Do you think you can impress the Emperor Penguin? The Emperor loves jewelry, so it’ll take some pretty spectacular shinies to catch his eye. Your team of 5 penguins must must climb, and slide, to collect and convert as many rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds as they can in order to achieve victory! Ready? Set. Slide!

What Is It?

Modular Board – Each level of the valley has tiles that come out randomly each game. Some won’t be used and their positions will change as well

Dice Rolling – Players have 3 dice to choose from each turn. The number on the die they choose determines which of their penguins they can move

Chaining – Sometimes when moving, players will be able to bump their penguins to access different tiles, which may have more desirable actions/rewards. They will only activate the tile the last penguin moved on to,

Set Collection – Players will be collecting gems to turn in for various objective cards – jewelry to impress the Emperor!

Who Is It For?

  • 2 to 5 Players – I think it’s fine at 2, but there’s not as many opportunities to get the “everyone abilities,” because you won’t be on as many tiles with other players. I think 3+ is best, and I think 4 players is the sweet spot
  • Ages 10 & Up / Family-Weight Game Fans – I think the rules are very streamlined and the game is very accessible to a large audience
  • Fans of adorable penguins and “sliding” around the board and Fans of set collection
  • Players who can adjust to a little bit of luck (i.e. if they don’t roll the number of penguin they want to move)

PROS

  • Aesthetics – I love the art! The penguins are so adorable, and the board looks great on the table
  • Components – The screen-printed wooden penguins look great, I also really like the custom dice. The tiles are a nice quality as well.
  • I like that you can only bump your own penguins, so you can’t just move people around and mess them up, and I think it’s cool that you can activate abilities if you’re on a tile where another player ends their movement
  • Theme works well – I love the sliding penguins
  • Rules are well-written

CONS

  • Symbology – The “cost” arrow on some spots blend into the tiles a lot (they are white just like the snow/ice) so it’s hard to see at first
  • Luck – You can get some rolls you don’t want, but at least you can always move a penguin, even if it isn’t the move you wanted. I have seen games though where a player’s guild symbol barely comes out on the objective cards, which can be unfortunate since those are extra points
  • With less players, it’s too easy to remain spread out, which makes the “everyone abilities” less exciting

Final Thoughts

Overall, I really enjoyed this one! It has a great look, really fun and smooth mechanisms, and streamlined gameplay.

Once I was more familiar with the game, I was paying more attention to those slightly hidden arrows, so just keep an eye on that when you set up your first game, because they can really blend in!

I did think that 2 points per guild symbol you collected seemed like a lot for something that comes out randomly, but there wasn’t much you could really do for that.

I think the game is approachable for younger audiences, and players who are newer to games, but still very enjoyable for more experienced gamers too. If you like set collection and penguins – check it out!

Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 7/10

Designer – Shane F. F. Carr
Artists – Kenzie Lindow, Josh Nelson
Publisher – Left Justified Studio
MSRP – $40.00
Website

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

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