Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, It's to the Mines We Go!

Day 40 - Mine Shift
Designed by John Forte Jr.

Everyone loves jewels, but too often we don't reflect on where that jewel came from and the effort that was taken to obtain the jewels for your enjoyment. Mine Shift is a quick 2 player strategy game where each player not only maneuvers their 4 jewels around the board, but they maneuver and change the very board itself! I think the cover does a great job instilling the visual idea into the player's mind. So, strap on some head lamps, grab your pick, and start singing Heigh-Ho as we enter the Mine that is constantly ready to Shift.

The game is very quick and simple to learn, and you will be playing before you know it. The game includes 27 nicely crafted tiles which have random walls placed throughout the tiles (each tile divided into 4 segments). The players shuffle the tiles and draw 10 tiles creating a 3x3 box with 2 tiles which off-shoot the square to create each player's starting piece/home tile. The goal of the game is to get your 4 jewels from your start piece to your opponent's start piece (or your home tile). Each player takes 3 actions a turn and can choose from either of these: moves a jewel (or also referred to as a stone), rotates a tile, or shifts a tile. The player must move at least one jewel during their turn.

Being able to rotate the tile pieces and shift them reminded me of The aMAZEing Labyrinth board game (Day 16), and players are allowed to jump over other stones like in Chinese Checkers (and the whole concept of moving your stones to your opponent's starting area as well). If you like The aMAZEing Labyrinth and Chinese Checkers, I think that you will enjoy this game. The game can also be adapted or changed to your liking. Because the game comes with 27 tiles, you can create a bigger starting board and the game will be different each time. The game comes in a nice tin, although it was a little larger than I originally thought it would be (it may not be as travel friendly as you might think). I love games that come in a tin. The Wife and I enjoyed the game tonight (she won by the way), but it didn't seem too challenging to either one of us. I believe kids ages 7 - 14 would enjoy this game the most, but it definitely is interesting enough that adults will enjoy it as well. Mine Shift is also a Mensa Select game winner!

A big SHOUT OUT to MindWare games for making this review possible and a thank you for their support of my A Game A Day project. You should also be exited for an up-coming review of Q-bitz. MindWare games produces some fantastic educational and thought-provoking games (I'm hoping to get a hold of Qwirkle and/or Qwirkle Cubes for an upcoming review as well!) and that is How Lou Sees It.