Breakfast in bed is a good thing. And not just in the world of people. Even the hens like it if somebody gives them some crunchy worm in front of their lying beak. And because the cocks get up early to greet the sun, they can fulfill their wish often.
A new game from Blue Orange and designer Lionel Borg will take us in company of hens and cocks. This one is called Poulettes (Rooster Run) and Cyril Bouquet gave it a unique look with his illustrations. The game was released in 2015.
All chickens and their breakfasts are hidden in a small box with a picture of a chicken coop. Players start somewhere in the meadow by taking all round cardboard tokens and spreading them in the center of the table. Eight hen cards from the shuffled deck will be revealed around them in a circle. Each player gets a secret card of his sweetheart and his secret wish for breakfast. Tokens of broken heart start the game set aside.
Players each look at cards of their hen, but they do not show it to others. They start a common turn, in which players start looking for suitable worms. Everyone is trying to find the most valuable catches possible with only one hand, where player can always turn only one token and look at its type. If he is happy with it, he may put it in front of himself.
Worm collecting is about attempts to complete cards on the revealed eight task cards. They have different points and difficulty. So players try to meet their demands. Whenever a player has two tokens in front of him, he may decide to end the round by calling „Kykyryky“ or return one of them and look for another. The round ends, when one of the players closes his turn by that call.
Player takes any card he has fulfilled. For a possible failure, he would get one broken heart token, but this could happen only by mistake caused by too much effort to be the first. Players then continue to search until the four rounds are played. All morning cocks add up points on their winning cards and add up to five points for each card that matches their chicken’s secret wish. Winner is the one who has the most points.
Poulettes is another game, where not only speed plays a role, but also luck. Gradual searching for tokens is all about pure luck. The problem is that there is a lot of competition in this field. So let’s see how this novelty works.
Players keep their catches in front of them, but they can not hold more than two worms in their beak at the same time. At that point, you have to decide, if this is the catch you want to have for breakfast. This decision is at the same time the only real choice that a player has to make.
The game is played in four rounds regardless of the number of participants. This means that the game time is always the same. Length of the round does not depend on the number of players because they are all looking at the same time. This makes it really possible to get to about ten minutes to complete. And that’s really a big plus. The opponents have no way of influencing themselves, so even in this respect, the game is exactly the same in any permitted amount from two to six.
Unfortunately, the game as such is not an interesting challenge. It is recommended from seven years up due to more complicated adding, but its gameplay itself would rather correspond to the children around the fifth year. This inconsistency results in the box having a problem finding its target audience.
Players will not find their way to color and fun graphics easily. Even illustrations are clearly childish and have no hint of trying to appeal to another audience.
Poulettes is quite disappointing in general terms. It does not bring anything new to the world of observing games, and on the contrary, there is a lot of mistakes in all the important parameters. The game is simple but at the same time they miss out on their most important audience – young children. There are many interesting games on the market, that deserve more attention, that this one. Poulettes will not fit in your shelf.
| Designer | Lionel Borg | |
| Artist | Cyril Bouquet | |
| Publisher | Asmodee, Blue Orange (EU), Blue Orange Games, Lúdilo | |
| Year Published | 2015 | |
| # of Players | 2 - 6 | |
| Playing Time | 10 | |
| Mfg Suggested Ages | 7 and up | |
| Category | Memory | |
| Mechanic | Memory, Set Collection | |
| Family | Admin: Better Description Needed!, Animals: Chickens | |
| Primary Name | Rooster Run | |
| Alternate Names | Chicken Love, Hahn im Korb, Poulettes, Wär' ich doch der Hahn im Korb |
Infos courtesy of boardgamegeek.com. More Infos.
