Let me tell you a bit about my wife. She is one of those people that loves to debate. Like, you’d swear she was in a heated argument about something, but to her it’s just having a normal conversation. When we met, her favorite board game (other than the Pirates of the Caribbean themed Life) was Apples to Apples. She loved being able to argue her point about why her card was the best. And she’s good at it, too. I’ve never been one for social games like this, but if the whole group is having fun, then it’s easy to kind of blend in having fun as well. We even have some long running jokes that came out of playing Apples to Apples. Seriously, ask her about “noisy neighbors” sometime.
My wife also homeschools our children. She graduated with a double major, one of those being Early Childhood Education. So instead of her getting a teaching job and us paying for childcare while we both work, we decided she would become the stay at home parent, and put her degree to use at home. So she’s always looking for ways to make things educational. We have a running joke that “everything is educational”. Like their math lesson for the day can be helping weigh up produce at the grocery store. Or maybe weeding the garden is their science lesson. A trip to the zoo is never a simple trip to the zoo. There are always questions about various animals’ habitats, what they eat, etc.
My wife isn’t quite as excited about board games as I am. She will play the right game with me, and she definitely has favorites. But finding a game that checks all the boxes for her, as well as having time to play, can be difficult.
So… all of that to say, when I heard about this game, The Champion of the Wild, I knew it would be the perfect fit for our family. A social game that can be played with the kids and can have an educational edge.
The Champion of the Wild
Pudblisher: Big Imagination Games
Designer: Tom Clare
Artist: Kevin Chapman
Theme
The theme of the game is straight forward. There is a series of Olympic, and not-so-Olympic, events taking place. You will have one animal compete in all three events. Based on your explanation of how your animal preforms and why it would win over the competition the judges vote on the finish order for each event. After all three events, the animal with the highest score wins, and is crowned Champion of the Wild.
With a social game like this, the execution of the theme is really up to the players. One thing that helps players to be immersed in this theme is the fantastic art by Kevin Chapman. The card art for the various events is so imaginative, and can really help players see how a competition might unfold. Backers of the original Kickstarter campaign were able to have input on the art direction of some cards.
I think my favorite card art has to be the Hot Dog Eating Contest. In the foreground we see a bumblebee perched on a hot dog, with mounds of ketchup and mustard nearly as large as the bee itself. While in the background, a great white shark is jumping up out of its tank, mouth full of hot dogs, with debris being thrown about.
I hear some people already asking, “but how would a sea creature win a race on land against a land creature?” Well, the game takes that in to account. For all of the events, there’s reminder text on the bottom of the card on how aquatic and flying animals will compete. Sometimes it says “Water lanes available” like for the 100M Sprint, or whether or not flying in an event is permitted at all. It’s also worth mentioning that some cards specify additional reminders or special conditions. Like that “Veggie hot dogs are available on demand” to remind players to give herbivores a chance on the Hot Dog Eating Contest that I mentioned earlier.
Ultimately, the level of immersion relies on the players. However, the designer and artist really did a great job on paying attention to details that can help players think about aspects they may not have thought of otherwise.
Gameplay
Once the three events are chosen, then all players are dealt 7-8 animal cards (depending on total number of players). Players then choose a single animal card to compete in all 3 events. For me, this was the most exciting part of the game: trying to figure out which animal I would choose and what arguments could be made for all three events.
Then, for each event, players take turns explaining to the other players why their animal would win the event. After all players have taken their turn making a case for the event, it’s time to judge. Each player decides on how all other animals would finish in the event, excluding their own, and hand out tokens accordingly.
At the end of all 3 events, players tally up the corresponding point values for each of the finishing values they’ve received. The player with the most points is declared the Champion of the Wild.
There’s some other specific rules regarding the individual events, but all of those are pretty clearly stated on the cards or rulebook.
For Parents
This game sets up pretty quick. The hardest part is only choosing the voting tokens for the correct number of players. By the way, that doesn’t take very long. Those voting tokens are the only real pieces, other than 2 decks of cards. So that keeps set up, clean up, and the potential to lose pieces down to a minimum. A great insert also helps with quick set up time. this one really keeps things organized.
I think this game is just about perfect for kids. It encourages some outside the box thinking and persuasion that’s not seen in a lot of games that are accessible to kids. I know it’s fun for me to introduce games with new mechanics to my kids. It is so exciting to see the wheels turning, realizing “Oh, games can be like THIS too.”
In one game, my 6-year-old son had chosen a Rhino as his animal, and one of the events was a cooking competition. After about 10 seconds, he told us about how his rhino would have a spatula attached to his horn so he could flip the pancakes. I had to give him 1st place for that.
Final Thoughts
This game rocks. My kids liked it. My wife liked it. And I liked it. It really was fun for all of us, with just the right amount of silliness. Because this is a game from a lesser known publisher from the UK, Big Imagination Games, it’s not going to get the mainstream attention that other social games like Werewolf, Cards Against Humanity, or even Apples to Apples gets, and that’s a real shame. Even some people I’ve described the game to start out by saying “Ugh… I’m not a fan of social games”. But after I tell them about it, I’m met with, ”Oh… that DOES sound fun.” I’m so glad that I stumbled on to this game, because it’s a great fit for my own family.
A new edition of The Champion of the Wild is coming soon to Kickstarter, on January 28th, 2019. Until then, you can get more information over at www.ChampionOfTheWild.com. We will be sure to send out a link when the campaign is live. If you’re interested, be sure to support the upcoming Kickstarter as the first edition is completely SOLD OUT!
If you’ve got a herd of kids of your own and enjoy convincing others of some outlandish scenarios, The Champion of the Wild just might be the perfect 10.