large group of people teams can be formed and the interaction of the
team members is essential for success. Coordination of how to create their sculpture andwhich questions to ask can help a team capture those few points that make the difference
in the final score. Also, during the question phase all players/teams are asking their
questions all at once thus building students abilities to interact with one another.

Great for large or small groups
Cluzzle can accommodate up to four to six people or teams. I have effectively played the
game with classes over twenty students and with as few as four people. Ideally, the game
plays well with six teams of two or three.

Works in a variety of settings
I love using this game in my art room as it gives students who may not feel confident
with their three dimensional skills a chance to work freely with a three dimensional
material in a fun, un-intimidating way. It also helps students connect their observations
with questions equipping students to better participate when we critique each other’s
artwork. I have experienced this game working really well with ESL students and the
cards that dictate what the students create could be altered to include their vocabulary
words. That might also be the case in an English class where the words might relate to a
novel that is being read in class. The game can also be taught and played in a relatively
short amount of time.

Summary
Cluzzle is an exceptional tool in a classroom setting, connecting learning with fun in a
seamless experience. Best of all, the game is very easily altered and customized to a
wide variety of classroom settings.

Thread: User review

edosan — 2007-06-05T20:23:48+00:00

I got Cluzzle in a Math Trade some time ago, but was waiting for a group with enough people to play it and when I finally did, I was pleasantly surprised...

Cluzzle is Pictionary with clay...sort of. Simply put, everyone gets some clay and a card with some items on it. The player picks something off their card (like "cowboy boot") and makes it out of the clay. Everyone then tries to guess each other's cluzzle. The twist is that the longer your puzzle is unguessed, the more points you get UNLESS no one ever guesses your cluzzle and then you get zero points. The trick is to make your cluzzle "just hard enough." Points are accrued by guessing other people's cluzzles as well.

That's it. Pretty straightforward, and the "just hard enough" factor prevents someone from taking a ball of clay and saying it was supposed for be a Formula One race car. That also makes it different from a lot of other similar Pictionary-style games. It's light enough to make it an easy party game, but some twists to make it interesting. There are some good rules meant to keep the flow of the game going smoothly as well (each guesser only gets to ask four questions per round, timed rounds, et cetera).

(As a side note, many other people have compared this to Klaus Teuber's game "Barbarossa," which I haven't played. It seems like while both games are similar, Cluzzle makes for a more streamlined game while Barbarossa takes a lot longer.)

Another big plus: Dominic Crapuchettes, the game's designer, is also very active on BGG forums. When I commented on the forum that I was disappointed in the quality of the clay, he mailed me and offered to send me some replacement clay. This is some pretty good support. Overall, I was very pleased with the game, and would heartily recommend this to anyone looking for something a bit more interesting than the average party game. (My rating: 6/10, mainly because I only play party games with certain groups of people but I really like it as a party game)

Thread: Re: Controlling the asking of questions in Cluzzle

domcrap — 2007-05-21T15:48:23+00:00

Red Dragon wrote:
During the game I played yesterday, it happened at least twice that no one asked any questions about one of the cluzzles during a round.

That has always bothered me as well.

Red Dragon wrote:
You could require each player to ask one question of the player on their left, and one of the player on their right, instead of questions across the table.

That's a cool solution! I wish I had thought of that when we were in the testing phase. Let me know how it goes if you ever try it.

Thread: Controlling the asking of questions in Cluzzle

Red Dragon — 2007-05-19T03:47:56+00:00

If I heard the rules right, each player is allowed to ask two questions, and flips over one of their question disks when they ask one, and it has to be a yes-no question, but beyond that, there is no control over who asks what of whom. During the game I played yesterday, it happened at least twice that no one asked any questions about one of the cluzzles during a round. I don't know if anyone else would consider that a problem, but I came up with a trivial solution to it that I think might make Cluzzle a better game.

