Wallamoppi

Tonight I will review my first real game built for two: Wallamoppi. Wallamoppi is a stacking dexterity game. It reminds me a lot of Jenga, but this are a few twists that set it above that well known game. 

Components

I love when games use the box as part of the game.  It rarely happens and it doesn't always guarantee a good game, but it does make it interesting.  Wallamoppi comes in a wooden box that is also the timer for the game.   The second part of the timer is a black marble.  Luckily it includes a replacement marble in case you lose the first one.

The next components are the 36 wooden kiwi disks.  They come and light and darks shades; one color per player.  You also receive a disk bag that can be used for storing the disks and to set up the game.

Game Play

There are two steps of Wallamoppi:  building the wall and building the tower.  You are not timed as you build the wall.  As you build the tower you can lose if you don't place your disk in time or if you knock the tower over.

Step 1: Building the Wall

To start the game players need to set up the wall.  You place all the kiwi disks in the bag and decide which color each player will play.  Each player receives one disk of that color.  Without looking the person playing the dark color draws a disk out of the bag and lays it on the table.  Next, the player playing the lighter color draws and places the a disk next to the first.  This continues until all the disks in the bag have been drawn and placed to build the wall.


Players will build the wall so that the first row has eight disks, the second row has seven, the third row six, and so forth until they end with one disk on top.  It doesn't matter which disk a player draws, they must place that disk.  When players place the disks it needs to be next two an already placed disk or centered on top of two disks.

After the last disk is placed the player using the dark color places the disk set aside at the beginning of the game on top of the tower.  The second player playing does their same with their last disk. 

Step Two: Building the Tower

Now that the wall has been built player can start building the Tower.  This is the dexterity part of the game. Like Jenga you need to remove pieces and place them on top to form a tower.  Unlike Jenga you have the added pressure of being timed!

The person playing the light color will be the timer first.  They start the timer by dropping the marble in the hole at the top of the box.  The player playing the dark color must remove one disk, using only one hand, of his or her color and stack it on top of the tower. 

But that's not all!  They then need to catch the marble before it drops to the hole at the end of the chute.  If they are successful the light player takes his turn at removing and placing the the and the dark player drops the marble. 

This continues until one player either knocks the tower over (even if just one disk from the tower falls) or they don't catch the marble before it drops.  The winner is the person who last placed a disk, in time, without knocking over the tower.

My Thoughts

One must have a steady hand and a quick mind to master the game of Wallamoppi. Not my best skills, but I like the challenge presented by this game.  You must be quick, you can't second guess, and you can't forget to catch that marble.  Which I have done, more than once!  But that makes this a fun, fast-paced dexterity game that I rate highly. 

Another plus for this game are the components themselves.  Each and every components is high quality.  The disks have a great feel to them and I love the Kiwi that is on each disk.  The marble chute is awesome!  I love how the marble rolls down the chute.  It's not much fun when you racing the marble.  When I'm the timer I love watching the marble take its journey.  One component that I don't like is the bag but that is a minor quibble.

I also like the fact that you can teach, set up and play this game in less then 10 minutes.  I don't think Jenga is even that short!  Making Wallamoppi another easy to learn, but hard to master game.

Since this is only a two player game it definitely works well with two players, which is a must for games I play.

Quick Stats:

Designers:  Garrett J. Donner, Michael S. Steer
Artists:  John Kovalic, Cathleen Quin-Kinney
Publisher: Out of the Box
Number of Players: Two