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From:Rio Grande Games
Cost: $25
Players: 2+
Playing Time: 30 minutes
Type of game: Family
Skill level: 10
Complexity: 2
Reviewed by: Peter Sarrett, Issue 6.1 (21), Summer 1999
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Is Ricochet Robot really a game? I’m not sure. Is Myst a game or an elaborate puzzle? Does the distinction matter? For those keeping score at home, Ricochet Robots is perhaps most accurately described as a series of competitive spatial puzzles. It’s certainly a change of pace from the usual gaming fare.
The puzzles take place on a board composed of four double-sided geomorphic segments, enabling many topographical variations to stymie rote memorization. The board shows a grid periodically interrupted by short walls, forming a sparse maze which will make RoboRally players feel right at home.
Four colored robots are placed into this grid at random, their starting locations marked by colored chits for later reference. A set of target chits are shuffled and one turned up. Each chit designates a space on the game board and a robot. The challenge is to get that robot to that space in as few steps as possible.
A step consists of moving a robot in any orthogonal direction until it hits a wall or another robot. The board is cleverly designed so that it’s possible to hit every space on the board; it just might take quite a few steps, and the help of some other robots, to get there.
When someone figures out a way to get the designated robot where it needs to go, he calls out the number of steps required and turns over a minute timer. Other players can chime in with their own numbers, which can be higher or lower than, or equal to, the number called by the first player. When time runs out, the player who first called the lowest number has to put up or shut up. If he can’t do the deed in that many steps, the player who called the next lowest number gets a shot, and so on until someone succeeds. The robots remain in their new positions and the successful player keeps the target chit. A new chit is turned up and the process repeats.
The game sounded terribly dry to me when I first heard of it, so I was pleasantly surprised at how addictive it became. When someone else calls out “Eight!”, suddenly nothing else matters but finding that solution. It’s not a question of winning, it’s a question of pride. Nobody has any hidden information, so everyone has an equal shot at success. There’s a kind of bittersweet elation at finally seeing that eight-step solution everyone else seems to have found. And there’s triumph at finding a seven.
One of the nice things about Ricochet Robots is that, like Set, it’s a super group game. Players can come and go without adversely affecting the game, and it’s great for kibitzers. At this year’s Gathering of Friends, finding a crowd of a dozen people huddled around a table inevitably meant a game of Ricochet Robots was in progress. You may wish to add a fifth robot (a chess pawn works well) while learning or teaching the game- the extra obstacle actually makes some solutions easier.
Ricochet Robots will not be for everyone, and in fact is the most polarizing game since Falling. I’m a masochist- I like my brain to hurt. Others prefer more easy-going diversions, and to them I’d recommend a different game. If you enjoy puzzles and work well under pressure, this is a must-have.