The Joy and Simplicity of Zooloretto

As mentioned in the last post, we just received a copy of Zooloretto via a trade over at boardgamegeek.com. Our game inventory cycles out pretty regularly so that we only keep games we really treasure and want to plain-ol' wear out. Last week's trade was Pandemic for Zooloretto. Good trade? Let me know what you think.

We've played Zooloretto before. Actually, we first saw it last Halloween at a costume party and had the enjoyable experience of gaming in costume. I was a flapper. The feathers were everywhere. And even though we played the rules a little wrong back then and in spite of being a little drunk on gruesome ghoul green punch, the game always stood out in my memory as having a whimsical theme, and being light and enjoyable.

What I found out is that this first impression was spot-on.

In Zooloretto, you are a zookeeper who is setting up a brand-new zoo. You need to stock your pre-built cage areas with animals and set up kiosks. The bulk of the gameplay is tile drawing--pull some tiles from a bag and place them in a "truck". By truck, I mean little wooden boat-like piece that has room for 1 to 3 tiles. Then one at a time players decide which truck full of animals would be the best fit for their zoo. Since you only have 3 to 5 types of cages, you want to be picky about the types of animals you bring in, as it's only one type of animal per cage. Extra animals with no cage space cost you money. You can also draw and select coin tiles to spend on zoo improvements or changes, and kiosk tiles to give your zoo bonus points.

Natch, we played this two player this past week. And although I think the gameplay was a lot more dynamic last ghoulish feather-filled Halloween with 5 players, there's still something enjoyable about 2 players volleying back and forth trying to stick each other with undesirable tiles and trucks. At this point the game is pretty straight-forward though and can easily and competently be played while players are distracted or in a hurry. What does that mean? I'm grateful for something light and easy-going, but I'm hella looking forward to trying out the MANY expansions for the game, and hoping they can add just a little more depth. And cuteness. Because baby pandas in a board game aren't cute enough, right?

 (Awesome image courtesy of Boardgamegeek.com)

Game: Zooloretto
Creator: Michael Schacht
Publisher: Rio Grande
Awards: 2007 Spiel des Jahres