Publisher: Melissa & Doug

Number of Players: 1-4

Duration: 15 min

Overview

In this dexterity game, you and up to three other people add rubber-tipped wire pieces to a shared tabletop stand. Get rid of all your pieces first to win.

Gameplay

Each player starts with one of each color of wire (six in total, all of different sizes). In the intermediate rules, you roll a die to determine what color piece you add to the structure. If you don’t have that color in front of you, you have to take it from another player (putting them closer to victory). If no one has the color you rolled, you miss your turn.

You can use only one hand to add each piece; you hang it from the existing pieces of the structure. If anything touches the table after you place your piece, you must remove and reposition it. If anything falls off the structure, you have to keep those pieces and try to hang them on future turns. The first player to get rid of all their pieces wins.

Thoughts

I bought this game on a whim. I was looking to add a dexterity game to my collection since I don’t currently own any and I honestly don’t remember how I stumbled across this one. It definitely harkens back to jenga in a way, but I like that knocking the pieces off doesn’t end the game immediately. I played this with quite a few people over the past couple weeks and everyone has loved its simplicity and fun. Much like in a game of jenga, there are a lot of tense moments when the entire structure begins to sway and everyone holds their breath and backs away from the table. Unfortunately, I get so swept up in these moments during the game that I don’t think to grab my phone and take a picture of the pure fear on someone’s face as they see that the piece they are adding is about to topple half of the structure.

This game is quick to set-up, quick to play, and quick to put away. A beautiful little filler game that is a fun alternative to the more common card-based filler games. This game is also great for kids because it isn’t in-depth strategy-wise and helps teach spatial awareness.

There are also rules for an Expert Tournament where there is a point system and players who reach a certain number of points are eliminated from the game but truthfully, I don’t see myself ever using those rules. I think this game shines as something simple, fun, and just a little bit stress-inducing.

I’m rating this game a 80. While it might not be as thematic, in-depth, or strategic as a lot of my favorite games, I don’t see myself tiring of playing this anytime soon and I think it will be a winner with almost every group I could bring it to except for the most hardcore of gamers.

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