How to make smoothies?
Smoothies are a typical roll and write , so the mechanics are based on throwing dice and plotting the results on a sheet. This kind of board games is perfect for traveling because it fits in a small box and doesn’t take up much space on the table.
The game is started by the person who recently used the blender, he becomes the active player, so he takes all seven dice and drops them over both parts of the box (both lids represent a blender, but with a different shape). There must be at least two dice in each box. Then the player chooses one of them and crosses out as many spaces on his sheet as there are dice in the selected blender. Interestingly, there is no specific time to play here, but the player has a limited number of squares to cross out when choosing one of the lids, because when it comes to the end of both lanes, his role as the active player in this game ends. After selecting a box, the player may combine the dice results as desired to plot the spaces on his sheet with that number in their color. While Smoothiesmay seem a slightly complicated game, in fact the rules are very simple. When you select, for example, a red four, a green six, and a blue two, you can, among other things, cross the green and red boxes in the column number ten, or three positions on the track with the value twelve. While you are puzzling over these dilemmas, the other players may choose one die from the blender you discarded earlier. Then the next person becomes the active player, and the rest of the players are passive again. When everyone has filled their two tracks, the game is over. And that’s roughly it.
Although it is worth mentioning that there are also bonuses in some fields, thanks to which the player can change the color of the dice, add another die to the result as a passive player or reroll the dice, and even increase / decrease the value of the dice by three or one, and mark additional adjacent dice fields on your sheet. Points needed to win are scored for drawing the appropriate number of boxes in each color (depending on the number of players, in the case of a two-person game, at least seven times out gives us points), as well as for full columns. The player with the most yellow and orange strokes will earn an extra three points. The person with the most VPs at the end of the game wins.
Square or round blender – that is the question!
Why does such a simple gameplay require such a detailed description? Because in this inconspicuous box there is an extraordinary game. Both as an active and passive player, we have several important decisions to make, for example, you have to consider whether to use a bonus, how to combine the dice and which blender to choose. Do you try to get bonuses from the fields, or maybe it is better to go into sevens and fourteen (special columns, thanks to which we can cross out any additional boxes on the sheet)? For this reason, I noticed that the game could drag on. The active player has several decisions to make, often the best solution is clearly visible, and sometimes you have to think about it. Fortunately, other players can think about which dice to choose from the second blender, so the game does not take too long.
We have over fifty double-sided pages in the box, plus pencils with erasers, so Smoothies will last a long time. Is it worth coming back to this game often? In my opinion, this roll and write will not get boring quickly. We have two levels of randomness (the results on the dice and where they fell), but to be honest, unlike, for example, Throw on the tray , here you can get something good from every roll. Thanks to this, the aforementioned randomness ensures replayability, and at the same time is not irritating. However, it can be annoying to roll the dice because of the wrong roll (for example, when all the dice have ended up in one blender).
I like the inconspicuous bonus for the player who will have more yellow and orange squares crossed out. Not a big deal, or at least there is a slight interaction. Scaling is decent, the more rivals, the more often we will be a passive player, so we also need more strokes for each color to get points. After all, this is not some outstanding roll and write , but it can certainly compete with representatives of this genre released by other publishers. With Smoothies I I played well and I will gladly come back to this title.
A lone salesman against a crowd of customers
Solo mode is similar to multiplayer with some minor differences. Firstly, there is no yellow and orange bonus and furthermore, just like in a two-player game, we need seven crosses on each row to get some points. Additionally, before the game we have to decide which variant we choose (easy, normal, difficult, impossible), i.e. whether we will try to exceed fifty-five points or seventy. Sounds interesting, but in reality these modes are the same (no changes to the rules). In my opinion, it would be enough to just have a performance chart to compare the final result with, rather than miserably pretending that Smoothies solo mode is unique from the competition. My best score after at least ten games is fifty-six points.
Fresh fruit in the form of K6
The workmanship is at a decent level. The cover is eye-catching, the bones are brilliant, just touching them, let alone throwing them, is fun. Another advantage is the use of boxes and the addition of four pencils with erasers to the game. I can only fault two things. First, the blue bone is not the color of the sheet. However, I had no problem with distinguishing the colors of the cubes, so this is just a small detail. Secondly, the box is slightly too small, and therefore there is a problem with pulling the block with the sheets out of the inside.
Is Smoothies Delicious?
Compact, enjoyable roll and write from Muduko is a tasty morsel. Other games based on this mechanic, and I have played, for example, Throwing on a tray , Large sums , Railway Trail , Graphing Empire or Bouquet , I have already eaten. Smoothies are a bit of a breath of fresh air in this genre, but it’s always a kind of variation, so I’m happy to play it. It is true that we could use some small diversions (for example, a different distribution of bonuses on half the sheets), but I have no doubt that it is an easy, pleasant and at the same time original board game. You can have great fun with it, and at the same time strain your gray cells a little.
