Review: Jungle Speed #boardgameclub

This month we were sent Jungle Speed from Asmodee Games as our review game for #boardgameclub

Type: Party Game

Players: 2- 8 (5-6 seems to work best)

Play time: Around 10 minutes

Whilst Jungle Speed itself is pretty simple, it has some quirky rules that mean it starts off fun, and continues that way. First off, everyone has to bow to the totem. This is the wooden baton that sits in the middle of the table, waiting to be grabbed by the first person who qualifies in terms of the card they uncover. Everyone starts with a stack of cards (they’re all dealt out between however many players there are) and each turn, every player reveals the card at the top of the draw pile at the same time. If the pattern on your card matches the pattern on the card of any other player, then GRAB THE TOTEM.

Bowing to the totem @theretaileryromford #boardgameclub before the Jungle Speed carnage commences… #junglespeed #boardgamegeek #speedandcoordination #quickfire #boardgames #boardgamer #romford #grabthetotem

A post shared by Spoon Paws (@dicingwithlife) on Nov 6, 2017 at 1:17pm PST

That’s basically it!

Other cards can reverse the rules of play so you are matching colour, rather than pattern, or you could get the ‘everybody grab the totem card (carnage!).

If you’re the unlucky person who has a match, but hasn’t ended up with the totem, then you receive all the cards that were in play for that round to add to the bottom of your draw pile. If more than one person has a matching card but no totem, the player who does triumphantly clasp the totem in his or her hand can choose how they would like to distribute the cards. Since the winner of the game is the first to discard all their cards, there’s a bit of strategy involved.

Jungle Speed has been a real hit, both at the weekly #boardgameclub where there has been lots of competitive whooping going on, and also as a family game – the advantage of using colours and patterns is that even younger players who may not be proficient readers can join in. In fact, often they’re speedier than their poorly co-ordinated and inobservant parents…

A post shared by Spoon Paws (@dicingwithlife) on Nov 13, 2017 at 2:14pm PST

Things can get a bit heated when there are lots of people grabbing for the Totem at once, so if you’re playing Jungle Speed then it’s worth making sure you have a nice big table and all drinks and other objects are well out of the way. A lot of the cards look sneakily similar which leads to lots of good natured cursing too – if you make a mistake and grab the Totem in error, all of the cards belong to you!

For a reasonably cheaply priced (RRP and easy to understand game, this gets a big thumbs up from us and I know it’s going to get played a lot in the future.