Kushi Express
- Board's Eye View
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
There are no end of speed stacking games where players race each other to be the first to complete the pattern on a card. Yohan Goh's Kushi Express is essentially more of the same but with a difference... The theme here is that you are fulfilling orders for Kushi kebabs and rather than merely stacking blocks to be the first to complete a pattern, the 2-4 players are each building their kebabs by sliding onto skewers the cubes that represent the ingredients. This demands an additional element of dexterity, and even moreso when the order specifies cheese or bacon wrapped around one or two specific ingredient cubes...
This is a family game which generates much frenzied fun and in which children can compete in at least equal terms with often ham-fisted adults. When you're the first to finish, you claim the order card and so score its points value. There's a small but significant in-built catch-up mechanic, in that the player who wins an order starts the next round with their skewer in the centre of the table whereas the other players have their skewers empty and immediately to hand. And the deck of order cards includes a few that invite players to steal completed order cards from each other. Of course if you find that that leaves family members in a sulk you can fillet those cards out of the deck to eliminate this 'take that' element.
Games like Kushi Express are generally only as good as their components, and here Mandoo Games really scores. The skewers are hollow plastic tubes: sturdy but unlikely to cause anyone any harm. The ingredients cubes are made of a robust rubbery material and the cheese and bacon strips are made of an evidently tear-proof fabric. There's a deck of brightly coloured circular cards for the various orders and a central mat on which to place each round's winning kebab. Art is by Vincent Dutrait. Altogether, it's a visually appealing package and one that will stand up to the wear and tear of play - even with the aforementioned ham-fisted players.
