Game Review: Sky Team by Scorpion Masque

Sky Team published by Scorpion Masque, designed by Luc Remond, and art by Eric Hibbeler and Adrien Rives

Winner of the 2024 Spiel des Jahres (the German board game of the year award), Sky Team is a two-player co-operative game where players land a plane as pilot and co-pilot. 

A central board represents the plane's controls and each player has a set of four dice (blue for pilot; orange for co-pilot) which they roll behind a screen. 

Control Panel

Before they roll the dice each round, they can discuss what strategy they will use for that round. After the roll, players are not allowed to talk. They place their dice one at a time, alternating between pilot and co-pilot. In the first round, the pilot places the first die. In each subsequent round, they swap who places first.

Players have seven different spots they can place dice representing seven different actions. Two actions are mandatory:

• Axis--Each player must place one die. Once the second die is placed, the plane's axis tilts toward the higher die, moving the number of space of the difference between the two dice. So a 4 and a 2 result in the plane tilting two spaces on the central axis control. If the plane tilts too far, it crashes and the players lose.
• Engines--Each player must place one die. Once the second die is placed, the die numbers are added together to get the speed. Just below the central axis control is the speed gauge with two markers (blue and orange). If the total speed is below the blue marker, the plane does not move forward. If the speed is in between the blue and orange markers, the plane moves one space forward on the airport track. If the speed is greater than the orange marker, the plane moves two spaces forward.

Axis & Engines (sounds like another game)

The other actions are not mandatory but are necessary to land the plane safely:

• Radio--The airport track has planes on it and the crew needs to radio the airport to remove those planes. In each round, the pilot has one radio space, the co-pilot two (at the top of the control panel). If the planes are not cleared before the airplane advances, the plane crashes into the other plane and the players lose.
• Landing gear--Only the pilot can deploy the landing gear, i.e. all three wheels (on the left side of the control panel). As each is deployed (they can go in any order) the blue marker on the speed gauge moves one space. The pilot has to activate all three before they reach the airport or the plane crashes and the players lose.
• Brakes--Only the pilot can deploy the brakes. The dice are played sequentially (2, 4, 6) to move the red brake gauge forward, though the dice can be played in separate rounds. In the final round, the speed has to be less than the brake amount or the plane crashes and the players lose.
• Flaps--Only the co-pilot can deploy the flaps (on the right side of the control panel). The die are played sequentially from the top to the bottom of the flaps area. Each time a flap is deployed, the orange marker on the speed gauge moves one space. If all the flaps are not deployed when the plane reaches the airport, the plane crashes and the players lose.
• Concentration--Either player can add a die with any face value here to brew a cup of coffee. The cups can be spent to change the face value of a die up or down one number per cup used. 

Brakes and coffee

After all the dice are placed, the altitude track moves down one and the players retrieve their dice from the controls and can start talking again. They slide under the two slots at the top of the control panel. As you can see below, sometimes the team will have to fly two spaces toward the airport in order to arrive when the plane reaches the ground. The black cube icons on the airport track indicate adding extra airplanes using a black die.

First flight

Once the altitude track and the airport track are on the same space, the last round is triggered. The plane needs to have a level axis, the speed value has to be less than the brake value, the flaps and landing gear have to be completely deployed, and no other airplanes can be on the airport track. If all those are true, the players win!

A successful landing!

We found the very first mission, landing in Atlanta, to be fairly easy. The game comes with several different airport tracks, all of which are two-sided. A harder approach is on the back! The game also adds in other complications, like controlling fuel usage, having an intern to train, dealing with headwinds and tailwinds, and other challenges. A second rule book details the additional rules and the airports have symbols at the top indicating which add-ons to use. One possible add-on is a bonus power (or two) that give some help (like an extra die or cup of coffee) in landing the plane, so not all the add-ons are challenges...just most of them. In the photo above, the synchronization card is a bonus power and the fuel track on the left is an extra challenge.

My wife and I enjoy the game immensely. We got it for Christmas and played it once or twice every day for a couple of weeks. Most of the airports take more than one go to have a successful landing. Part of the challenge is the luck of the roll, but the variety of spots to place the dice helps to mitigate the randomness. On an easy airport, the players get two re-roll tokens to use during a round. The hard airports only provide one. Re-rolling after getting four of the same number on the dice might be necessary. Since the players are not allowed to talk, the player choosing to reroll does so on their own though the other player can also reroll their dice. Each player can choose how many dice to reroll. Any placed die cannot be rerolled.

Making a successful landing is very satisfying. The game plays very quickly (under twenty minutes) so we have had times where we just tried again right away, especially if we crashed early. That happens with bad dice rolls or bad dice placement, often a combination of both. But resetting the game is easy and replaying is rewarding. We can see why it won the award.

Highly recommended--easy to get to the table, quick to play, and cooperative!

 

Game Review: Pizza Pizza Yum Yum by Button Shy Games

Pizza Pizza Yum Yum designed by Lance Schricke and published by Button Shy Games

This two-player cooperative game has players crafting pizzas and menus to satisfy customers. The game is a micro-game with only eighteen cards, a rules book, and a little wallet barely bigger than the cards. The eighteen cards are dual use--they show a quarter of a pizza (with two toppings on it) and a half of a menu order (with two toppings on it too).

