Wacky Wacky West Board Game

by Pamela Laurenne Laserna

(boardgamebeast.com)

Wacky Wacky West Board Game
Manufacturer:
Mayfair Games
Number of players:
2-4
Ages:
9+
Time:
60 mins

Quick verdict

Wacky Wacky West is a reprint of the 1991 Spien des Jahre winner Drunter und Drüber. The rules and game play is identical to the original, only the artwork and title were changed.

The game and gameplay

The game has a rather bizarre premise. Set in the old west in the town of Rossdorf, some disturbed locals decided to destroy their town and rebuild the buildings but forgot to include city walls, a river and roads. It is the players’ job to build the forgotten components by laying track, street and river tiles on the board.

Anything in the way will be eliminated with the exception of outhouses. These highly valued outhouses are protected by a town ordinance. The townspeople take a vote before the outhouses can be removed.

The idea is to construct and maneuver the railroads, river and road in such a way so as to avoid the type of building you want to protect, while at the same time destroying other players’ buildings. The game continues until no players can place a tile.

Players tally the points of their tile card and matching buildings that have not been demolished. The player with the most number of a single type of building wins the game.

Despite its weird back story, the game is very simple to understand and quick to play. This makes it suitable for people with little or no experience of board games.

More advanced players won’t be so thrilled with its game play as it somehow lacks depth and is on the verge of being bland.

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Decisions don’t really involve a lot of analytical thinking. Most, if not all, of the strategy part of the game rest on the management of the tiles. These tiles are randomly dealt and the ones players receive at the beginning of the game will be all there is to it until the end of the round so there isn’t really a lot of player control.

The voting part isn’t really as dramatic as one would think. It does get quite annoying that a vote must be held every time a player attempts to place a segment over an outhouse.

The verdict

Wacky Wacky West is an average game at best and while it would still likely entertain families who aren’t regular board game players, it is not recommended for the more discerning gamers.

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