Forget everyone you ever thought you could trust, detectives. We have 13 suspects and even Sherlock Holmes himself is among them. You’ll need to outwit your fellow crime solvers to be the first to crack this case! Hurry, the game is afoot!
Tag: review
Are you ready to harness the power of the elements? Don’t get over zealous – the goal is to focus on just one element, and channel its’ power completely. Spread yourself too thin and you’re bound for disappointment (and a low score). Pay attention to the dodekka’s value, and maybe what your opponents are picking up, to try and leave them with everything they don’t want. Tread carefully, you’ll need a little luck, and a little strategy to get ahead!
If paying your student loans has got you down, try it in game form instead! Take on the role of a millennial manatee and try to beat all your friends to the debt paid finish line. There’s ventures, volunteer positions, and more to explore along the way, and maybe you’ll even get to destroy an industry in true millennial fashion! Ready to get started? Then pass the avocado toast, and let’s dive in!
What Is It?
A light strategy, worker placement game with some light engine building, and just a little bit of take that. Each turn players place their manatee meeples on the board to gain coins, buy business ventures, take a volunteer card (which give players a one-time ability), take the 1st player token, or pay back student loans. Once players collect the benefits from their spots, a manatee card is flipped out, which may trigger rewards for some players based on their venture cards, or give everyone 1 coin if no rewards are triggered. All spots can only have 1 manatee (aside from paying loans) and players can only hold 7 coins at a time, so players need to balance collecting, buying, and paying loans in order to pull ahead of their opponents!
Who Is It For?
- Millennials / people who like a cute millennial joke
- Ages 10+ would be able to handle the mechanics
- 1-4 players as it works well at any player count!
- Players who are okay with a little take that (i.e. stealing coins)
- Newer gamers, or those looking for light mechanics and easy turns
Components + Quality
The pieces in this are overall very cute! Board: small and cloth. It’s thin, but pretty nice, and all the spots are very clearly printed. It folds up to fit in the fanatee pack, so it remains a bit creased/wrinkly, but not too bad.
Wooden Tokens: There are manatees, circular trackers, and the avocado toast. All of them are nice quality, pretty thick, and the screen printing is cute/aesthetically pleasing.
Fanatee Packs: Simple cardboard, printing is clear, and the spots are the right size for the little trackers.
Cards: All pretty average quality overall. The art is simple on most, more detailed on the venture cards, but it’s cute and very thematic. All the iconography is pretty clear, although some of the shirts and haircuts of the manatees are a bit similar (for rewards triggering) so I wish they had been labelled on the manatee cards as well.
Rules: Short and straightforward in a little folded pamphlet. I actually thought they were folded in a weird way, where there was no obvious front/start so it was strange at first.
Box: The “box” is the fanny “fanatee” pack itself, which is definitely super cute, and I’m surprised everything fits so well inside of it. However, it’s not convenient when it comes to actually trying to store the game on a shelf.
Variants
Solo: Very solid solo mode that I really enjoyed. You can play against 1-3 AI manatees. There is a small deck of cards and each AI turn, you flip a card and do the first action possible for them. It’s very smooth and simple, there’s nothing convoluted to do or remember for the player, and it still gives the player room for strategy because they still need to be aware of what the AI manatees are doing and plan the best times to take certain actions themselves, especially paying debt.
Long Game: Instead of being the 1st to pay 20 coins of debt, you need to pay 40! This version gives players a chance to see more cards and maybe uncover the extra board spots under the decks – these sometimes won’t be seen in a 2 or even 3 player game, depending on players’ strategies. It’s a nice option if you have played before and just want a longer experience. It’s also easy to keep track since the trackers have “20” printed on one side.
PROS
- Funny / cute without being cringey or mean
- Nice art
- Manatee cards have fun facts for players to enjoy
- Plays very smoothly; turns flow well and plays quickly
- Easy to learn / teach / play
- Good for a wide range of ages / gamers
- Solo mode is easy to pick up and works well; not a lot of upkeep for the player
- Easily portable because you can wear the box!
CONS
- While I think the packaging is cute, it’s just not practical. Everything fits inside, but you have to be careful when putting it in not to bend the rules or cards, and it’s also not easy to store on your shelf
- I wish there were more volunteer cards and a random 8 came our each game, so that you never knew which abilities would be available
- I also wish there were a few more solo cards so you didn’t have to shuffle as often, but that’s not a deal breaker by any means
- I mentioned this in the quality, but some t-shirt colors and hair cuts look very similar. They’re named on the venture cards (i.e. “earth tone shirts”) but not on the manatee cards, so I would have liked to see them labeled on both, especially since there was room up top on the manatee cards.
Final Thoughts
As a millennial myself, I thought this was super cute! It pokes a little fun without being super mean or over the top (which is what I tend to see with this sort of theme) and it has solid mechanics to back it up too. I wish it has come in a box with the fun fanatee pack as like an added “bag” option thrown into it, but other than that, it’s neat all around. I think even if you don’t really care about the theme of manatees and/or millennials, it’s a nice light game with easy to follow mechanics and smooth turns, so you could easily play it with friends and family. If you prefer solo, I would also recommend the solo mode if you like light/quick games with simple upkeep for the stand-in “players.” Overall, if you like the mechanics it has, and are looking for a light and adorable game, check this one out!
My Final Ratings:
Overall Game – 7/10
Aesthetics – 7/10
Replay Value – 7/10
Difficulty – 4/10
*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*
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