Loco Momo: Review
Information:
Player Age: 8+
Player Count: 1 - 4 Players
BGG Weight: 1.24
Year Published: 2020
Introduction:
The forest can provide very picturesque scenery, which is particularly true for the forest of Loco Momo. The theme of the game is trying to create the best picturesque display and gaining ownership of the camera. To do this, players are drafting animal tiles in a clever method that is based on how animals move. The catch is that the colours are important when it comes to the animals you draft but only have one essential element to placing them. There are five rows with four different scoring conditions that is pivotal to drafting and placement, these are discussed below.
Game Anatomy:
Animal Tiles:
There are five animal types; bear, rabbit, leopard, eagle and duck. They appear in three colours; blue, green and brown.
Movements:
Each animal type has a unique movement when chosen during the game (pictures used from BGA).
The rabbit moves clockwise by one space.
The leopard moves anti-clockwise by one space.
The bear stays in the same location.
The eagle moves diagonally.
The duck moves clockwise to the next duck. If there are no other ducks elsewhere it will stay in the same location.
Picture Board:
Animal tiles will be placed throughout the game on each player's board. In ascending order; the bottom row will score points for sets of unique animals, the next row above will score points for sets of the same animal, row three and four will score 3 points per column with the same animal pairs, and lastly, the top row will score four points if you can make the below pair into a triplet.
Forest Board:
The communal forest board will keep track of the round and will have four sections with four animal tiles each. The forest board will also have a depiction in the centre displaying how each animal moves.
Setup:
- Place four animal tiles on each section of the forest board.
- Place the round tracker on the first round (sun token).
- Give the first player the first-player token, this is determined by the most recent player to have walked in a forest.
How to Play:
The game will last for six rounds.
On a turn, the active player will choose one animal tile and follow their movement to place that tile in its newly moved location. Then every animal tile in that location matching that colour will be collected and placed this turn.
When placing, the tile can go in any row and doesn't need animals below it, however, it does need to be placed from left to right.
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Following each round, the round token will progress by one so that after six rounds scoring will commence. As explained in the game anatomy, each row has its own scoring condition. One more element that people need to be mindful of is that if a column or row is filled with the same colour, which is no easy feat, that player will gain a further five-point bonus per line.
Advanced Rules:
Two advanced rules can be played to make the game more difficult. The first rule (a) is a bonus of seven points that will be awarded to the player that has the least of a particular colour or animal (shown on the tile). The second (b) is a bonus of five points if the shown animal is in the top right space of the top row.
Final Thoughts:
- Advanced rules don't add too much complexity so they are easy to add to any game.
- Very unique way of drafting as based on animal movement.
- Easy rules to remember.
- Surprisingly not prone to analysis paralysis.
Loco Momo is a similar game to Azul whereby you are trying to create the best scoring rows. The puzzle for me comes in how you draft your animal tiles. You don't simply choose your tile, instead, you move an animal tile with a unique movement style and collect all tiles of the matching colour. This opens up a wealth of decision space for a game that appears to be light. Since every animal you draft has to be used, you will find yourself mapping out every possible draft that has the colour or animal you are aiming for, which can be a lot of options. If you're already someone who enjoys this kind of tile placement game where you are maximising your rows in the pursuit of scoring the most, I think you will really enjoy this game as the unique take in drafting definitely elevates the game experience and has scored a Silver Seal of Recommendation.
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