From the Publisher:

3, 2, 1 Piñata! is a fun game based on a piñata theme. You’ll collect candy cards, play piñata-themed cards, and even use a piñata stick.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided the copy of 3, 2, 1 Piñata! The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own. 

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Review:

Overview:

3, 2, 1 Pinata falls under the umbrella of a family card game. The rules are simple and it uses fairly simple math to accomplish the main mechanism. It sets up quick and is easy enough to explain in about 5 minutes to anyone new to the game.

Hand sizes stay at five cards, so even young gamers don’t struggle with holding too many cards. It has just a little of a “take that” mechanism to help keep the game fresh and engaging. The addition of the “Pinata Stick” card is  an interesting mechanism that can give a handicap to a player that could benefit from it, but it comes with a share of risk as well.

The Rulebook:

The rulebook is short and to the point. It folds up to fit in the tuck box with the deck of cards, making it simple to keep on hand should you have any questions.

One note here that I wish all publishers followed: the rules start with “How To Win”. It is a small thing, but it makes game rules so much easier to follow when you know from the start what you are trying to accomplish.

The “How To Play” section is easy to understand and has a very simple graphic to show the table layout. The featured QR code that takes to you to a “How To Play” video is becoming more commonplace, and appreciated, in today’s games.

The flip side of the rules gets you into the end game, a closer look at each of the card types and some general “What If Scenarios” that attempt to cover those strange situations that come up from time to time.

Overall, the rule book serves the purpose in a way that will not keep the gamers from having to keep coming back to it throughout the play. It gets the table setup, lays out the ground rules and lets you go about it. Exactly how a game like this should be.

This one is a quick play, for sure. Hands move quickly and the cards keep things moving towards and end the game efficiently.

Every player is dealt a hand of five cards. The center of the table features a draw pile, discard pile and a stack of candy cards that everyone is trying to acquire. Finally, the “count”, which is simply kept verbally among the players, starts at five and the game begins.

A player’s turn starts with drawing cards until they have five in hand. They then will play a card from their hand to the discard pile in an effort to either get the “count” to reach 10 or zero. Cards will add or subtract from the count in increments of one, two or three. Some utility cards will come into play, allowing players to manipulate things beyond a simple card play. As they play a card to the pile, they will announce the new count and the play rotates clockwise as normal.

Should a player get the count to ten or zero, they will then move the discard pile to the side, gather a piece of candy from the supply and the next hand starts with a new count of five. Play continues in this way until someone has acquired five pieces of candy, making them the winner.

The game does a good job of staying on theme, as far as it can without having you grab a stick and try to beat the candy out of something. Cards are in increments of three, two or one – as the title suggests. The “Pinata Stick” adds a little variety giving someone the opportunity to gain, or lose, two pieces of candy. The victory points are tracked in the value of candy cards acquired. Pull it all together and you can see the theme in front of you. It is not quite enough to make you feel like you are at a birthday party knocking candy free, but it’s enough to make the game engaging and feel unique.

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Bill Ivie Reviewer

Bill has been an avid gamer most of his life and is always willing to pull up a chair and play a game. He works in IT and has for the past 25 years. He has six kids and an amazing wife, all of which are willing to play games of differing difficulties and mechanisms. He serves as the Board Game Director for Meeple-A-Thon, a charity in the Kansas City area that runs an annual convention to generate funds. His favorite games are Ark Nova, Terraforming Mars and Dice Throne. When he’s not playing games, you can find him watching baseball or football or traveling with his family.

All of Bill Ivie‘s reviews can be found HERE.

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