Type: Dexterity

Time to play: 15 – 20 minutes per player per game (Teaching: 5 minutes)

Best played with: 2-4 Player (Best with 4)

Dexterity? Is that the guy with a lab? Oh – jenga and stuff like that!

That’s right I think it’s time to add a dexterity game to the reviews. If this were the Crystal Maze then this is the skill game you were dreading – the one that requires concentration, patience and physical skill.

Dexterity games test your ability to move pieces, place pieces and avoid knocking things over. There’s a variety of these now but Rhino Hero Super Battle has become a cult following of it’s own despite the original kids market it was aimed at. This following is in part thanks to blog/podcast/youtube legends – Epic Gaming Night. These guys have hit upon the brilliance of this game and I have to admit that I only heard about it thanks to them.

So how does it play? Well let’s start with the basics. This game builds a tower – a tower that you can build out at any level (or indeed start again at the ground). The rules permit certain constructions from the ground level, and any construction from any other level. Each turn you take a floor, and the floor is one of three available choices. The floor will dictate two conditions: (1) the walls that support it and (2) whether or not you have to play a spider monkey.

The walls are either short or long and either one or two. There are odd combinations of a long and short wall that allow you to build between walls. You may never build a floor with a slope. The second factor – the spider monkey – is a challenge to hang that before your turn ends. If you fail, keep trying until he is successfully hanging from the floor.

After all that, move your piece – as decided by a dice role that could take you up or down. If you don’t knock the tower, then either you are alone on a floor or you have an opponent. If there’s an opponent – a simple dice battle. If not, you stay where you are. The player on the highest level is currently winning. Once the tower falls the player at the top is the winner, unless they were the one who knocked it down (then everyone loses).

Try then to build the tower but without risking knocking it down. Any tower falls and it’s all over. The simplicity of this game is it’s brilliance. Frankly it’s not about winning for me when I play this game – it’s about how high we end up building the tower. Along the way it’s about taking fun risks – can you build between floors? Can you build that one wall floor? Can you get that spider monkey and move it up?

The pitfalls then? Well, that’s hard to say because the game is everything it says and nothing else. The game is quite perfectly an example of dexterity. It’s about placing pieces, and balancing pieces. It’s never going to build an engine, you will never feel like you built an empire, but you will have a hilariously stressful time putting down a cardboard.

Last notes;

  • If you like a laugh and a short game – this is great
  • If you want a dexterity game that’s more competitive or combative – the dice role here will break that feeling
  • If you win, give it another go and try those one wall floors!