Each player starts with two question disks, as usual. In a round, players in any order or no order at all can ask a question about anyone's cluzzle while simultaneously giving them one of their disks (thus each player can only ask two questions). The player getting the disk answers the question while simultaneously placing the disk face-down in front of them. No more questions may be asked of someone who has two face-down disks already. This would guarantee that everyone asked two questions and answered two questions, except that the last player to ask a question might have no one to ask except themself. If that's a problem, you could require each player to ask one question of the player on their left, and one of the player on their right, instead of questions across the table. So it's a choice of drawbacks, which is least bad: the likelihood no one will ask any questions about one of the cluzzles (thus one of the players doesn't get to answer any questions at all through no fault of his own), or the possibility one player might not be able to ask or answer any questions at all (if no one asked about their cluzzle and they were too slow about asking), or disallowing asking questions across the table?

I think the left-right version would be perfect for a three-player game, and asking anyone would be best for 6, but I'm not sure where to switch between them.

Thread: Re: Scoring seems messed up

Red Dragon — 2007-05-19T02:37:41+00:00

Skadar wrote:
Played Cluzzle last night for the first time (thanks Tanga). We enjoyed the game but we all thought that the scoring system was just wrong. ... However, we all felt that the guesser should be rewarded for making an early guess! If they guess right in round 1, the guesser should get maximum points (3) not just 1 point. ... Increase points for the Sculptor as the rounds progress. Decrease points for the Guessers as the rounds progress.
I finally got a chance to play Cluzzle yesterday, and this is exactly my impression that something seemed seriously wrong with the game (despite other aspects of the game being a lot of fun), my exact reasons for thinking so, and the exact same solution to it that I came up with. In fact, since someone else read the rules to us, I came here to BGG just now specifically to find out whether that really was the rule, or if we had the scoring messed up. But even the person who read the rules to us thought the scoring system was bad for the game.

Ok, ... so it's supposed to be that way, according to the designer. But I can't see the logic in it, and whenever I play it again, I'm going to insist on scoring by the method described by Skadar, at least if there are three or more players (and if there are only two, there's no game no matter how you score it).

If the sculptor gets 1-2-3 points, there's incentive to make it harder to guess but still guessable, and that's great. If the guessers get 3-2-1 it adds even more incentive for the sculptor to keep it from being guessable in the first round (the guessers would get more points than he gets). As for the guessers guessing wrong in the 3rd round to keep the sculptor from getting 3 points, sure, that's one possible strategy they could use, but countering that they have to remember that if someone else guesses it right, the one who deliberately gave a wrong guess will fall behind both of them. Guessers will want to be in on the first right guess, even if it's the 3rd round when it happens, unless they think they're the only one who knows the answer. (And even then, maybe not: the person who makes a lot of 'disadvantageous' trades in Settlers of Catan will still beat someone who makes no trades at all, and this is the same principle. If I can score 5 points with 5 right guesses in the 3rd round, while everyone else gets 3 each, I'll win.)

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

edosan — 2007-04-22T19:11:32+00:00

Is there any update on this issue? We played last might (had a fun time, BTW) and we are also having the clay problems.

Thread: Re: Cluzzle is "Clay" for Puzzle

Liumas — 2007-03-24T19:32:56+00:00

We had the same problem with the brittle clay.

Fix: Run each clay blob under a small amount of tap water, then knead them until they are flexible. Instead of running the water directly on the 'clay', it's probably enough to wet your hands then pick up the clay and knead it. Do this again to suit.

If I know I'm going to play this ahead of time, I do this to the putty the night before. The clay stays fairly malleable for maybe a month or two.

Much better game with kneadable clay putty.

Thread: Cluzzle is "Clay" for Puzzle

KSensei — 2007-03-24T17:34:39+00:00

Cluzzle is a party-style game for 3 to 6 players ages 8 and up. In Cluzzle players make sculptures out of clay and try to guess what each other's creations are for points.

