Scurry Up!
- Board's Eye View
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
Designed by David Gordon and TAM, and published by Uncommons Publishing (aka UP Games), Scurry Up! is a set collection game where the 3-6 players represent squirrels scurrying along the branches of a tree collecting acorns, flowers, berries and bugs.
Over seven rounds (10 in a three-player game) you'll be Scouting (revealing new tree branches), Scurrying (secretly picking the location where you're sending your squirrel meeple) and Stashing (collecting your acorns, flowers, berries and bugs). It's an entry-level worker placement game but it's also a game involving negotiation and potential betrayal. That's because there are locations that only accommodate one squirrel, locations that can accommodate one or two squirrels, and locations that require exactly two squirrels. If only one squirrel goes to a double location, they get everything there; if two go there, they share; but if more than two are at that location then all leave with empty paws (ie: nothing for their Stash). Likewise for other locations where you don't meet the location's specific requirements.
Tho' there's ample scope for Prisoners' Dilemma double-dealing, Scurry Up! is all very good natured. There's even a track to move up every time you end up with nothing, and end-game points by way of compensation for the players who have suffered the most. There's similar majority scoring for the players who have advanced farthest on the flower track. Acorns give you 1 point per nut; berries give you 7 points for three, 15 points for five and 20 points for seven. Any bugs you collect are tossed in the air: those that land right side up are worth 3 points, those that land on their reverse are worth 1 point. Do that last and it adds further excitement to the scoring.
Scurry Up! is an intuitively easy-to-play family-friendly game that plays quickly (20-30 minutes) and keeps players in contention throughout. It's a game that children can play and, for anyone coming new to modern board games, it's a soft introduction to the worker placement mechanic that is at the heart of many very much heavier eurogames.