Gym Review
This review of Gym was made possible thanks to Chris Handy generously providing us with a review copy. Gym is number 9 in Chris’ Pack O Games series, which will be on Kickstarter from March 3rd. Check out our overview article for more thoughts on this series!
Ok nerds, it is time to take a deep breath and prepare yourself. We’re heading back to a place many of us hoped never to return: Gym class! Or P.E. if you’re British. Don’t worry though! You won’t be doing any exercise or having to catch anything and even better you’ll get to be the ones picking the teams!
P.E. class is forever associated with big bulky kit bags that needed hauling to and from school. Also smelling for the rest of the day. Fortunately, none of these associations need to be true any more since, 1) it’s a card game, and 2) it is the first of the Pack ‘O Games games meaning it is even more tiny than usual! Contained within is nothing more than 30 long thin cards and a set of rules. And what a game it is!
Just as you’ll remember from your school days, you’ll first be picking teams. Firstly amongst the players around the table: I recommend you make everyone line up in the middle of the room while two elected captains compare their gaming stats and take turns picking. Then you can do the same with the kids in Gym! Just like in real life, each of the nicely diverse set of kids is good at two sports to a varying degree, and completely dead weight at the other 4. For example, lean gangly Derrick is a basketball champion, and he’s lifted a few weights in his time, but hand him a table tennis bat and he’ll probably drop it on his feet. Olivia on the other hand is basically Forest Gump in female form.
These stats might give you some clue as to which kids could be good choices, but what makes this more than just a rush for the high numbers is that only 4 of the 6 events are going to be played. Which ones? Well that’s up to you! The 6 event cards will be laid out together to one side, and by picking up the otherwise useless bullies you are allowed to advance one of the events to the right one space. The cards furthest to the right (ties broken from top to bottom) will get to be played. This is where the game lies in the team picking stage, since you want to make sure the sports you have good players for actually get played! So you’ll be forced to take the grumpy faced bullies despite their appalling stats. But of course you don’t want to advance the sports too early or your opponents will hoover up all the good players. Interestingly, we use a very similar method for choosing which games to play on board game night.
After 2 rounds of team selection, those most advanced events are laid out and the real games begin! Players will now take turns committing their kids to one of the 3 spaces at each event until all are placed. Then the total skill for each team that matches a given event is added up and compared to figure out who won and by how much (the difference). The total differences from all the events determines the overall winner. Simple enough, right?
Ha! Well good luck ever getting your players to where you want them. Thing is, this school is the most chaotic mess you could imagine! Each of the events is associated with a certain action that manipulates the game. For example, dodge ball will see you moving a kid to an empty space, table tennis swaps two kids on the same side. These actions even have a tenuous link to the sport they are attributed to. Whenever you play a kid to that event, or a kid that has skill in that event (and the event is out) you can take that action. And you aren’t limited to manipulating the kids on your side either! Each turn you’ll be trying to muck up your opponent’s plans while desperately fighting to keep yours intact. Kids will be running left and right, swapping sides and back again. All the careful planning of the team selection phase is thrown straight out the window from turn 2. And it’s absolutely brilliant!
Playing the right card at the right time and to the right place offers up great combos that will have your opponents groaning and your team mates celebrating. Sometimes you’ll even be making less than optimal placements just to use a particular action or ability. Maybe it’s using weightlifting to lift one of the other team’s best players into your hand and replacing him with a useless character, or moving someone to block a key space. It is a squabble of ludicrous proportions in which even the teachers play an unwitting role.
Teachers? Oh yes, those last two events are flipped to reveal two track suit clad gym teachers whose role is to run around at the beck and call of the bullies. Just like in real life? Who knows. The important thing is that when a bully is played, in addition to the bonus action that player may also move a teacher to one side of an event. Here, they create an oasis of calm amongst the maelstrom, preventing either side from applying actions to the kid under the coaches’ watchful gaze. Useful for protecting a high scoring kid, but also for pinning down an opponent’s team that you’ve messed with. The teachers add a powerful extra layer of tactics.
The game is not without its flaws. Some may not like the inability to properly act out a strategy, indeed the second half almost renders the first obsolete, but it is such hilarious fun that for me it’s all part of the story. At two players there is also the issue of a near impossible choice between 12 cards at the start of the event phase, but at 4 or 6 players the reduced hand size per player is much more manageable. Playing with the team dynamic is much better just from the banter and feeling of camaraderie it creates. I really enjoy team games for this!
Then beyond your team you all share the funny situations the game creates. Every game is going to have a dunce card or two whose stats don’t contribute to any event, not to mention the inevitably misplaced kids, and you’ll be making up stories about their lesson that will have you all cracking up. Then there are the stories of triumph. Toothy Brian may not appear to have a lot going for him, but his late game arrival in the weight lifting event to swing the balance in our favour makes him a hero! Little Louisa is far from threatening, but just look at that American Football stat! Put her in a helmet and you’d better start running. With just a name, two stats and a charming picture, the designer has managed to imbue these cards with more character and sense of story than any ream of text in typical story driven game.
Gym is just such a hoot to play! There is just the right degree of chaos to make it funny while leaving enough room for clever manipulations of the game state. This chaos is not down to luck but through the choices of the players and this means there is no feeling of being short changed, only knowing you’ve been out played. Add to that the fun, original theme and the way cards develop characters of their own and you’ve got a great little game that you’d be crazy to miss out on!
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