our review
First none, then two
Die Omama im Apfelbaum
Adventures with Andi
Mira Lobe was and still is one of the best-known authors of children books in Austria. The probably best-known of her books is „Das Kleine Ich bin ich“, which in 2012 has been the inspiration or template for a few children games published by Selecta.
Another one of her classics, „Die Omama im Apfelbaum“ – „Grandma in the Apple Tree“, has now provided the inspiration for a cooperative game: Andi, the hero of the book, was always sad because he did not have a grandmother. Suddenly, he has two, one for adventures up in the apple tree and another one living next door, who he tells about his adventures and for whom he does chores.
In the game, players have adventures like Andi:
A game board showing an apple tree is laid out, the apple tokens are shuffled and - depending on the number of players – 8, 9, 8 or 10 are distributed randomly, apple side up, on the tree. If some are left over, you put them back into the box, without looking at them. The double-sided cards have a green side for Omama and a blue side for Frau Fink, they are shuffled and you deal three cards to each player, and it does not matter you you take them up in your hand.
If you are the active player, to take an apple token off the three, turn it over and get a card from the stack from another player. Depending on who is depicted on the apple token you turn this card over the side of Omama or Frau Fink and and then resolve the card accordingly:
For Omama you roll dice for adventures: The card shows one or several dice showing colors and also a word. Now you try to roll the depicted combination as quickly as possible, you can set aside dice and re-roll dice. When you have achieved the combination, you set aside the card, having also memorized the word in the card. When the sand timer has not yet run out, the next player in clock-wise direction can give you one of his cards in hand, correct side up, and you again try to achieve the combination, and so on, until the timer has run out. As soon as the timer has run out, you close your eyes and must now tell a story in which the words on the cards you set aside – you did set them out in a row – appear in the correct order. The grammatical form in which you use the word is not important. For each word that you use correctly the corresponding card with the word is put onto the apple tree. If you leave out a word or use in a wrong place in the sequence, this card and all cards that left in the row are taken out of play.
For Frau Fink the active player must set up the combination of dice as shown on the card – not roll them! – and then lift the construct up and set it down on the card, the colors showing on the card are confronting the active player. When you have managed that, again in turn the next player in clock-wise direction gives you one of his cards in hand and you replicate the dice arrangement, lift it and put it down, and so on, until the sand timer has run out. Then you as active player again close your eyes and must name the terms on the card, this time only in correct order, you do not have to connect them with a story. However, the terms are a bit more complicated for Frau Fink, for instance “Wasser für die Schwimmeriche holen”. Again cards for terms that you repeated correctly are placed on the apple tree and wrongly named cards and all behind them in the row are taken out of play.
The nice thing about this game is that players can help the active player, when he gets stuck – they are allowed to describe the next term for him, albeit for a penalty – one card has to be removed from the apple tree und you can only get help, when there is at least one card on the tree. So giving help does only make sense when you can save more than one card by assisting, because the aim of the game is, to have as big a number of cards on the tree as possible. You count them when there is no apple token left on the tree to take and the game then praises the achievement, ranging from Good to Incredible!
If you like, you can play a somewhat easier game – the cards only need to be named correctly, the order is not important.
If you like it more difficult, on the other hand, you separate Omama cards and Frau Fink cards and only count the smaller stack at the end.
In a competitive version each player collects his cards for himself, helping is not allowed and you win with most cards at the end.
A game as good and perfect as an apple from the tree with Omama! Especially nice would be if you could read the book to players before the first game, as this makes the game even more alluring, more challenging and more fun, playing with and for Andi. With only a few components, a fantastic concept has been realized here, which is also fun for parents to play and thus provides a marvelous family game. Who tells better stories and who is better in memorizing phrases? Concentration and paying attention are in demand!
My personal feature favorite is the combination of being able to help and tactics when the help! And there are luck of the roll and motor skill, too. An intense and challenging mix, the result is an attractive and somewhat different game for children, and that would have pleased Mira Lobe.
Dagmar de Cassan
Players: 2-5
Age: 8+
Time: 25+
Designer: Andrea Kattnig, Klemens Franz
Artist: Susi Weigel, Klemens Franz
Price: ca. 20 Euro
Publisher: Piatnik 2016
Web: www.piatnik.com
Genre: Cooperation, memory, narration
Users: For children
Version: de
Rules: de
In-game text: yes
Comments:
Few components for lots of fun
Challenging and well-working mix of mechanisms
Very good adaptation of the book topic
Demands many different skills
Compares to:
First game with that mix of mechanisms
Other editions:
Currently none
My rating: 7
Dagmar de Cassan:
A wonderful game, it comes across as a sequel or expansion of the book, topic and game are merging that seamlessly.
Chance (pink): 2
Tactic (turquoise): 0
Strategy (blue): 0
Creativity (dark blue): 3
Knowledge (yellow): 0
Memory (orange): 3
Communication (red): 0
Interaction (brown): 0
Dexterity (green): 2
Action (dark green): 2