Crabs! (2016) Board Game – Board Game Guys

Crabs! is a board game released in 2016, designed by shane007 and published by Moaideas Game Design. The game is suitable for 2-5 players, with a recommended age of 12 and up. It falls under the categories of Animals, Card Game, Farming, and Math, and features mechanisms such as Hand Management and Set Collection.

Game Components of Crabs!

Gear cards

Crab deck

Contract deck

Player aid

Crab tokens

Crab meeples

How To Setup Crabs!

To set up the game, players lay out the gear cards in ascending order. The crab deck is shuffled, and six cards are given to each player. Ten cards are turned over to form the starting pool. The contract deck is shuffled, and four cards are laid out face-up beside it.

Gameplay Mechanics and Game Objective

Drawing Cards: Players can draw two cards from the crab pool or the deck, discard cards to draw the same number from the pool or deck, or discard high-value cards to draw more cards equal to the value discarded.

Binding Crabs: Players bind crabs by discarding one card (the rope) and any number of cards from their hand, comparing the total value to a table on the player aid to keep one of the discarded cards.

Upgrading Gear: Players can upgrade their gear by discarding cards and moving their crab token to the next gear card, which provides a permanent bonus when binding crabs.

Relaxing Crabs: Players can relax up to three crab cards, turning them from horizontal to vertical.

Trading Contracts: After the main action, players can trade matching vertical crab cards for one of the contract cards on the table.

Game Objective: The player with the most points after reaching a score threshold of 25 wins.

Player Experience

Crabs offers a dynamic hand management puzzle where players must balance catching, raising, and binding crabs to fulfill contracts and maximize their points. The game requires strategic trading and resource manipulation, similar to games like Century: Spice Road, but with its own unique twist. The cute crab artwork and adorable crab meeples add a charming flavor to the game.

Pros

Cute crab artwork and adorable crab meeples

Interesting trading and conversion hand management decisions

Multiple card-drawing options allow players to adapt their strategy

Cons

More rules overhead than some other filler games

Occupies a strange space between being too complex for casual players and too cutesy for fans of complex mechanisms

Personal Thoughts on Crabs!

Crabs is a game that will appeal to fans of hand management and resource trading, but it may not be the best fit for those seeking a very light or very complex game. It is ideal for players who enjoy manipulating resources to create strategic opportunities and are not deterred by a bit of rules complexity. However, it may not be a go-to game for every game night due to its unique positioning between simplicity and complexity.

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