WoW Enterprises, £25
2-6 Players
Reviewed by Ken Tidwell
Rave comes from an English company and appeared both there and here sometime last year. The components would have you drooling in nothing flat, Siggins. The game comes in a large box covered with psychedelic, fractal designs, dancing Keith Harring people, and a set of large, stylized speakers. Inside one finds the largest set of rules known to man. It's not that the rules are long, they're just large. About the size of full sized newspaper (no tabloids here!). The rules are topped with the headline, 'RAVE - Civilization Rocked by Acid House Boardgame! Phew Wot a Scorcher! Get On and Get One Matey!!' and get sillier from there.
The front page is a basic introduction to the game in fairly large type. Inside one finds the rules (or the eeeezeeee mix) in massive type. If any rules disputes occur during the game, you can just point to the rule in question and everyone around the table should be able to read it for themselves. Finally, the back page is in smaller print and only covers the details of the game - ie it's the gamer's page. More on the rules in a second.
The board is a beautiful number embossed with silver on the outside and with a painted hex grid map of London and environs (well, sort of) on the inside. There is a stack of flyers, each with a different, ready amazing bit of digital artwork on the front and a set of directions to get you to a rave on the back. We have two sets of cards, dance cards and vibe cards, in full playing card size and good quality. Also, we find a funky stack of 'illegal currency' a set of AtoZs for finding your way around the board, and a bag of plastic E, err, energy tablets. To keep track of who's winning, the players receive pieces of a 'triptych' each time they accomplish one of the prescribed goals. Each triptych is a work of art unto itself and the three pieces interlock to form a triangle. Finally, there are brightly illustrated cardboard playing pieces with plastic stands. Oh, yes: they've thrown in two funky, full colour posters for the game. Whew. How much you say? Around $45 so, make that roughly, 30 quid! And the game is actually fun. Can you believe it?
Movement is by the roll of the dice and is affected by the type of road you're travelling on (motorways are faster than driving in the City). Players tour the city's dance clubs collecting flyers. When they spot a rave that looks fun they follow the clues on the back of the flyer until they find out where the rave is taking place. They then try to make their way to the rave before it gets busted by the roaming police helicopter and car. After each move they draw a vibe card which could be good news but also controls the movement of the police. Once at the rave, the players draw dance cards and do what they say, hoping for the magic 120 BPM (beats per minute) that will award them another piece of their triptych. But if they use up all of their Energy tablets they'll have to make a dash to the cashpoint for more money and a run to the Warehouse District for more tablets. The dance cards are a lot of fun and ask you to do all sorts of silly things which makes this a very good beer and pretzel game - heavy on the beer. Two thumbs up for Rave. The game is from WOW Enterprises at 15 Simon Court, Saltram Crescent, Maida Vale, London W9 3JA (and is available at Just Games). I seem to have something called the EeeeeeZeeee Mix version of the game. WoW also seems to stand for Wicked or Wot. Sigh. Silly to the end!
Ken Tidwell
On to the review of Axis & Allies or back to the review of Bazaar.