Checkout!: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Set Collection, Real Time
Player Age: 8+ Player Count: 2 - 6 Players Time to Play: 8 - 15 Minutes
Game Designer: Steve Ng Wen Xi
Game Artist: Le DelicatessenPublisher: Mercat GamesYear Published: 2020BGG Weight: 1.00
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Player Age: 8+
Game Designer: Steve Ng Wen Xi
Game Artist: Le Delicatessen
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Objective:
You're already late today, but you need your essential groceries. Can you grab these essentials faster than anyone else, while stocks last? The game will last for four rounds and one bonus round. Players will frantically be rolling dice to try to gain products as well as keeping some dice to buy deals and gain saving tokens.
Game Anatomy:
Product Cards:
Each product has a type; Drinks are blue and only requires one dice, Snacks are yellow and require two dice, and Foods are red and requires three dice. An amount of victory points will be displayed at the bottom for any player that manages to gain the card. The products are gained when a player has all the matching die faces on a single roll, they than choose to lock in their dice and have spent those dice for the round.
Check Out Board:
When a player chooses to end the round for themselves they are able to place their leftover dice on the check out board. This allows them to buy deal cards in order of right to left between players. So you may want to be the first player out of the round. When there is only one player left in the round they must end their round as well.
Deal Cards:
These deal cards are special sales that players will see at the check out counter. They have a score at the bottom of the card, and to the right is the amount of dice needed to acquire it. Some deal cards will have a special promotion that will make it cost less dice if you have bought a certain product this round.
Savings Tokens:
If you can resist the allure of the deal cards you may instead gain savings tokens equal to the amount of dice you have on the check out board. These tokens will score you one point at the end of the game or each token can be spent to buy into the bonus round at the end of the game (one token per die). This can only be done instead of buying deals during the four rounds so you must choose wisely.
How to Play:
At the start of the game each player will be dealt five dice of one colour.
Then at the start of every round, one deal per player will be revealed at the check out and two products per player will be revealed in the middle. Once all the player's have had a second to get the lay of the land, one player will countdown from three and all the players will begin rolling dice to try to gain the products. The dice can be rolled as frequently as any player likes but any dice that isn't locked into a product must be rerolled. When a player is finished with the round they yell check put and place their remaining dice on the rightmost space on the checkout board. When there is only one player left in the round they have to stop rolling, allocate any dice they want and place the rest on the available checkout spot. From right to left each player will now either choose to gain one or more deals or gain savings tokens equal to the amount of dice they have on the check out board. After every round, place one savings token onto the checkout board which will be used in the bonus round. After the four rounds the bonus round will begin. Reveal one new product and add every product that wasn't purchased during the last four rounds. To enter the bonus round each player has to pay one savings token per dice they want to use in the bonus round. Normally leaving the round first will get you first choice of deal cards, this time whichever player leaves first will gain the four saving tokens on the checkout board.
At the end of the bonus round score one point per each savings token and any points in your products or deals. Also for every set of one blue, one yellow and one red product score a bonus three points.
Final Thoughts:
Pros:
- Interesting balance between real time dice rolling and push your luck.
- Easy to learn but fun for everyone.
'Check Out' is a fun speed game that has an interesting concept of when to checkout and decide between gaining deals or products. Are the products you're aiming for worth the potential loss that you could make on deals or do you exit the round early to gain deals and savings tokens? For a light filler game with simple decisions for the players to make but is speedy and laugh-inducing then this is one to seek out. This will be staying in my collection for many future plays.
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