The game is broken into three rounds and the points available to score increase per round. To begin the game, each player selects a color and takes the clay and clay mat of that color. Then they each draw a card which has a number of items on it. The players select one item off of their card and attempt to sculpt it out of clay.

Here, players do not want to make it too obvious what their sculpture is. If it is guessed in Round 1, then the correct guessers and sculptor only receive 1 point. Whereas, if it is guessed in the 3rd round they each receive 3 points. On the other hand, one does not want to make their sculpture too obscure. If it isn't guessed then no points are awarded for it. One of the keys to the game I think is to guess opponent's sculptures in earlier rounds while hoping that they don't get yours until the last round--thus, maximizing your points.

A round is broken into three phases. During the first phase--a timed one with a two minute timer--players ask each other questions about their creations. Each player is allowed to ask 4 questions to any player. The number of questions is kept track of by tokens that are flipped over after a question is asked. The questions can only be answered with; "Yes," "No," "Sometimes," "Partly," and "I don't know." This part of the round can be quite hectic. You are trying to think of questions that you want to ask players about their sculptures, process the answers they give and take in all the other information that is given with other player's questions. Again, all of this is being timed.

In the second phase, another timed one (this time for 30 seconds) players write down guesses for the other sculptures. There is definitely not much time to think during this phase. Information from the previous phase must be processed quickly.

In the third phase, players reveal their guesses for each sculpture and correct guesses are scored. The guesser and sculptor each receive points (though, the sculptor only receives points once, no matter how many people correctly guess it).

After the third round (not phase), the person with the highest score wins.

This game is light and fairly quick. A four player game took about 20 to 30 minutes. Though the box advertises itself as a "Game of Comical Clay Puzzles," I don't remember any of us laughing as much as we would in other party games. That aside, it was still an enjoyable game. My biggest complaint with this game is the clay that is provided. It was very dry and crumbled. Making the sculptures proved very difficult with it. If I were serious about playing this game often I would definitely go buy some Play-Doh or something to replace what is provided.

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

fsumarc — 2007-02-12T02:47:07+00:00

domcrap wrote:
There has been a recent change of tone on this subject and it looks hopeful that the manufacturer might still take responsibility for the faulty clay. When this happens, I will let everyone know how to get replacement clay so you can continue playing Cluzzle as it was meant to be played.

I'm sorry again for this inconvenience. I am as eager as all of you to get this problem taken care of.

Hi Dominic!
That's good to hear! add me to the list of folks who bought Cluzzle from Tanga. We broke the seal last night to play the game. Unfortunately we also found the same problem. the clay was crumbly and a bit dry. It was not usable. We ended up grabbing some of the kids playdoh but it isn't very good for detail. (also we had wrong colors). It was a bit of a bummer but I can say we enjoyed the game itself and look forward to someday playing it with good clay. Please keep us posted.

Thanks for the fun game!

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

domcrap — 2007-02-02T05:18:20+00:00

There has been a recent change of tone on this subject and it looks hopeful that the manufacturer might still take responsibility for the faulty clay. When this happens, I will let everyone know how to get replacement clay so you can continue playing Cluzzle as it was meant to be played.

I'm sorry again for this inconvenience. I am as eager as all of you to get this problem taken care of.

Thread: Re: Review from both sides: Cluzzle

msaari — 2007-01-18T04:49:37+00:00

I've had success with gamers and Cluzzle, but then again, nobody has played Barbarossa around here. I think I'd still prefer Cluzzle, it being a somewhat cleaner design.

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domcrap — 2007-01-09T22:11:39+00:00

Assembling Cluzzle in my living room!

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sandysidamo — 2006-12-30T07:07:25+00:00

Cluzzle with the Family

Thread: Are four questions too many?

Dweeb — 2006-12-30T03:33:58+00:00

I recently enjoyed playing Cluzzle at a party and bought a copy. Apparently, I got the new "Second Edition" with 4 questions per player. It just made the game seem so much easier - most of the sculptures were guessed in the first round, even those most cludely made. I'm thinking about playing by the "first edition" rules next time. Thoughts?

