Now, I want to be fully upfront and state that I have not yet played the original Scythe game. So I cannot compare My Little Scythe to Scythe. But I feel that, as a reviewer, that may actually be a benefit. I'm taking My Little Scythe completely on its merits as a stand alone game and evaluating it. So here my thoughts...
1.) WOW! This game is well made! - First off, when I got the shipping email, I noticed that the box weighed nearly 6 pounds! It made me wonder what this game contained. And it contains a lot of awesome stuff! There are cute little apples, pretty blue gems (that may kids could NOT get enough of), adorable miniatures (instead of cardboard playing pieces), and a large, heavy duty playing board that fits so perfectly together when its unfolded that it lays perfectly flat! (That last one is HUGE to me. I've often unfolded a game board that bowed in the middle or stuck up on the ends and didn't sit perfectly flat. - And that is extremely annoying. This board popped right into place and stayed perfectly flat. I've honestly not seen anything quite like it.
2.) The playing pieces come unpainted. - Now this may seem like a downside, but its not! The little figures are adorable even without color. But the game comes with a painting guide! That's right! You get to paint the figures!!! I love the creativity with this option! And if you're serious gamers (who pick the same pieces every time you play a certain game) then each person in the family gets to pick their figures (each player gets 2) and paint them the way they want them! That adds a whole new level of ownership to this game!
3.) The components are beautiful! - I've said it before and I'll say it again. I am a SUCKER for a pretty game! Can a game be appealing and not play well? Yes. But a game can also be fun and yet never get played because its not appealing - so it doesn't stand out enough to get chosen. Thankfully, MLS is both beautiful and fun! The game board is colorful, large, and well made. The character pieces are adorable. The cards, dice, apples, and gems are all also colorful and well made! Even the little "action tokens" were surprisingly hefty when I picked them up!
4.) The storage is amazingly well thought out! - I've had experience with games with multiple components that didn't have great storage. Cards and tokens and pieces just float around loose in the box. Or they have one bag that you have to empty everything out of and then figure out where everything goes. But My Little Scythe has 2 storage trays! Not only is there a place for everything, but they've purposely left some spaces empty to accomodate an expansion (which is coming out THIS YEAR (2020), by the way!!!) There are even symbols on each section to show you where everything goes!
And a cover for the top tray - to keep things from falling out!!!
I mean, could it be any more perfect!?! This makes it easy to store the game standing up if you need to. Everything in its place also makes setup quicker because you aren't having to separate things out.
5.) It plays up to 6 people! - As a family of 5, there's nothing as sad as finding a game we love that only plays 2-4 people. Don't get me wrong! We still play those games. Sometimes the youngest plays on a "team." Sometimes only 2-4 people play at a time. But a game that will play ALL FIVE of us right out of the box? That's always MAGIC! So I was thrilled to see that MLS can play with up to 6 people!
6.) In addition to that - there's also a single player option! They've included an "Automountie" player mode with a separate instruction sheet. In this mode, you can add an artificial opponent, which gives you the ability to play solo!
7.) There's an Achievement Sheet! - I love this so much! It's always awesome to have a record of who won the first game, etc. Stonemaier has included a double-sided Achievement Sheet where you can keep track of the first winners at each player count, the first players at each age to finish the game with 4 trophies, the first players each month to finish the game with 4 trophies, and much more! What an amazing way to keep memories of family play!
8.) It's not overly complicated. - Although there are a lot of components and actions involved, the game really isn't complicated. It was created for children to understand and I feel like they did a good job of making that a reality. You'll have to refer to the guide the first few times just to make sure you perform the correct actions, etc., but none of the directions are too complicated to understand. When we played the first time, the kids seemed to quickly grasp what they were allowed to do and what their choices were - thanks to the player mats.
9.) There's strategy and choice involved. Although the mechanics are fairly simple to understand, there is strategy involved in where/how you move, what options you choose, and what trophies you go for. This makes it fun for adults and also gives children great practice in strategy and problem solving.
