Gaming Signal: REVIEW: Rumis

REVIEW: Rumis

REVIEW SUMMARY: A fun stacking game that delivers for family members of all ages.
MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A bit like Jenga in reverse, players take turns collaboratively building up a proscribed shape based on the pieces they have remaining. The winner is the one whose pieces end up on top.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Simple to learn, lifetime to master; Easy for 7 years old and up to play; Forces you to think in 3 dimensions
CONS: While overall production value is high, some of the plastic pieces aren't perfect which makes building with them a little bit harder than it should be. Pieces are overall small - increasing the size a bit would have greatly added to the stability.
BOTTOM LINE: A great family game for 2-4 players.

I picked up this game out of the 'not heavily advertised game' section at Target. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about - the main game section is filled with licensed properties (do we really need a Spiderman version of Operation?) and other games with big advertising budgets. But there is a section of a shelf nearby that holds games that fit into the other category - ones with broad appeal (usually by winning game awards) but aren't marketed as hard. It is here that I have picked up some of my families favorite games - from Sleeping Queens to Little Fish; Big Fish and now Rumis.

The game contains a rotating platform, 4 game boards that dictate the structure to build, and 4 sets of colored pieces. The pieces are all different combinations of cubes - some are a simple 4x1 square, and some are more complicated. If you think of three dimensional Tetris pieces you'll have a good idea of what the pieces look like.

After picking a board and placing it on the platform, you take turns placing your pieces. The goal is to place as many pieces as you can while having your pieces end up on top - the score awards 1 point for each cube face of yours that is on top at the end. You lose points for any pieces you can't place, so it behooves you to get those pieces on the board.

Overall, this is a very simple game to learn, and my 7 year old was playing and doing very well withing minutes. We pretty much had one sample game where we talked through the potential moves and after that he was ready to play for real. We played some two-player games and, as is common here, while the strategy is limited it was still great fun. When we added a third player though, the game took on a new tone. Also, playing with the different game boards (which dictate the footprint and maximum height of your structure) added even more depth. And it was this that surprised the heck out of me. I was able to easily master the 2-height 2-player game, but found the larger structures an enigma (and hence got my hat handed to me.)

The production value is overall pretty high. The rotating platform is very stable, rotates easily, and is well made from thicker than expected plastic. The art is just average, but the card stock for the boards is very solid. And finally, the pieces themselves are reasonably well made in bright colors.

My only knock on this game is that one of our game pieces wasn't 100% perfectly square, and thus made building on it a small challenge. Also, the pieces are just a little small given the heights the game can get to. If the pieces had been a little bit bigger this wouldn't be an issue at all. I see there is another version of this game in the UK that uses wooden pieces that might be a better version (assuming they are made well.)

However, these are minor imperfections - they haven't really prevented us from enjoying the game nor me heartily recommending it.