CRAZY TOWER
Designers: Alexis Harvey, Felix Leblanc, Mathieu Auger, Manuel Bergeron | Artist: Chris Setra
Watching the increasingly ridiculous evolution of Jenga over the past decade has been interesting to say the least. No longer sated with just stacking wooden blocks like their forebears, children are instead expected to play the game on a handheld platform in Jenga Pass, with tetris pieces in Tetris Jenga, or on a plinth that shakes in Jenga Quake. The latter of which is much easier than it sounds. But the constant reinvention goes to show that there is still a world of possibilities in stacking wooden blocks and Synapses Games’ Crazy Tower shows off a few of the less explored possibilities.
Starting with a selection of polyominoes, each player has a set colour and has the goal of putting all their pieces on the tower without being the one to knock it down. Bigger pieces like the five square L block are worth more points and with a golf-like scoring at the end, the race is on to get rid of the big pieces as best you can. As the game progresses, you’ll draw floor cards that restrict the placement of blocks and force the tower into strange and awkward shapes. And with the floors blocking sight from above, Crazy Tower requires a bit of memorisation as well as skill.
Where Crazy Tower really spices things up is with the special spaces that, when covered, give the active player the ability to play again, remove a piece from one of the lower levels, or exchange one of their unplayed blocks with another player. Which is great for forcing the better players into awkward moves. And in the saboteur mode, this is a vital part of the tactics just like placing new floors as far off the tower as possible.
And it even comes with a great solo mode!
ANNA BLACKWELL