YORKTON - A package arrives one day and inside is a rather delightful find in terms of a new board game.
Tripped is a game soon to be launched on Kickstarter by Canadian designer Éric Boutilier, and the offering impressed from the moment the wrapping paper came off.
How could it not with a game box made to look like a suitcase – complete with a carrying handle and snap closures. It will look great on a store shelf – always a marketing positive.
Inside, the first thing you are drawn to is a large game board which immediately reminds of Ticket to Ride – which is a good thing in the sense it reminds of a true gaming classic.
The map, North America, is criss-crossed with roadways, raillines and ship routes – which Guilder Adam quickly noted reminded of Pandemic – another game classic comparison.
Players – this one plays two-to-eight (the high number would be fun to give a try some day), which is hugely versatile, and since the rules are very straight forward Tripped can be a party gathering game with some ease.
Each player starts in a home city – you might even be in Saskatoon if your home region is Canada – and from there you must travel to six cities – each player having unique destinations for a particular game. Once you have been to the six cities – they range from Greenland to Alaska to Bermuda and Central America -- you race home. The first one back wins.
The playing pieces are nicely weighted and remind of the region – for instance, start in one of the French Islands such as Saint Pierre and Miquelon and your game piece is the Eiffel Tower, in Greenland it’s an iceberg – and are very nice.
To travel you need tickets – at least to move by rail, ship or airplane, so those must be managed through the game.
You can also gather ‘tripped’ cards some offering a boon to a player, others very much about tossing the proverbial ‘monkey wrench’ into an opponent’s plans. If you do not like a ‘take that’ aspect to a game this one may not be for you.
Thankfully the game plays quickly, so getting waylaid by an opponent doesn’t hurt too bad – you can plan revenge in the next game – which does mitigate the ‘take that’ aspect to a large degree.
Other than the confrontation that will not be for everybody, there isn’t a lot that goes against the game.
Yes, you can end up starting on the fringe of the board and have some continent spanning trips ahead to get to your six cities, while another player starts with a city he needs just a quick car trip way, but it tends to even out – especially if you can kibosh the frontrunner with a nasty ‘tripped’ card.
So if you like Ticket to Ride, Pandemic in the sense of travelling around a map too – then Tripped is a fine new offering that really is a top shelf offering that is to be recommended.
Also, that Tripped focuses on North America, it is a game that can be offered as a ‘re-skin’ with some ease by the publisher – Tripped Europe or Tripped Far East being rather obvious.
You can follow this one at get.trippedgame.com
