Just when I thought that Kaleidoscope
Classic was the perfect game, along came it's big brother -
Krusade - a board game for 2-4 players. I liked Kaleidoscope
Classic, the original game, so much that it was awarded the
Gadgetspeak 5*5 award a few weeks ago.
In brief, Kaleidoscope Classic is a
brainteasing puzzle of 18 pieces which cover 64 squares and can placed in at least 101 ways to give different patterns. In one
player mode you are pitting your wits against yourself. The
challenges are not dissimilar to solving a rubics cube, although
perhaps a little more achievable. The 101 patterns are graded easy,
medium and difficult.
Krusade takes the idea one step forward
into a board game that can be played by 2-4 players. Now I would
recommend practising the patterns first before venturing into the
board game, and you can do this with one of the four foam based
Kaleidoscope boards in Krusade.
With Krusade you travel around the
board on throws of the dice to collect the each of the 18 pieces.
This is made more interesting by the squares which have other actions
which can catapult you further, like making a 3*3 square with the
pieces you have in order to get 3 more pieces. Other squares allow
you to thwart your opposition by taking their pieces, or swapping
your pieces for theirs. There's quite a strategy to be had just to
get around the board. It's easy to pick up your first few pieces,
but more difficult to maneuvre around to the last few.
Once you have all 18 pieces, you take a
challenge card from the middle of the board which has one of the
Kaleidoscope patterns on it. The challenge cards are marked easy,
medium or difficult and you can choose to play the game at one level,
or shuffle all the cards to get a surprise. Your task is to complete
your chequerboard pattern before the other player(s). In the
meantime, if another player is still collecting pieces on the board,
they may land on a 'take another player's piece' whilst you are
still trying to solve your puzzle and that will return you back to
the board to win your piece back.
This game is not for the fainthearted
or easily distracted. It will take as much time as Monopoly. But
for those of you that like a good challenge and can stick-in there
when the going gets tough, it's great. Roll on more fantastic games
like this one!
Krusade is available from Amazon at the
very reasonable price of £19.99
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000WF1TG2
Comment by james, Feb 14, 2016 2:13