Shuffle and Swing: Rapid Review
Information:
Mechanics: Rondel, Worker Placement, Area Control
Player Age: 14+ Player Count: 2 - 4 PlayersTime to Play: 40 - 80 Minutes Game Designer: Robert Hovakimyan
Player Age: 14+
Rundown:
Shuffle and swing is set in the roaring 20s where players are jazz-loving mice working together (kind of) to build two out of three instruments. These instruments are built using a collection of cat workers. This is a rondel and area control game with each instrument having a unique way of scoring based on the players who hold a majority in some specified way. Each turn players will move their mouse pawn, select a die then distribute awards, perform the corresponding action, move the die, and tick up the die used.
Move Mouse:
At the start of the turn you are determining which rondel you will be using. Each rondel has the same actions, although in a different formation, and a specific worker type that can be gained from that rondel.
Your mouse can move to any empty spot, including an empty spot beside you in the current rondel section (if available). The spots displaying the number 4 are only usable in a four-player game. If the mouse moves across a break room with their dice in it, they will gain that die back on its upgraded face (2 pip stars) and gain two brag actions (explained later).
Select the Die and Distribute Award:
In the rondel section that the mouse has been moved to, select a die of any player's colour and (keeping the same die face) move it onto the cat worker emblem. The player who owns that die will now gain that cat worker (each rondel focuses on one cat worker type).
Instead of using an existing die, a player may place a die from their reserve starting at the 1-pip value or 2-star pip value (if the die is upgraded). This die is placed onto an empty die spot before selecting a die. This can only be done if there is a valid empty spot. Each rondel needs a minimum of one open die spot.
Take Action:
Three possible actions can be performed where the die will determine the ‘strength’ of that action, meaning the number of times the action will be done. As an alternative, the player can ignore performing an action and take one brag action instead. The action options are to construct, refresh or inspect. These are explained in further detail later in the review.
Move the Die and Tick up:
After the action has been resolved, the die will tick up to the next valid number. If the die has passed a 3-pip face on a standard die, or a 4-pip face on the upgraded die, it will be moved into one of the break rooms adjacent to the active player's mouse. If the die isn't upgraded, it will now be upgraded for the remainder of the game.
Actions:
The three actions are activated based on the wedge the selected die is on.
Construct:
The construct action allows players to build several pieces on the associated instrument equal to the pip value. Each instrument has two types of cat workers available for collection. A player can build anywhere and this is done by spending cat workers matching the type and quantity of that location. An upgrade can be built around a piece of the same player colour for the cost of one less cat worker. If the player chooses to, they can spend a ladder to ignore the player colour restriction when building upgrades or use a different cat worker as a wild when paying to place a piece.
Refresh:
All workers in the column or row matching the value of the pips on the dice will be refreshed.
If the player chooses to, they can discard a milk token to refresh both the column and the row. To refresh, remove the tokens from the board and back into the owner's personal supply.
Inspect:
For the first time this action is used for this instrument, it is activated onto the instrument itself. The inspector mouse is placed anywhere on the instrument and the action moves the inspector mouse (one space at a time) to instrument locations equal to the pip value on the dice. At each location the mouse moves over or onto, the player who owns the piece will gain points equal to the number at this location. This also counts again for any upgrade pieces. The inspector cannot retrace its steps on the same turn. If the player so chooses they can spend a cheese token to jump over a location which will then not score. This is best used to skip another player scoring points on an opponent’s turn.
Player Interaction:
This is a game with high levels of player interaction. It has been scaled well by blocking mouse locations in a 2 and 3-player game, adding a fourth-player piece to the instruments in a 3-player game, and using a bot in a two player game. This bot can block both mouse locations and dice sections and can place pieces and brags to make it feel like a true contender in the area control of the instruments.
This is a tight euro game that will force you into using oppositional dice, even when it gives them advantages, since each rondel can only contain three dice and each player has only three dice that they can use. If a player gets in early enough they can have multiple dice in a rondel.
Each instrument creates tense interactions between players as they try to control the majority of the puzzle. The one instrument that remains unbuilt will also lose two points per unbuilt location for the player that is lowest on the brag track so this makes monitoring the brag track pivotal to gaining points and preventing a large loss of points.
Instruments:
Instrument building is the core element of the game. There will be three instruments in each game where two are built (ending the game) and the last instrument will lose the lowest player on the brag track points. 
Each instrument comes with its own scoring conditions and is double-sided which allows players to change the instruments used each game. Some of these instruments score based on having the majority of pieces, score per piece or even score based on which player finished that specific section of the instrument.
Each instrument has a brag track, which is a track that awards the player either milk, ladder, or cheese tokens. Players also determine an additional score for each brag track at the end of the game. Each track scores points for the players equal to whichever is lowest on the track, equal to the number of pieces that the player contributed to the instrument (i.e. built) or brag value whichever is the lower value.
Players will gain two brag to use if they pass over their die in a break room whereby freeing it. 1 brag is gained if the die is pushed out of the breakroom by another die, or by using a brag action instead of another action on a turn.
Determination:
- Restricted action choices forces you to use your opponent's dice.
- Interesting dice rondel.
- Fun theme.
- Unique resource management of workers and having them rest.
- Turns are very quick and can feel uneventful at the start of the game.
Shuffle and Swing is an interesting mix of rondel and area control. Once learned, this is a very accessible and tight-knit game as players will be forced to be tactical in the rondels they choose (due to being blocked by other players' mice) and which actions they use. Players are competing in how much they contribute to the creation of two instruments (with area control scoring) but the scoring isn't just limited to this. Players can use inspectors to score large amounts of points if they create connecting paths on the instrument or can move up brag tracks to score points as long as they have something to brag about (pieces built by them on that instrument). This is a good Euro game with a fun theme and interesting mechanisms. The start of the game has uneventful turns but as the game ramps up there are smart and high-scoring plays to be had. If you are new to Euro’s or prefer faster games and are lured in by this theme, I recommend giving Shuffle and Swing a try.
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