Surf's Up: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Hand Builder, Engine Builder, Bidding, Bluffing
Player Age: 8+ Player Count: 2 - 6 Players Time to Play: 20 - 30 Minutes
Game Designer: Jay BendixenGame Artists: Jay BendixenPublisher: Good Games PublishingYear Published: 2024BGG Weight: 2.00Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher and Lets Play Games.
Player Age: 8+
Game Designer: Jay Bendixen
Introduction:
Surf's Up has a players starting with energy cards of 0 - 5 bidding for the next wave (ocean card). The highest value gains the ocean card and the points connected to it, as a winner or runner up you may also buy more cards to add to your hand or improve your scoring. The catch is that anytime a player wins a bid they remove their used energy card from the game, so this is also a timer on the game. When a player has only the zero card left in their hand or five bluebottles have been bidded on, the game will end and scoring will commence.
Card Anatomy:
Starting Energy Cards:
Each player will start with a hand of six cards numbered 0-5. The zero card is used to refresh the hand. When played, the player is not joining the bid but gaining one respect token and drawing their discarded and newly bought cards back into their hand.
Ocean Deck:
The ocean deck is the focus of the game. Three wave cards are displayed from the ocean deck which players will be bidding on one at a time. This is called the surf. These waves cards are numbered 1-10 and will consist of three colours with different icons.
However, as anyone who has enjoyed an Australian beach will know, bluebottles can arrive at any time to spoil the fun. Whenever the bluebottle is up for bidding, cards cannot be purchased at the end of the bid (discussed below) and the player with the lowest card in the bid (including zero) will gain a bluebottle token. This token can lose the player up to 3 points.
Beach Cards:
Players gain respect tokens throughout the game when they win the surf or place runner up. When you win a surf or place as a runner up, instead of gaining a respect token you can spend your collected few on a beach card. These come in two forms; temporary energy and surfboards.
Temporary Energy Cards:
The temporary energy cards have a 0.5 higher value than standard cards. This so while your standard hand cards are valued 0-5, these energy cards might be 3.5 or 4.5, for example. However they are only good for one time use. Even if you lose the bid but have used this card, it must still be removed from the game.
Surfboard cards don't enter your hand, instead they will score you end game points based on how many ocean cards you collect of one colour.
For example, the below image will score you six points.
Shared Goal Cards:
Every game, three goal cards will be revealed. If you have completed any of these goals at the end of the game you will score additional points. These are available to everyone and it is not a competition where one player reaches the goal first.
Setup:
- Shuffle and reveal three shared goal cards, the rest can go back into the game box.
- Deal three beach cards at the bottom of the game mat and place the shuffled beach deck nearby.
- Shuffle the ocean cards and reveal three down the mat. If any of these are bluebottles reshuffle those cards back into the deck and replenish.
- Place the respect tokens to the side, along with the face-down bluebottle tokens.
How to Play:
Turns are played simultaneously. Each player will be bidding for the card in the wave closest to the beach.
To do this each player picks an energy card from their hand to play face-down. Then when all the cards are revealed, only the player with the highest value will remove their card from the game. The remaining players will discard their card onto their towel.
The winner gains the ocean card for end game scoring. Bluebottle ocean cards are worth negative points and will give bluebottle tokens to the player who played the least energy during the bid. The highest and second-highest bidding player can now either gain one respect token or buy a card using respect tokens previously collected. Each player can only have a maximum of four respect tokens at a time, if the maximum is reached they must buy a beach card. If a card is purchased it is placed on the towel and a new beach card is revealed.
At the end of each round the ocean cards will move down and a new one will be revealed. The game will end once five bluebottles have been bid for or one player only has a zero value card left in their hand. Points will be added from various parts listed below and whoever has the most points is the winner.
Points will come from;
- Bluebottle tokens revealed and deducted.
- Shared goals that were met.
- Surfboards calculated.
Final Thoughts:
- Scoring cards add another layer that creates hesitation during the bidding.
- The victor’s energy card being removed from the game adds an interesting twist to the bluffing and social deduction of the bid.
- Very fast at two players as every turn allows both players to buy from the market.
- Feels like there is a decent amount happening for a 15 minute filler game.
Surf's Up is a fast bidding game that is beautifully produced. Players have to consider the fact that they will loose their bidding cards if they win the surf so as to not hinder their play later on. My personal strategy was to only focus on cards that matched the wave colours on my surfboards. The shared scoring objectives change how players think though, as some were creative and challenging to perform, for example, two sequential numbers in a row from caught waves. As the ocean cards are random in their numbers this was quite difficult to succeed in, especially if you use your high value energy cards early. There is a decent amount going on in this filler/party game so if you enjoy bidding games then this is a fun and fast one to bring out.
Click...feed the addiction:
Comments
Post a Comment