Final thoughts: This game is extremely well crafted, beautiful, and fun for multiple ages. I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the components. And I've never said this before about a game, but I was actually kind of shocked that the suggested retail price is $50. Based on the amount and quality of the components involved, I would've guessed it would be higher. The gameplay was also a huge hit for the kids! The choices involved in the game, and the fun of rolling dice, placing resources, having pie fights, etc. made it a fun game - even for my newly-turned 5 year old. She didn't understand the strategy at the beginning, but she absolutely LOVED getting to "Seek" (roll the dice and place the resources). My 6 year old just roamed around looking for people to pie fight. Haha! And my 9 year old was focused on strategy and being the first to win those trophies. But even though everyone was playing the game at a different "level," everyone had fun! I also liked that you really can scale the game if you need to. The object of the game is to be the first to win 4 trophies. But in our first game, since we were still learning all the rules and talking through all the actions as we did them, that took a bit of time. So we actually stopped the game once someone (my 9 year old) reached 3 trophies. It didn't change the gameplay or the fun at all. So if you want a quicker game, you could always change the number of trophies needed. All in all, I was thoroughly impressed with this game and thought it was a fantastic play. I definitely see it becoming a "frequent play" at our house! In fact, y 5 year old woke up this morning begging to play, so I need to get off the computer and make that happen!
I received this game, at a discounted price, from Stonemaier games in exchange for my honest review.
5.) It plays up to 6 people! - As a family of 5, there's nothing as sad as finding a game we love that only plays 2-4 people. Don't get me wrong! We still play those games. Sometimes the youngest plays on a "team." Sometimes only 2-4 people play at a time. But a game that will play ALL FIVE of us right out of the box? That's always MAGIC! So I was thrilled to see that MLS can play with up to 6 people!
6.) In addition to that - there's also a single player option! They've included an "Automountie" player mode with a separate instruction sheet. In this mode, you can add an artificial opponent, which gives you the ability to play solo!
7.) There's an Achievement Sheet! - I love this so much! It's always awesome to have a record of who won the first game, etc. Stonemaier has included a double-sided Achievement Sheet where you can keep track of the first winners at each player count, the first players at each age to finish the game with 4 trophies, the first players each month to finish the game with 4 trophies, and much more! What an amazing way to keep memories of family play!
8.) It's not overly complicated. - Although there are a lot of components and actions involved, the game really isn't complicated. It was created for children to understand and I feel like they did a good job of making that a reality. You'll have to refer to the guide the first few times just to make sure you perform the correct actions, etc., but none of the directions are too complicated to understand. When we played the first time, the kids seemed to quickly grasp what they were allowed to do and what their choices were - thanks to the player mats.
9.) There's strategy and choice involved. Although the mechanics are fairly simple to understand, there is strategy involved in where/how you move, what options you choose, and what trophies you go for. This makes it fun for adults and also gives children great practice in strategy and problem solving.
Final thoughts: This game is extremely well crafted, beautiful, and fun for multiple ages. I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the components. And I've never said this before about a game, but I was actually kind of shocked that the suggested retail price is $50. Based on the amount and quality of the components involved, I would've guessed it would be higher. The gameplay was also a huge hit for the kids! The choices involved in the game, and the fun of rolling dice, placing resources, having pie fights, etc. made it a fun game - even for my newly-turned 5 year old. She didn't understand the strategy at the beginning, but she absolutely LOVED getting to "Seek" (roll the dice and place the resources). My 6 year old just roamed around looking for people to pie fight. Haha! And my 9 year old was focused on strategy and being the first to win those trophies. But even though everyone was playing the game at a different "level," everyone had fun! I also liked that you really can scale the game if you need to. The object of the game is to be the first to win 4 trophies. But in our first game, since we were still learning all the rules and talking through all the actions as we did them, that took a bit of time. So we actually stopped the game once someone (my 9 year old) reached 3 trophies. It didn't change the gameplay or the fun at all. So if you want a quicker game, you could always change the number of trophies needed. All in all, I was thoroughly impressed with this game and thought it was a fantastic play. I definitely see it becoming a "frequent play" at our house! In fact, y 5 year old woke up this morning begging to play, so I need to get off the computer and make that happen!
I received this game, at a discounted price, from Stonemaier games in exchange for my honest review.
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