Sometimes you just want to play a game that is all fun, a little bit of silly and a lot of laughs right? How about a game that puts you in control of your favorite animal. Is it a cheetah? Maybe a gorilla or zebra? How about an elephant? Once you are controlling that beast and the lights go off and the night takes over in the zoo-what is there to do? How about a little combat between the species!
In Kung-Fu Zoo from Wizkids Games, you get to just that-controlling one of four different animals in the after-hours Kung-fu fight battle at your local zoo. This game is designed by Charlie Price with art and graphic design by Mr. Cuddington. It plays 2-4 players with an average game length of 5-10 mins.
Components:
The box contains everything you need to battle, setting up the kung-fu arena as the main part of the actual game box. Other components include:
-4 animal cards
-4 cheetah dice
-4 elephant dice
-4 gorilla dice
-4 zebra dice
Gameplay:
There are two distinct versions of gameplay with some variants to each. The two ways you can play this game is either a Cage Battle or Points Battle.
In Cage Battle your goal is to knock your opponents into the cages or flipped onto their backs. Whoever is still standing wins that round, and you play until someone wins 3 rounds.
The cages are in each of the four corners of the arena, and when you lose a die to one of those cages, it is out. If you look at the dice, you will see each has a head, back and backside along with legs on each side. On the bottom of the die are the 4 feet for each animal. Once a die ends up on its back feet up, it is considered stunned and can’t participate in the match.
Each edge of the arena has a small indent that is your die starting spot that you flick the die into the arena from. Your goal is to kung-fu kick one of the other dice in the arena into its cage. Once in the arena, your animals may be subject to getting knocked in and around as well. You can pick up an animal out of the arena and flick it once there is no more in your personal collection. So you continue around the table flicking dice around until someone has the last animal standing.
You can gain an extra flick once you knock someone in a cage, and each animal has a special ability as well that can come in to play to change how you flick the dice or how your opponent does. My favorite is the Zebra who makes your opponent look away when they flick! There are lots of fun mechanics, and the gameplay changes a bit overall when you add a third and fourth player as well.
In Points Battle your goal is to score 21 points before anyone else. The position of the animal on the die determines the score at the end of the round. Face-up=5 points, Back-up=4 points, Side or butt-up=3 points, Feet-
up=2 points. You can still knock your opponent into cages or change your focus and just try for high point sides of the animal.
Once again the battle changes when you add a third or fourth player-you only use three dice and play for a total of 5 rounds, at which point the most points is declared the winner.
Impressions:
What could be better:
-Variety. This game is fun with what it does, but there isn’t a lot past that basic gameplay. I would love to see some variety in the way you can play it or even a different variant or two added to the game to give you different options.
-The Cage. The box serves as a gameboard but I would love to see a higher quality board and box, maybe even something similar to the box used in the game “Flick ’em Up” that is all wood.
What we liked:
-Gameplay. Honestly, this game is simple but it does the simple thing really well. Everyone that we have introduced this game to loves it and catches on quickly. It seems to havea good balance of challenge despite the age, and even those trying to figure out the physics of what to hit and how to use the walls forget that these are dice and not balls, so it doesn’t always go how you want!
-The dice. I am a such a sucker for dice, and the theme of these are awesome. I love the detail on them and the way the characters lay out as a full body on the dice is super creative. The colors are great and Mr. Cuddington knocked out the details here. Solid job.
-Hilarity. I have to say this game adds some serious belly laughs and fun to our gamenights. It is super light, which makes it a good quick game or filler between meatier games. It allows people of all ages to play together which is a rare feat for sure.
Overall:
Kung-Fu Zoo is a fun experience for young and old-this game plays smooth and gives everyone involved a chance to be a part of the action. Although the “sameness” of the play style and game may be repetitive, it fits as a quick game when time is limited or as a less involved game for newer players to quickly understand and jump in with. I recommend this one for your next family game night. It gives everyone a chance to enjoy a fun time at the zoo!
