WBG Score: 7
Player Count: 2-4
You’ll like this if you like: Just One, Dixit, Wavelength.
Published by: Hachette Board Games UK
Designed by: Karim Aouidad, Johann Roussel
If you are looking for a new family game for your young children with cute art then check out this box art...
Sold? Great. You can find links on how to buy the game here.
If you need a bit more, I understand that. I suppose?! Rules, mechanics, and game play do matter a bit.
How To Play
To set up Gigamons, lay the tiles in a three-by-three grid as below. Pile the rest of the tiles in stacks near by. That's it! you're ready to play!
Players then take it in turns to flip two tiles, showing all players what they flip, looking for pairs. If you find two matching tiles, you can take them and place them into your own personal pile. If you don't find a match then you must flip them back to their blank side and let the next player take their turn. The classic game of pairs.
If you ever get three of the same type of tile then you can convert those tiles into the corresponding Gigamon standee. The first player to get three Gigamons or the player with the most Gigamon's when the tiles run out wins the game.
Children will love the art in this game. My two certainly do! The Gigamon characters are brightly coloured with mainly open and friendly faces. They are essentially glorified ways of scoring points, but for children, what do you think most would prefer? A hypothetical point?Moving a score token one space on a board? Or a large colourful Gigamon standee to hug?
There is a small variant that you can add into the game once your children become familiar with the main mechanic. Each tile has a small symbol on the bottom left. When ever you find a match you can enact this power instantly. They are all self explanatory, but there is simple guide in the rule book if any ever escape you. The plus one means that as well as the two tiles you take that have you matched, you can also take the top tile from the stack.
Other powers include being able to to look at four of nine tiles in secret, place stone tiles on top of the main tiles so other players cannot take these on their turn, switch a tile you have with a tile someone else has, or destroy another players tile. I will let you see if you figure out which one is which below.
See. Easy right. There is also a wild symbol that makes the character on the bottom right above act as a any tile. Flip this little character with any other tile and you have found a pair!
There is one final piece who strangely doesn't look at happy, (maybe he has a headache?) but gives the player who finds this pair a second turn.
Overall, Gigamons is a highly polished, simple family game, that works perfectly for younger gamers. The art is gorgeous, the components are all well made and sturdy, suitable for little hands; and the rule set is simple but rewarding.
I can see this becoming very popular in my household as it's so quick and easy to set up and play. You will be opening the box and packing away within 15 minutes most times, if you play just the once! But this is the perfect "just one more" game to have when your kids are not quite ready to call it a night yet, and you are happy to say yes if it only takes 15 minutes!
