Coloretto: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Drafting, Push Your Luck
Player Age: 8+ Player Count: 2 - 5 PlayersTime to Play: 30 Minutes
Game Designer: Michael SchachtGame Artist: Michael Schacht, Guido Favaro, Oksana SvistunPublisher: Rio Grande GamesYear Published: 2003BGG Weight: 1.27Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Player Age: 8+
Game Designer: Michael Schacht
Introduction:
Coloretto is a fast, push-your-luck, set collection game where players choose to either take an existing card pile to keep, or draw a new card and place it in an available pile. At the end of the game, only three colours can score positively and other colours will score as normal but be worth negative points.
Card Anatomy:
Chameleons:
There are seven colours of chameleons, each with nine cards.
There are also two wild (joker) chameleons that are put aside when collected and may be added to any pile at the end of the game. Additionally, there is one golden joker, that brings with them a game of chance. If a player gains this card, they will immediately draw one more card from the deck to score it. Depending on the colour, this could be great or terrible.
Plus two:
There are ten ‘+2 cards’ throughout the deck that simply count as two extra positive points.
Summary Cards:
These cards will explain how many points each single-coloured scoring pile is worth at the end of the game. Just remember that any colour after the third will be worth these points but as negatives. These cards are double-sided for the standard edition, with the silver side reserved for the more advanced version of the game.
Row Cards:
There are brown and green row cards that display how many cards can be placed on this row in the middle of the table. The green cards are used for a two-player game and have varying amounts of card limits.
Last Round Card:
This card will be placed in the deck during setup and signal that the current round is the last of the game.
Setup:
- Give each player a summary card (all on the same side) and a unique chameleon colour.
- Place row cards in the middle of the table as based on player count.
- Shuffle the chameleon deck, deal 16 cards face-down into a pile, then place the last round card on the top and followed by the rest of the deck.
- Each round starts with the last player to take a row, choose any player to begin for the first round.
How to Play:
Each round will last until every player has taken one of the rows. On a turn, a player will either take one of the existing rows to move the cards into their scoring area, or draw one card from the deck to place in an existing pile.
When a row is taken, no more cards can be added to replace that empty row. Taking a row will remove that player from the round. When adding cards to existing piles, each pile cannot exceed three cards.
A round will end once all rows are taken. When the last round card is revealed, the game will end after the current round is complete. Each player will select a place for their jokers then score their three positive piles, and any excess colours as negative points.
Changes for Two-Player:
In a two-player game, two colours are removed from the game and each player will start with two different coloured chameleons. The green row cards have a card limit of 1-3 cards. Once the second row is selected by a player, the third unselected row will be discarded and a new round will begin.
Final Thoughts:
- Good mix of strategic "hate drafting" and push-your-luck.
- Knowing when to end a round before the row gets worse is crucial
Coloretto is a classic small box game. It can be easily taught to anyone as a perfectly approachable filler. It is the kind of game that I think will play better at higher player counts, as the rows will have larger changes between turns, leading to more crucial decision making. The mechanisms used here seem to work better in smaller games, when compared to larger games such as Zooloretto. If you’re looking for a new staple to start or wind down your game nights, or to welcome new players in, Coloretto would be perfect for this.
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