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

domcrap — 2006-12-29T19:28:16+00:00

Thanks on this feedback. From now on, I'll also include the plastic baggies from the 1st edition when I send people modeling clay.

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

rcrawford — 2006-12-29T12:07:48+00:00

Problem with modeling clay is that it sticks to the tubs making it impossible to get the clay out. You'll probably need another type of storage to make it work--at least I had to find one.

Robert Crawford

Thread: A whole load of fun!

Chachito — 2006-12-29T05:36:48+00:00

We broke out Cluzzle for the first time tonight with 6 players; it was a ton of fun! All of my words were guessed in the first round. My words in the first game were syringe, diaper, and Disney World. Everybody guessed my syringe, two people guessed my diaper, and one person guessed Disney World. My sculptures got progressively less specific, but they were still too guessable. The clues that made it to the last round were chimney, blimp, and belt. I think we may as well not have had any sculptures at all for those ones, by the time the last round comes along, everybody's asking one or two people all their questions, so you can learn a lot. One person (who shall remain nameless) asked very specific questions. Like for the blimp, we all started getting an idea of what it was, when she asked, "Is it something Goodyear might own?" Groans all around the table! The only con is that we definitely need to replace the clay, it was hardly moldable. A couple of times we had to make sure people knew that the texture wasn't part of the clue (no, there aren't supposed to be big cracks running all through it!)

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

davebo — 2006-12-24T00:38:49+00:00

Sorry to say I had the same clay problems. However, Dom had already sent me some modeling clay in the mail, so no worries.

For those people having problems, I'd just recommend buying some modeling clay. The one that Dom shipped me were very nice. At first I thought it'd be hard to work with because it's denser than playdough, but it's also nicer to work with than playdough. You can achieve a much finer detail.

So, toss out the clay, keep the little tubs, and replace it with modeling clay.

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

Inntrepid — 2006-12-20T06:36:03+00:00

I just noticed that the clay I got in the Cluzzle I got from Tanga was chunky and dry. I figured that it was just dryed out and I needed to water.

We are going to play over the holidays so I am just running under water, putting in container for a few hours, taking it out and working it, then run under water, wait a few hours, work it and repeat.

I noticed that a couple of the lids were loose and spun on the container. I am going to try putting a little piece of Saran Wrap over the container before I put the lid on and see if that helps seal it.

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

mitnachtKAUBO-I — 2006-12-13T08:58:25+00:00

domcrap wrote:
Each clay container has about 2 ounces of clay so there is a total of 12 ounces in the six different colors combined.
Thanks!

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

domcrap — 2006-12-12T23:14:58+00:00

mitnachtKAUBO-I wrote:
BTW, how large are the pieces of clay?
Each clay container has about 2 ounces of clay so there is a total of 12 ounces in the six different colors combined.

(I just weighed a container at the post office today while sending replacement clay to Kevin and Ed)

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

mitnachtKAUBO-I — 2006-12-12T19:30:55+00:00

mitnachtKAUBO-I wrote:
BTW, how large are the pieces of clay? 8 ounces? Just curious in case they ever need to be replaced.

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

domcrap — 2006-12-11T19:20:36+00:00

We have now added a section to our website addressing how to re-moisten the clay. You can find it at http://www.northstargames.com/games/cluzzle/components.page

Or just read below:

1) Add water one drop at a time into the hardened clay. Slowly knead the water into the clay after each drop.

2) You can also wrap the clay in a damp paper towel and return it to the container. Seal the top and let it sit overnight.

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

mitnachtKAUBO-I — 2006-12-10T09:26:07+00:00

I found the method listed on the website below to work well (even for clay whose top could be "spun around"). Thank you Hasbro!

http://www.hasbro.com/playdoh/default.cfm?page=faq#drying

In a nutshell, what I did was apply water to the clay one drop at a time. After applying a drop of water, I aggressively kneaded the clay in my hands for about 45 seconds. Repeat about 30 times and the clay is good to go.

