Have you heard about the Hop? The Hedgehog Hop?! It’s the new dance craze sweeping the hedgehog nation! Those crazy dancers are hopping, sliding, and grooving all over the dance floor just trying to remain in sync! Can you help them out, or will you end up a hot mess by the end of the night? It’s time to put your sick moves to the test!

What Is It?

A puzzley card game where players move their hedgehogs onto the dance floor and try to keep them in sync – i.e. in big groups of hedgehogs with the same dance move and similar colors or styles. They are working to score backup dancers along the way and later score points with the last hedgehog left in their hand – their lead dancers!

Who Is It For?

I would recommend this primarily to pairs because it played the best at 2-players in my opinion, and it seemed like it was mostly geared toward that count as well.

I think it’s great for players who like puzzle-type games that are on the cuter side because while the theme could probably be anything, this is a really funny one that comes full circle with the rules and the art. It’s very “thinky” because you’re limited in where you can enter the dance floor and how you can score.

The game box says 14+ and I’d say that’s pretty accurate because of how many things you need to keep in mind while playing, it is definitely a bit harder for younger audiences. For instance, my 12 year old brother who games with me frequently was able to play but had a lot of questions while playing and needed to be reminded of how exactly the scoring worked a few times in order to grasp it.

Contents + Quality

Cards – Average quality overall, not too thin or anything. The art is fun and the colors are really vibrant. They’re an unusual square size that I don’t think I’ve really seen in many games, but hey, that means they’re unique!

Rules – The rules are nicely laid out and include some great examples, especially for learning how to score. What was weird to me was that only the 2-player rules are included in a single box, even though one box works with 2-3 players. Luckily, the 3 and 4+ player rules can be found online.

Box – The box is just a simple, thin cardboard deck box. It’s small, so make sure you don’t hide it away on a shelf and forget about it!

Variants + Expansions

3 or 4+ Players – There is a 3-player puzzler and a 3-player Dance Battle Royale (DBR) that can be played with a single deck. The puzzler plays similarly to the 2-player game with tweaks in hand size and set up, while the DBR gives each player their own dance crew and includes a shared audition line. With 2 decks players can try a 4+ player puzzler or DBR, with just slight alterations to set up to accommodate the higher player count. Again, all 3+ player rules can be found on the website.

Zombie Hedgehog – This promo card can only be used in a 2-player game and starts in the center of the dance mob. When it gets pushed into another hedgehog, it does what all good zombies do … eats it! Which then removes said hedgehog from the game (we don’t need dead bodies hitting this floor).

Unicorn Hedgehog – This promo card can also be used only in a 2-player game, and again starts in the center during set-up. This gorgeous dancer is a wild card and is always in sync with any hedgehog it touches! So players can use it to combo and score a lot of points!

PROS

  • Cute art and theme which works in a fun way with the mechanics
  • Great 2-player game
  • Puzzley – usually a lot of options turn to turn which can really make you think and strategize for the future
  • Plays quickly (under 15 minutes)
  • Small and portable
  • Promos are cool to change up the set-up and options for play every so often

CONS

  • Can cause a bit of analysis paralysis if a player is trying to reevaluate every card in their hand each turn to decide what to play
  • Seemed a little bit clunkier with 3+ players, so I’d always prefer it at 2
  • Rules for 3+ players being online was a con for me. I understand why it happened, to keep the game so small, but I’m never a fan of having to read on a device or print out more rules, so if you’re like that too, keep that in mind
  • Luck of the draw can definitely play a big role. I had 1 game where I started with all groove hedgehogs which gave me less initial choice on where to play. You can pull from your backup dancers too once you have some, but being limited at first can make it hard to even score those dancers for a while

Final Thoughts

Overall, a very neat game that I would play pretty often with my husband. I think it has a really nice table presence, especially once you build the board out a bunch, and plays super smoothly. I think I have to recommend playing it at least twice in a row if you’re going to pull it out, just cause it is super short, but it’s worth while playing more than once anyway. Definitely check it out if you get the chance!

Overall Game Rating: 7/10
Difficulty: 3-4/10
Aesthetics: 7/10

Additional Information:
Designer – Seppy Yoon
Artist – Mark Eberhardt
Publisher – Fight in a Box
MSRP – $12.00 (Deluxe – $40.00)
BGG
BGA
Website

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