Cindr: Rapid Review
Information:
Mechanics: Dice Rolling, Push Your Luck
Player Age: 14+ Player Count: 1 - 5 PlayersTime to Play: 30 - 40 Minutes
Game Designer: Harold Mikolaitis, Benjamin Walker
Player Age: 14+
Game Designer: Harold Mikolaitis, Benjamin Walker
Are you an adventurer looking to live on the wild side? If so, then look no further than the new dating app 'Cindr’. You will be dating feisty, fiery dragons but just make sure not to get burnt ;)
Rundown:
Cindr is a push your luck game where you will be dating dragons and trying to reach 21 love points. On your turn, you can swipe left up to two times on dragons in the dating pool so you can find the dragon most compatible with you. You can choose to date either the new dragon on the top of the dragon app (deck), one of the maximum three dragons below the newest bachelor/bachelorette, or any dragon in your or your opponents dating pool. To go after the opposition’s dates, it will cost you three love points. When you pick the dragon you are dating for this turn, you will flip the dragon over and compare your ‘Compatibility Matcher’ with theirs. This is basically their personality attributes compared to yours. You will gain four dice; one per attribute category. If you have the same taste you will gain a green dice (more hearts), one attribute difference away is a blue dice, and two attributes difference away from matching you will gain a red dice (more fires).
There are three levels to a date; the meet up, the second step, and the third step. The second and third steps are considered the successful dates when completed, this grouping does not include the initial meet up.
For each of these levels, you roll all of your available dice. If you gain a fire you keep it on your character, where all the hearts are points. You can either stop there or move to the next step of the date and roll again but all the fires stay unrolled. If on any of these three steps you gain a total of three fires, you got burnt and lose all the points you would have gained. This date is now a bust but you will gain a second chance card as a constellation prize based on how many fires you rolled that date.
On each date, the dragons will have special effects that will change during either the date, once burnt, or if they are in your dating circle. To make it more tricky each date will be in a different location that will modify your dice or give you bonuses when sparks are rolled (these are fire results that have an asterisk spark in the top left).
Alteration:
This is a game that has plenty of alteration as each dragon has different effects. You will have a new location for the date and this will massively alter your chances of finding love. Within the game there is a built in expansion that will give players an opportunity to score end game points based on when they were burnt on dates and what dragons they dated. This gives more variability to the game and helps to keep it feeling fresh and engaging.
Production:
The game is beautifully produced. Each player board is a white board that helps players keep track of everything they need to and can easily be altered when needed. The main selling point on the production is the cosmetics. Everything in this game shouts theme,a fantastic example of this is in the synopsis (or ‘profile paragraph’) for each dragon and location that aren't necessary but help the players feel immersed. The design of each card makes the dragons look like they are on a phone app and the iconography when effects occur remains constant which helps for any potential confusion. The consistent theme spread throughout the game really helps boost and maintain intent.
Interaction:
There are some effects on cards that will alter your opponents compatibility matcher, and remove or give second chance cards but there isn't a major amount of interaction in the game. If a player has an ongoing ability that is a huge benefit to them, you can try to steal that dragon for your dating pool by going on a date with them. If you succeed within the next step or next level they will move to your dating pool and that effect will be yours.
Determination:
Pros:
- In-built expansion for more decisions.
- Unique and strongly used theme.
Cons:
- The game is extremely random.
'Cindr' is a great family weight game that is fun for anyone. At first I wasn't sure if there would be enough decisions and thought that it may be mostly luck based. The game is quite random but there are still plenty of decisions for players to make. This is a great game with a theme I have never seen before that should be played by any family looking for a fun push your luck mechanic. This one will be staying in my collection for plenty of plays in the future.
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