So what do you do if you are a bulky Echidna who is tired of eating delicious insects all the time? You become a insect transportation system and get to work, that’s what.
Echidna Shuffle is a very simple Pick Up and Deliver game from Wattsalpoag games that I just received from my Kickstarter pledge so I thought we’d take a quick look at it.
First off, let’s just take a look at these fantastically cute components:
There are 12 of these great big bulky Echidnas – aren’t they just great. You also get bugs and stumps in matching colors. All of this will make sense in a minute.
See the Echidnas are moving all over the place and it’s your job to get your bugs back to their homes. (Bugs live in Stumps apparently). So on your turn you move Echidnas a certain number of times (based on dice rolls), picking up bugs and delivering them to the right colored stumps. It’s very simple, but also somewhat strategic.
You see, no one controls certain Echidnas. Anyone can move any of the Echidnas on their turn. And you’ll have to, because some of these stubborn Echidnas just sit there in your way if you don’t help them on their way. In addition, they have to follow the movement prescribed on the game board, so sometimes you have to go a roundabout way to get where you are going.
Also, you can split your movement between Echidnas. So if you roll a 7 and want to move 4 different Echidnas, you can as long as their total movement equals 7. You can’t move more or less, and no two Echidnas can occupy the same space at the same time. Gets a little more complicated when we add rules, doesn’t it? Not to worry, you’ll get the hang of it soon.
You can only pick up bugs with an Echidna on your turn, but bugs jump off on their home stumps on anyone’s turn, so you can actually win the game on someone else’s turn.
Speaking of winning, you do that by delivering 3 bugs to their home stumps. That’s it. Now get playing.
So, what do we think?
This game is really simple in concept. In fact, so much so, that the age on the box is 6+. We played with my niece last night and she got it after just a few questions. Luckily the strategy is a little deeper than that. Since you can move any Echidna that you want to, you often find yourself moving Echidnas carrying your opponent’s bugs so that you can get them out of your way, and also to move them out of position to return their bugs to their stumps. 
You can only use each stump once, so that also makes the game a little more complex, and the game board controls which direction you can go which also hinders your efforts.
Probably my favorite thing about the gameplay is the dice board that controls your movement.
If you roll a 2 on one turn, the next turn you are guaranteed to move 7. If you roll a 5 this turn, then next turn you move 4. You only roll the die every other turn, and then move the opposite side of the die the next turn (the die has values 2-7). This prevents the luck of the die roll from causing someone to fall way behind. Basically you will always have 9 movement every two turns. No one gets left way behind.
When you are setting up the game, you place your pickup spot on the board first, and then the player to your left places your tree stumps, so you will never truly have an advantage there either. Another challenge to overcome.
But…its all pretty great. Much more complicated than at first glance, but worth every bit, because its extremely fun and super cute. If you can find a copy, you should check it out, you wont be disappointed. Plus you can do nifty things with the Echidnas.
Tiny Ninja Approved