Collect! asks the question: are you a better animal collector than Noah?
I’m a sucker for a game that’s easy to teach. After countless hours explaining rules to a table of distracted or disinterested faces, it’s hard to understate the appeal of something that can be taught in just a few moments. It’s even better when the game is also fun! Collect! is certainly simple to learn… but is it any good?
In Collect! you are trying to gather a group of four adjacent animals by collecting different animal cards. On your turn, you choose a facedown card from one of two decks before deciding whether or not you want to add it to a row in front of you. If you don’t fancy the animal you’ve initially selected, you place it back on a deck and must then reveal the top card from the other deck and take that… even if you still don’t want it. After selecting a card, you add it to the far left or far right of your row. Play continues clockwise until someone wins the round. Simple!
However, the real meat and potatoes of Collect! are the different animal abilities that can be triggered when adding them to your row. There are eight animals in total and all have some sort of magic ability – just like real wild animals. For example, the crocodile can discard a card from a player’s row, the crab lets you move a card left or right in a row, while the monkey can be swapped with a card already in play.
What’s great is that these abilities can be used to affect an opponent or applied to your own row, providing small tactical decisions about how best to use them. Obviously, that does create a fair amount of ‘take that’ moments – you can be on the verge of winning, only for someone to draw a crocodile and force you to discard one of your precious crabs. Now, you’re probably either smiling at the thought of some ‘gotcha’ moments or grimacing… and that will tell you a lot about your likely reaction to Collect! If you’re going to get easily frustrated by having your animal collecting plans ruined, then it’s probably best to steer clear. If you love lots of interaction and messing with other players, this is right up your alley.
Two of the more interesting animals are the lion and the octopus, because both add extra win conditions. With a lion in your row, you can win the round by having seven different animals; while the octopus allows you to win if you’ve got three different pairs anywhere in your row. Both of these are a welcome addition to Collect! because they give you a back-up opportunity to win if you’re struggling to collect four adjacent animals. During our games, I’ve been regularly blindsided by someone who appeared to be out of a round, only for them to add an octopus to their row and win from nowhere!
As you might have guessed, because you’re at the mercy of the draw, luck plays a factor in Collect! Yes, there’s some mitigation with having the option to put back a card and draw again but sometimes there are no useful choices. That said, the game plays so quickly it won’t be long until your next turn and an opportunity to (hopefully) draw something better.
Review by Rob Burman
Yes
If you’re happy to accept a large amount of luck and some ‘gotcha’ moments, then Collect! will reward you with a fun, fast-paced family game that has straightforward rules and some delightful, eye-catching artwork.
Not only do both games have crabs and octopuses in them, their set collecting mechanics and the occasional ‘gotcha’ also have a lot in common – although the rules in Collect! are even more straightforward.
Category: Family & Party
Designers: Jérémy Ducret, Johannes Goupy
Publisher: CMON
Time to Play: 15-30m
Players: 2-5 Players
Age: 8+
RRP: £14
64 Animal cards
3 Half crown tokens
Full crown token Rules leaflet