Family                 

Alter                    8

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Tourists in Scotland

Loch Ness

Pictures of Nessie are wanted!

Loch Ness – a new game from Hans im Glück! To get straight to the point: In my opinion it is a nice and fun family game. But I believe that it is not ideally placed with Hans im Glück, a publisher who over the years has acquired a reputation for challenging games – Loch Ness is a very simply and very chance-driven game, and thus more suitable for the occasional gamer.

The cover of the box shows us 5 photographers in front of the Monster from Loch Ness. When we open the box we find the following components: 1 board, 27 photo cards, 1 card “hotel”, 1 big black photographer figurine, 1 neutral camera piece, 1 big and 1 small Nessie figurine and 7 neutral movement cards. Furthermore, for each of the 5 players, there are 2 photographers, 5 movement cards and 4 camera pieces of values 3, 4, 5 and 7.

Each player starts the game with his personal components of 2 photographers, 5 movement cards and the camera pieces.

The 27 photo cards are shuffled and stacked face down next to the board, the first three photos are turned up.

The board shows 7 action squares. The first action square is not used in the standard game, in a variant it is the location for the card „Hotel“. As I will restrict my review to the standard variant, this action square will not be taken into account.

The other 6 action squares are called Bagpipes, Pub, Photo Shop, Castle, Distiller and Church. For the first round in the game these action squares are of no importance and cannot be used.

Before we can start the game, the big Nessie figurine is placed on any of the white spots in Loch Ness. Next to each of the white spots in Loch Ness there is always a circle with 3 camera positions, two of them are situated adjacent to the bank, the third is located behind those two.

The small Nessie figurine is placed next to the board and the spot #1 on the counting track. Each player also puts one of his photographers there.

The starting player receives the big black photographer.

The first round of the game is played somewhat different from the other rounds. At the start of this first round the starting player and the next two players in clockwise direction place one of their movement cards face-down on the table.

When those three movement cards have been placed, players try to guess how far these cards will move the big Nessie figurine. Cards could have values between 1 and 4. The values of the three face-down cards will be added and Nessie will move as many spots.

But before the cards are turned up and Nessie is moved accordingly, the players all place their cameras. The starting player begins and places one in camera; then all other players in clockwise direction place one of their cameras, this continues until all players have placed all three cameras.

By watching where players who did place face-down movement cards all other players try to guess where the big Nessie figurine might end its move.

Players may only place their cameras on spots, which are adjacent to the bank of the lake.

When all players have placed their cameras, the movement cards are turned up, their values are added and the big Nessie figurine is moved accordingly, followed by the same movement of the small Nessie figurine on the scoring track. The game ends immediately when the small Nessie figurine reaches or passes spot #65 on the scoring track.

The banks of Loch Ness are divided into several bank sections, each of these sections comprises 2 or three circles with 3 camera positions each. Each camera in a section next to the region of the bank where Nessie has ended her move scores victory points for the owner of the camera according to the value of the camera, either 3, 4 or 7 victory points.

Each player who has a minimum of one camera in the bank section moves his photographer on the scoring track the number of victory points corresponding to his camera(s). A photo of Nessie, however, can only be taken with a camera on a position in the circle directly next to the white spot on which the big Nessie figurine is located.

It is important, too, if the bank section shows 2 or 3 circles. In a bank section with three circles the player with a camera in the circle can take one photo, in a bank section with 2 circles each player in the relevant circle receives 2 photos.

The 27 photo cards comprise 9 cards with a picture of Nessie’s head, 9 cards with a picture of her middle and 9 cards with a picture of Nessie’s tail. One complete set of photos with a picture of head, middle and tail each, scores 10 victory points at the end of the game, 1 set of photos with two different parts of Nessie scores 5 points and each single photo not part of a set scores 1 point. Each player entitled to take a picture can pick up one of the three open photos on display or take the top picture from the face-down stack.

If a player is entitled to take two photos and chooses one of the three open faced photos in the display a new one is turned immediately before he takes his second photo.

When the first round is finished, the big black photographer his handed on to the next player in clockwise direction, he is the next starting player.

From now on each round starts with the placing of each player’s second photographer onto one of the 6 action squares: Bagpipes, Pub, Photo Shop, Castle, Distiller or Church.

These action squares offer the following possibilities:

Bagpipes:  When the big Nessie figurine has been moved and before the camera positions are scored the player with his photographer on Bagpipes may move the big Nessie figurine one more step, provided he has a camera in the circle next to this white spot.

Pub:  When a player has placed his photographer there, he takes the white neutral camera from the pub and places it immediately onta a free camera position, he has one more camera for a possible scoring in this round.

Photoshop: If a player has placed his camera of value 3 in the region of the bank, where the big Nessie figurine is located, he scores 9 victory points.

Castle: This action square allows a player to relocate his third camera and is the only possibility to use the back camera position in a circle.

Distiller: The player choosing this sets his movement cards aside and takes up the 7 neutral movement cards for this round, he now also can choose a card of value 0 or 7 beside the standard values 1 to 5.

Church: This action square allows a player to look at one of the face down movement cards before relocating cameras.

When all players have placed their photographers on the action squares, the starting players and the two players next to him in clockwise direction place one of their movement cards. Now the starting player relocates one of his cameras onto a new position, then all other players. After this each player may relocate another of this cameras but, contrary to the first time, he need not do so if he prefers to leave the other cameras in place.

The winner of the game, when the small Nessie figurine has reached spot #65 on the scoring track and thus ends the game, is the player whose photographer has advanced furthest on the scoring track after the final scoring has taken place.

Many may take this game for a silly game of chance, especially to strategically thinking players or players preferring extremely tactical games this game cannot be recommended.

I was interested to note that in games with experienced players the whole thing was extremely boring, but in rounds of inexperienced or occasional players the atmosphere was jolly and a lot of fun was had by all.

All players who are not adverse to a game with a high element of chance and who like games where it is necessary to guess the intentions of other players might like this game very well.

Once again, as already mentioned at the beginning, I believe this game to be a game for people who rarely play games. It can be recommended without reservation to families with children between ages 8 and 12, where games are not played often. The game is easily understood and the rules explain the game very nicely.

So the game would be perfect for the mass market, as this is a segment of the market where games with his degree of difficulty would be ideally positioned. Unfortunately, I must say again, that I believe it is not well positioned with Hans im Glück, as this company is well known for more complex games and thus the game will not be noted sufficiently by the shops catering for the mass market. Because of its mechanisms the game is very chance-dependent and features a very high degree of interaction.

Maria Schranz

Spieler         : 2 - 5 players

Alter            : ages 8 and up

Dauer           : 30 - 45 min

Autor           : Ronald Wettering

Grafik          : Claus Stephan

Titel englisch : -

Preis            : ca. 25,00 Euro

Verlag          : Hans im Glück 2010

                     www.hans-im-glueck.de

Genre                    : A placement game of chance

Zielgruppe             : For families

Mechanismen         : Place movement cards, guess number of steps

Kommentar:          

A simple nice family game

High element of chance

Nice art

Vergleichbar:                  

First game with such a mechanism

Atmosphäre: 5      

Maria Schranz:

A simple nice family game with nice art and a very high element of luck and chance.

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