Games Quarterly Magazine Review
It's a bird! It's a plane! No it's…Cluzzle ! Cluzzle, the first game from Eagle Games newest design team North Star Games, turns the sculpting world upside down. The challenge is to create a clay puzzle (a "Cluzzle") that other players will guess…eventually. Don't make it too easy, because your score is higher if it takes other players some time to guess your Cluzzle.
Cluzzle's winning secret lies in sculpting clues out of clay. It's a party game that inspires creativity and quick thinking. Cluzzlers - the game players - have to figure out what other players have chosen as their subjects by asking questions about their clay sculptures. In other games, players with artistic ability have an advantage as they try to communicate a concept as quickly as possible. Cluzzle turns this concept entirely on its head by rewarding players for their ambiguous sculptures.
GameplayCluzzle is designed for 3 to 6 players (or teams), ages 8+, with a learning time of 5 minutes and a playing time of 15 minutes. Cluzzle is the comical game of clay puzzles where players outwit their friends with ambiguous sculptures, tricky questions, and insightful guessing.
At the beginning of the game, every player creates a Cluzzle (clay puzzle) from a topic on a random game card. There are three rounds in each game. Each player may ask as many yes/no questions as possible within the two minute round. Once a Cluzzle is correctly identified, points are awarded to the sculptor and also to whoever guessed the Cluzzle correctly. The key to a good Cluzzle is that the longer it takes people to figure out what it is, the more points you get! So why not make a horribly unrecognizable blob? If your Cluzzle is not guessed by the end of the game, then you receive zero points for it.
Is the Cluzzle on the right an animal? No! But I could have sworn that was a snake. Is it a manmade object? Yes. So, it's gotta be a necklace, right? Wrong again! Is it used in the rodeo? No! It could have been a lasso. Is it bigger than a house? Yes! But what could it be? Can that Cluzzle be found in an amusement park? Yes! Now I know - it must be a roller coaster!
Cluzzle is a fast-paced game filled with laughter as players fumble their way to deciphering your clay puzzle!
Cluzzle: It's not whether you win or lose. It's how you clay the game.
Many social games reward players for being great at conveying something as quickly as possible. These games are not always fun for those who are not as talented. With Cluzzle you don't have to be a great artist. This twist makes Cluzzle more than just a party game. It is ideal for the family as well, because Cluzzle appeals to players of varying ages and artistic abilities (who doesn't have fun playing with clay - remember 3rd grade art class). Kids can do just as well as their parents, while players who failed art class can still compete with the class Michelangelo. Either way, everybody has fun in this fast-paced and entertaining game.