Piles: Review
Information:
Player Age: 10+
Player Count: 2 - 8 Players
BGG Weight: 1.00
Time to Play: 10 Minutes
Year Published: 2023
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the VR Distribution.
Introduction:
The clean laundry has been stacked into one big pile since it's such a chore to put away. Your goal is to organise this chaos in real-time into six piles, all containing one clothing type of different colour schemes. This is done by swapping cards one card at a time with the middle display. The catch is this is also achieved with only one pile of four cards at a time, so you cannot swap out two or more cards from the one pile at the one time. This classic memory mechanism can really leave you guessing which pile contained which clothing style as key items appear fast.
Card Anatomy:
There are 49 sets of clothing types where the amount used in each game will be based on the player count. Each set of cards contain the same specific art in various colours.
There are multiple types of shirts in slightly different styles.
Setup:
- Shuffle the cards together, mixing as best as possible.
- Deal six piles of four face-down cards to each player (no peeking), as well as a pile of four in the middle of the table.
- Together, the players will reveal the cards in the middle when everyone is ready to play.
How to Play:
In real-time, players will be swapping out one card from one of their piles with one card from the middle. Discarding the card from their hand into the middle first. At any given time, only one pile of four cards can be in a player's hand. The cards cannot be swapped between piles, they can only be gained by placing the card in the centre, switching the pile the player is holding, then swapping a card from the new pile.
Once a pile is created that contains all the same clothing style, that pile is revealed face-up. Once a player has completed all their piles they are the winner.
Final Thoughts:
- Fast and frantic.
- Good combination of real-time and memory.
- Lots of the clothes look similar to intentionally trick you
Piles is a great filler, perfect for a wake up between longer games. Like all filler real-time games the objective is simple, however, during the game players will find themselves limited by their memory and how best to organise their piles according to what is available. This is what makes this game work so well. The players aren't purely focused on one hand, their attention is split between six which then drastically increases the frantic energy. For anyone who grew up on games like Get Rich Quick or Snap, this is the next game similar in speed and which already feels like a classic.
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