Might be a good idea to add info on "clay revival" to the Cluzzle website. The 5 seconds recommended in the rules are not sufficient to revive hardened clay. I suspect that the problem is rather widespread (and will only increase with the passage of time).

BTW, how large are the pieces of clay? 8 ounces? Just curious in case they ever need to be replaced.

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

MontyCircus — 2006-12-09T19:11:58+00:00

That's good to know. Looking forward to some replacement stuff

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

domcrap — 2006-12-09T19:05:12+00:00

MontyCircus wrote:
It's absolutely completely and utterly unusable.

This really sucks. I'm sorry that you have to deal with this.

I found a few left over packages of clay from the 1st edition of Cluzzle. I will send one out to anyone who has dried up clay if you email me at dominic@NorthStarGames.com. (until I run out)

Again, I apologize for this inconvenience.

Dominic

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

MontyCircus — 2006-12-09T04:31:31+00:00

Yup, just cracked it open for a family get-together. We all worked on our clay for about 45 minutes, dipping them in water and rolling them around. And it still didn't help much. It's absolutely completely and utterly unusable.

Luckily we had some modelling clay handy.

I tried the running under water and putting them back for a while...if that doesn't work I'll have to get some PlayDoh...or just throw it out.

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

domcrap — 2006-12-05T15:43:43+00:00

Yes, we are learning that this is problem for a scattering of people which is very discouraging to us. I think part of the problem is that some of the containers have tops that let air in. I've noticed that the containers with tops that spin without resistance have hardened clay.

The best thing to do is what was recomended above. We're really sorry for the hassle and we are looking for ways to rectify the problem for the next print run.

Contact me by email at dominic@northstargames.com if you are not able to rectify the problem with a daily does of water. I'm not sure yet what we can do about it right now because the company does not have any money. We are trying to get the manufacturer to take responsibility but they're putting up resistence.

Thread: Re: Anybody else having clay problems?

ositobrian — 2006-12-04T23:41:21+00:00

Ours came dry too. I just ran each one under water for 10 seconds, and put it back in the containers. Do that once a day for a few days and it should get a lot better.

I just got my copy from Tanga a little while ago. I bet there were a lot of copies of the game sitting in a warehouse for a long time.... drying out the clay...

Thread: Anybody else having clay problems?

ed95005 — 2006-12-04T05:58:43+00:00

Is anyone else finding their clay difficult to work with? Mine came very dry and crumbly. I've run it under water a couple of times, which seems to help a little. The website says the clay is scented, but mine just smells like clay.

Image

hotrodqt — 2006-12-03T23:38:23+00:00

Image

hotrodqt — 2006-12-03T23:28:00+00:00

Image

hotrodqt — 2006-12-03T23:26:28+00:00

Image

hotrodqt — 2006-12-03T23:26:15+00:00

Thread: Re: Scoring seems messed up

domcrap — 2006-11-23T14:21:11+00:00

Skadar,

Many people think the scoring is messed up when they first play the game. But like others pointed out, if you change the scoring then the game falls apart. It is true that scores stay pretty close unless the full 6 players are playign the game. That is why we usually play 2 or 3 games in a row and keep the score from one game to the next.

Dom

Thread: Re: Scoring seems messed up

tonyfung1205 — 2006-11-17T19:07:16+00:00

Agree on Adams. Obviously... i had difficult to present the ideas with my poor english. lol.

Thread: Re: Scoring seems messed up

Skadar — 2006-11-17T19:05:57+00:00

asmiles wrote:
in the 3rd round, you might guess wrong on purpose because you'd only get 1 point and the sculpter would get 3 points, possibly moving ahead of you in the scoring.

Ah ha! You are correct, sir.

I guess I need to play it more in order to see how it pans out after multiple games.