Go Nuts for Donuts: Review

Go Nuts For Donuts: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Card Drafting, Set Collection 

Player Age: 13+ 

Player Count: 2 - 6 Players 

Time to Play: 30 - 45 Minutes 

Game Designer: Zachary Eagle
Game Artists: Claire Donaldson

Publisher Daily Magic Games, Gamewright

Year Published: 2017

BGG Complexity: 1.05/5

Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

The Game:

Donuts... Cute, sweet, delectable, MINE!
Much like the ring that calls to Frodo, Golem and different parties alike, these circle shaped delights will encourage you to fight amongst yourselves, only to find that you have been betrayed as your prize falls dramatically into the discard pile, mastered by none. Oh well, there’s a whole bakers dozen where that’s from. Let’s begin!

Objective:

The aim of the game is to gain the most points from your collected donuts at the end of the game. However, the catch is that no one likes sharing these delicious foods, so if you pick the same card as another player then that card is discarded and no one gets it.

Card Anatomy:

Selection Cards and Row Indicators:
The selection cards are pivotal as these will be used to determine which donut card each player will be trying to get their grubby mitts ahold of.

The row indicators will illustrate to the players which selection card is used to go for each donut card. This will make up the donut row.

Donut Cards:
Each of these cards come in one of four colours with corresponding dots within the border. The colours include aqua (two dots), pink (three dots), purple (four dots) or blue (five dots). This dots are used to determine which cards will be used in each game depending on player count. The dots match the minimum amount of players needed in order to include these donuts in the deck. For example of this was a three player game the two and three dot cards will be used in the game.

Additionally, the donut cards have a description of how the card will score victory points, or have an action that will occur if the donut is taken from the donut row, not from the discard pile or from another player (these cards are also shown by a star on the text border).

Setup:

- shuffle together the required cards based on player count
- give each player selection cards counting up to the number of players plus one
- set up row indicators based on the player count plus one
- deal a donut card below each row indicator

How to Play:

Simultaneously, each player chooses a selection card that matches the donut they want and places that card face down. Then each player will reveal their selection and take that donut if no other player has selected the same row. Be careful though, often the best card is the most popular and you could be left with nothing for that turn. The collected donut cards are refilled and play continues in this way. Any special effects from donuts are performed immediately after collection from the donut row. Once the donut row can't be completely refilled from the draw deck each player will score their donuts and a winner will be crowned.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:
- easy to teach
- variation based on player count where it becomes more interactive with more players
- artwork will be a selling point for family gamers
- multiple strategies and paths to victory (specifically with player counts higher than two)
- great player range
- appendix for each card with a full explanation in the rule book

Cons:
- playing at the same player count can get repetitive as the cards will not change

Go Nuts For Donuts is a pastry filled game delight. The design makes for an easy to learn set collection game available for everyone. The big twist is that you cannot get a card another player goes for, which adds a level of take that and overthinking to creates moments of either engaging success or laughable failure. The interaction between players and strategies to victory increases more as the player count raises and more cards are added to the deck, which hinders replayability at two players. If you’re in the mood for a light family weight game with cute art in the same style as sushi go, then you cannot go wrong with this delightful feast of a game.

Click...feed the addiction:

Buy Go Nuts For Donuts at Mighty Ape Games

Daily Magic Games
Gamewright Games
Go Nuts for Donuts on BGG
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