Model: 279Publisher: Rio Grande GamesPlaying Time: 30 MinutesNumber of Players: 2Designer: Stephen GlennSuggested Minimum Age: 10
From the publisher's website: In Balloon Cup, the players compete in several short balloon flights (hops) to collect the colored cubes associated with each hop. When a player has collected enough cubes of a given color, he earns the trophy card for that color. Players may even trade 3 otherwise useless cubes for 1 they can use. The first player to earn 3 trophy cards is the winner! Each player has a hand of eight balloon cards. The players play their balloons on mountain or plain hops. Players play their high-valued balloons on the mountains and their low-valued balloons on the plains. Players usually play their balloons on their side of the hops, but winds (and cunning) can cause them to play on their opponent’s side, a move that can ruin their opponent’s plans.
Wizardopoly adds: Is that all clear now? Most games are either a great theme for a game, for which a set of rules is written (e.g. Talisman, Arkham Horror) or a great game mechanic in search of a theme. Balloon Cup definately falls into the latter category! The game actually has nothing to do with balloons (except that the game components have balloons painted on them), but that doesn't make it a bad game! On the contrary this is one of our recommended games!
There are four large cards numbered 1 to 4, with mountains on one side and rolling countryside on the other Let's call them Race Cards. At the start of the game these cards are placed on the playing area in a column alternately showing mountains or fields. Then a number of coloured blocks (there are 5 colours) matching the number of the card are placed on the cards (i.e. 1 block on the 1 card, 2 blocks on the 2 card etc). The players are dealt a hand of eight balloon cards which each have a number value and a colour. During a player's turn they place one of their balloon cards on either side (their side or their opponents side) of one of the race cards but - and this is the tricky bit to explain - the colour of the cards placed on either side of the Race Card must match the colour of the cubes on that card. Then they take a balloon card from the additional card stack to make their hand up to eight cards again. When the number of cards on both sides of the Race card is equal to the number of that race card then the winner takes all of the cubes on the card, the card is flipped over, new cubes are placed on the card and the game continues. The winner of the race is the player whose total balloon card number value (i.e. the sum of the cards on their side of the race card) is highest for a mountain race (the race card shows mountains) or lowest for a ...sort of low level race (race cards show countryside). The purpose of trying to win these cubes is so that you can spend them to buy Trophy Cards (which are also coloured), and when you get three of these you win the game!
One of the clever things about Balloon Cup is that nothing is equal - there are very few grey blocks in the bag, and not many grey Balloon Cards in the deck; but then the Grey Trophy Card only costs 3 blocks. On the other hand there are loads of red blocks, a complete set of red Balloon Cards (numbered 1 - 13), but the Red Trophy Card costs 7 blocks. You have to be really sneaky about playing your low/high cards on the best side of the race cards, and whether you go for the race card with more blocks on them which will be more difficult to win. There's a lot to consider, but that's the fun!
Duel in the Dark£24.49
Race the Wind£29.49
