Attention Ogre Chefs! The Ogre King is hungry… starving, in fact. And it is your job, nay, responsibility to feed him! Stack up the most scrumptious sandwich in the swamp and prove you are the most fit to serve all the king’s meals. May the best Ogre chef win!

What Is It?

Dexterity – Players will be trying to stack up a sandwich as high as they can! They can only use one hand when stacking, and the pieces are all different shapes and sizes, so it’s going to be tricky!

Dice Rolling – Players roll dice to determine what they will have to stack next, so they have to be ready for anything.

Variable Play – You can play basic (for easiest play), standard (with a few more rules), or party (for a more “Jenga” style of game).

Who Is It For?

  • 2 to 4 Players – Player count changes the number of available ingredients; works well at any count
  • Ages 10 & Up; Light Gamers – Some younger kids may enjoy basic, but ultimately, with the varied methods of play, it’s great for a wide range of ages and player types
  • Fans of dexterity/stacking games
  • Players who don’t mind a slightly silly/gross theme
  • Players who want to stack silly pieces, and won’t get too upset if their sandwich falls over

Variants

There are 3 ways to play:

Basic – Each turn a player rolls the yellow die to see what to stack next. Players can use their top bread whenever they like. If all ingredients run out, or if everyone chooses to finish their sandwich, the game ends. Players score negative points for fallen ingredients, and earn points for tallest sandwich, sets of stacked critters and toppings, standing critters, and toppings that aren’t laying flat against each other. — The rules are straightforward, so it’s easy to get right into playing. It’s a great intro to the game for younger players/newer gamers to get familiar with the pieces, or if you just want quicker play.

Standard – Each player has their own “counter” with ingredients they can play. Each turn, they roll both dice, executing green, then yellow. The green die always tells you what to stack, and the yellow adds something to your counter. The green die also introduces stealing from another chef’s counter, and you can always stack something from your counter instead of doing the yellow die. Scoring is the same as basic, plus negative 1 point for each leftover item on your counter. — There’s a bit more stacking in this version, so it’s trickier, but the counter gives players a little more choice at times, which works out pretty well, and it’s a nice step up once you know how to play the game.

Party – Players build a single sandwich until it is knocked over. You can stack anything on your turn, as long as it is different than what the player before you stacked. There can also be no toppings stacked flat on top of each other, and critters can only be stacked on the 2 highest levels. If you knock something off the sandwich, you’re out. Others keep going until there is 1 player left as a winner. — This has a bigger play are (2 breads side by side as the base) so it can lead to some big sandwiches. Still, player elimination can be rough especially if someone messes up early and is just sitting out. Otherwise, this is a fun twist on the game that’s great or players who want a small ruleset and a new take on Jenga.

PROS

  • Components – Nice quality and they look great! (I think the cheese is my favorite). All the critters are unique and look like exactly what they should look like
  • Aesthetics – The sandwiches look really cool when you build them up… if they don’t fall!
  • Variability – Both because of the various play modes, and because, since you roll dice to get ingredients, no 2 sandwiches are every exactly alike!
  • Scoring rules keep players from playing “too safe” (i.e. laying toppings down flat)
  • Plays quickly and smoothly
  • Rules well-written, quick to learn from

CONS

  • Definitely trickier pieces than some stacking games, so it might be frustrating for some players to watch their sandwiches collapse
  • Luck of the die – Can get stuck stacking a lot of the same thing, or just get things in an order that’s hard to work with; don’t really have a lot of choice
  • In general, I’m not a big fan of negative points, or player elimination, which both appear in different modes of the game

Final Thoughts

If you’re a fan of dexterity/stacking games, this one is worth checking out – especially if you’re looking for a new challenge! All the pieces are super unique and really great looking. While they can be hard to work with sometimes, that’s half the fun! There will definitely be times where sandwiches fall apart, and there may even be games where scores are very low because of it, but the game is light and quick, and doesn’t take long to reset and try again. Personally, I think I like standard mode the best, kind of right in the middle. But whichever mode you choose, have fun with it!

Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 6/10

Designer – Kara Lagerquist
Artist – Magen Mitchell
Publishers – Daft Concepts, Strange Machine Games
MSRP – $29.95
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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