WBG Score: 7.5
Player Count: 2-99
You’ll like this if you like: Jenga
Published by: Big Potato Games
Designed by: Steve Howe
This is a review copy. See our review policy here
Do you like stacking things? More importantly, do you like watching your friends fail at stacking things, laughing at them when they fail, and watching as they have to pick up all the things they failed to stack? Well, if you answered yes to the below, you could be in luck! The good people at Big Potato Games have done it again, and made a beautifully produced version of the classic stacking game, providing the tools to play this anywhere, anytime, so long as you have access to a bottle. Let's get it to the table and see how it plays.
How To Set Up Cards vs Gravity
Place the stopper into any bottle. A glass one is best, but if you have a plastic one, that will work, just add some water to it to give it some weight. Then attach the magnetic disc to the stopper. Finally, shuffle the cards and deal an equal number to all players to hold in their hand as their own deck. You are now ready to play.
How To Play Cards vs Gravity
Players will now take it in turns to take the top card from their hand and place it onto the magnetic disc in the appropriate quadrant. Cards are coloured either red, blue, yellow, or green, and must be placed into the matching area. If a card has already been placed into this area, add the new card onto the previously placed cards. The cards have little slits in the corners, giving you a place to slot in new cards.
When you play a new card, it can only touch one other card. If it is resting on a second card or touching a second card in any way, this is an illegal move. If you knock over any other cards in the process of doing this, add them to the bottom of your hand and play moves to the next player. If you knock over the entire stack, you lose.
If all cards have been placed then the game continues. Players will now take it in turns to choose a card for the next player in turn to reposition. Color matching doesn't matter anymore, simply take the card specified out, and add it back in anywhere else. If you knock any cards down during this phase of the game, you must add them all back in before play moves to the next player.
If you get a wild, the gravity buster or gravity bender card, these can be placed anywhere, and they become the colour they are touching. The gravity buster is heavier denser card. The gravity bender is lighter more delicate card.
Is it Fun? Card vs Gravity Party Game Review
This is the perfect, quick, fun, light party game to play anywhere, anytime. You just need a bottle, a flat surface, and some willing friends. The game can be taught in seconds, and played in minutes. It's fast, fun, and creates a lot of laughs. There is not a lot of strategy to the game. Balance and distribution of card weight being all there is to it. But do you need that in all games?
The pro version comes with the extra gravity bender and buster cards, as well as some extra colour cards and the carry pouch, meaning you can take this anywhere you go. Just add a bottle.
The production of this game is off the charts. For a simple party game, it feels incredibly well produced, and the quality of the components certainly adds to the fun. If you make a mistake, you cannot blame a flimsy card or badly positioned magnetic lid!
I have had this game set up in our kitchen for the last week or so, and people have come to it for quick games all the time. This is how I see games like this working. You may not build an entire game night around it, but it certainly adds some fun at the beginning or end of a night, or just at random moments when someone challenges you to a quick game. Perfect for all trips to the pub moving forward, I am delighted to have this game in my collection.