played for you

Mess Machine

Plan, cooperate and bluff

A toy producing machine broke down and toys need to be repaired. You choose one of four toys, shuffle the parts face-down, lay them out in a 4x4 grid, reveal them and rotate them to the correct position.

Four buttons = cases on the board let you switch two parts – A switches part 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 in a row; B switches 1 and 2 or 3 and 4 in a row; C switches 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 in column and D 1 and 2 or 3 and 4 in a column. You then look at the grid and choose two of your four button discs, set them down face-down and mark one as your direct button, the other one is the indirect button. Then, in your turn, you take a button marker off the board and switch tiles accordingly. If then one or two parts are in correct position, you score 1 point. When there are no markers for a button, you must use another button and nobody scores VPs for correct positions of parts anymore.

When you succeed to repair the toy, you score 1 VP for each marker in the color of your direct button that you hold yourself, and 2 VP for each marker in the color of the indirect button held by another player.

During the game the machine can make more mistakes and switch parts – you have to roll for row and column – in the medium game when there are only 5 markers left with a button and in the difficult game when 5 and 2 markers are left with a button.

Mess Machine is a sophisticated little game with a felicitous mix of strategy, tactic and cooperation! Will I score for correct placement or do something else and hope that someone will choose my “indirect” action and give me two points at the end? But remember, the picture must be correct to score in that way!

Players: 2-4

Age: 10+

Time: 30+

Designer: Nikos Chondropoulos

Artist: George Doutsiopoulos

Price: ca. 15 Euro

Publisher: Desyllas 2015

Web: www.desyllasgames.gr

Genre: Swapping, Logic

Users: For families

Version: multi

Rules: de en fr

In-game text: no

Comments:

Three variants

Each variant can be played in three levels of difficulty

Features a training image

Sophisticated mix of strategy and bluff

Compares to:

First game of its kind

Other editions:

Desyllas (gr)

Chance (pink): 1

Tactic (turquoise): 0

Strategy (blue): 0

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 3

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 2

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0