![]() To end turns, if you have all of the resources needed to build rocket parts or turn in cheese, you can do that too.Ī note about those stores: I love that players have an option to pay for goods when shopping, or steal them (like a dirty rat) and return to the start space instead. If you’ve landed on one of the three shopping spaces, you can buy stuff: end-game point multipliers, one-time boosts to a resource space, or ongoing yield bonuses when you grab certain resources from the board. ![]() There’s even a Light Bulb track that increases the yield you’ll get when you grab stuff from the map, which also gives you chances to score points as you work your way up the income track.Įach turn, players have access to two optional actions. Other spaces reward you with apple cores, which are used to move around a mini rondel that grants things like ongoing player powers, more worker rats, or end-game points on one of the tracks. ![]() ![]() If you can’t get the resources you need, some spaces just give you cheese, both to feed other players on your turn if you ever land on a space occupied by opponents, or to spend 10 cheese to drop a scoring marker on the map. Gathering resources allows for a player to pay those goods to build parts of the rocket ship. This minor but thinky moment makes movement interesting every turn as you try to take advantage of empty spaces while still gathering the stuff you need to build the rocket.Īfter a player moves, they grab stuff based on the spaces they land on. You’ll have to move your rats from the start space at the bottom of the board to become “Rattronauts” by getting them into a rocket that will take off when a single player either places eight of their ten scoring markers, or get all four of their rats onto the ship.īeginning the game with two of their four-rat allotment, players take turns moving rats (workers) 1-5 spaces towards the rocket or moving multiple rats 1-3 spaces so long as those rats all land on spaces of the same color. I know that this may be a shock to those who bought a game called First Rat, but it’s true. In First Rat, you are playing as a bunch of rats. The biggest surprise for me: First Rat plays relatively well with adult audiences, too. Plus, you’ve got some of the hallmarks of standard Euro fare: scoring tracks, variable player powers, resource gathering, milestones, and the like.Ĭombine all of that with rats and a game board that reminds older players of a darkly-shaded version of Candy Land, and you’ve got something that will really shine with parents who want their kids to eventually play lightly-interactive games that play in about an hour. First Rat (2022, Pegasus Spiele) might be the perfect game for what I’m trying to build towards, a game that rewards efficiency, timing, and has the production elements I look for in a Eurogame experience. For now, games like The Quest Kids and Turtle Mania do the job for family play, but I am just setting the table for the days when I can try to go toe-to-toe with my kids in a medium weight Euro puzzle.īut let’s imagine my kids were, say, 12 and 9. My hope is that one day, my kids can scale up to, say, Brass: Lancashire or a light Lacerda, like Vinhos: Deluxe Edition. Bonus points if the game is cooperative, because my son still can’t deal with losing. I usually steer them towards family games, particularly games that align with my 5-year-old son so that all of us can play together. Take rats to space in Justin’s review of First Rat from Pegasus Spiele!
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