Sample cards (bottom two are the backs of the cards)

The game is played in three round. In each round, the deck is shuffled and six cards are dealt to each player. The remaining six cards are set aside and will not be part of the round. Players look at the cards and have to figure out a good scheme for laying down the cards to maximize scores. Players put down one card at a time. Those cards are played simultaneously. The first card is played face-up to a player's own pizza; the second is played face-up to the other player's pizza. The third card is played face-down to the player's own pizza as half of the menu order; the fourth card is played face-down to the other player's pizza as the second half of the menu order. The fifth card is played face-up to the player's own pizza; the sixth card is played face-up to the other players pizza.

After all the cards are played, the menu cards are flipped and the pizzas are scored. For every topping that is on its menu cards, a pizza scores one point. If there are duplicate ingredients on the menu cards, that ingredient on the pizza scores multiple times. The two pizzas are totaled separately and the players earn the points from whichever pie has the lower score. 

Sample pizza and menu

In the above pizza and menu, the pineapples score two point for each on the pizza, so six points. One point per mushroom and one per pepperoni, so three and two points respectively. Six plus three plus two is eleven, a pretty good score for one pie. If the other pie scored eleven points (a tie!), the team gets eleven points for the round. If the other scored higher, the team gets eleven points (since eleven is the lower score). If the other scored lower, the team gets the score for the other pie.

Then the cards are collected and shuffled, ready to start the next round. After three rounds, the three scores are added to see how well the team did. The rule book provides a scale for success.

The game plays very quickly, even if someone has Analysis Paralysis. Figuring out how to cooperate is not too tricky. There's enough variety in the cards to have different outcomes. That being said, my wife and I have been pretty consistent in scoring eight points per pizza, though we did get some better pies sometimes. The rounds go so fast, it's hard to get too invested in "if I had only done X" thinking. 

Recommended--this is a fun, two-player co-operative game, of which there are not many.

Game Review: Forbidden Desert

Forbidden Desert designed by Matt Leacock and published by Gamewright

Matt Leacock is the designer of the hit games Pandemic and Forbidden Island. Forbidden Island is often described as a "lighter" version of Pandemic. Now his highly anticipated Forbidden Desert has come out. I played it at the 2013 UK Games Expo, bought a copy, brought it home, and have played a few more times.

The story of the game is that you and one to four friends have flown a helicopter to the middle of a desert where an ancient city is buried. You all came to find a legendary flying machine, but a sandstorm has kicked up. The helicopter crashed and now you frantically search for the missing parts, hoping to rebuild the flying machine before thirst or the storm get you.

The game is played on a 5 by 5 grid of 24 desert tiles. Those of you quick at math will realize that leaves one empty space in the grid. This space is the storm. It will move around during the game, dumping additional sand on tiles, requiring more effort to dig out the ancient city. If too much sand piles up (i.e. the sand markers run out), all the players lose the game.

Sample play area from the rules book

Players randomly choose different roles (archeologist, climber, explorer, meteorologist, navigator, water carrier) who have different special abilities. The roles also have a water meter indicating how much water they are carrying. As the storm continues, occasional "Sun Beats Down" cards will cause everyone to drink, reducing their water. Three of the tiles look like oases, where a well can provide additional water. Too bad one of them is a mirage! If one person runs out of water and the sun beats down again, all the players lose the game.

Players perform up to four actions during their turns--either moving, removing sand, excavating the city, or picking up a part. Excavating is required as it will eventually reveal the location of the missing parts. An excavated tile is flipped revealing either a part of the city (the player then draws an artifact that gives a special one-time power), a tunnel (which provides an artifact, shelter from the sun beating down, and the ability to move to other revealed tunnel tiles), the launch pad (where the players must go after gathering all the missing flying machine parts) or a clue to a missing part's location. Each part has two clues, one indicating an up/down axis, the other a left/right access. Once both are revealed, the part can be placed on the appropriate tile where a player can pick it up. If it isn't buried in sand. Then the player will have to dig.

After the actions, storm cards are drawn. The number depends on how intense the storm is. Most cards move the storm around and cause sand to accumulate on tiles. I've already mentioned the "Sun Beats Down" card. Another type of card increases the storm's intensity, possibly upping the number of storm cards drawn. If the storm intensity track gets too high, all the players lose the game.

Top row is storm cards; bottom row is some of the artifacts

The game is a fun co-operative game with really great parts and interesting game mechanics. The tiles and sand markers are thick, sturdy cardboard, much like the tiles in Forbidden Island. The parts for the flying machine are solid plastic components (again, like in Forbidden Island) and fit into the main machine well.

Flying machine and parts

Ready to escape!

The way the storm moves and builds up obstacles works well though it is not immediately obvious how it works. The rules explain it fairly clearly. Game play is fun and exciting like Leacock's previous games with players discussing what the best plan is. The game seems to favor fewer players. On the one hand, two players can't be all over the board. On the other hand, they can support each other better with water resources. With five people scattered in each corner, the sun beating down is more of a problem and the water resource has been the make or break part of the game for the larger groups I've played with.

Zombie Apocalypse Appropriateness: Since this is a co-op game, it could be played solo with any number of the roles taking turns. The game is a little bulky to carry around. It doesn't really give players any zombie fighting or surviving skills, but it is so much fun it will be a great mental diversion from the grimness that comes with living in an apocalypse.