Color Scheme: Great idea, bad execution?

Board Game News recently posted a review of the game Color Scheme published by Educational Insights. When I read this review I LOVED the idea of this game. It’s like Connect Four where you try to match several colors in a row. The unique twist of this game is that the color tiles are translucent and you can play multiple colors in one spot so that the COLOR CHANGES! What a great concept and a great way to teach kids about color basics.

I was sad then to read this review and learn that the game play and game construction were lacking. Most people don’t really realize or appreciate all the play testing that often goes on before a game is released to insure the rules work well and create an enjoyable gaming experience. It sounds like our friends at Educational Insights didn’t do enough game testing. Hopefully they’ll learn their lesson and republish this great idea down the road with the needed improvements.

Color Scheme retails for $34.99, but can be purchased new at Amazon for $23.45

Have any of our readers played this game? What did you think?

Heroscape Game Review

For my son’s fifth birthday recently I got him a present that was admittedly a win-win for both him and me. It was the Heroscape Game! Before I get into the review, let me justify my actions. I went to the local board game store a few weeks back with my son. He was very patient for a then four-year old as I talked to the salesman about various games. As I was talking, the salesman noticed my son getting a little antsy and showed him the Heroscape game, telling him how great it is for kids. Well, my son got so excited and for good reason. The box was big with cool pictures of dragons and various creatures. He wanted to buy it right then.

Fast forward a few weeks. I thought he would forget about the game completely, but when his birthday came around and we asked him what he wanted, Heroscape was always first on the list. So, as the loving father that I am, I gave in and got it for his birthday. I won’t mention anything about the fact that I had been interested in checking the game out already and was probably as anxious to play as he was. So that’s how Heroscape entered our lives.

Heroscape game overview

Heroscape is a all-out battle game. You set up a board with three-dimensional pieces, place your characters (most are painted figurines 1-3 inches tall) on the board and start battling it out. The last one standing wins. The game comes with several pre-set scenarios that tell you exactly how to set up the board and where to put the characters. You can just as easily make up your own board and choose exactly the characters you want. Each character has unique attributes and skills such as attack, defense, movement range, and health. There are movement restrictions based on how the board is set up. Since the board is 3-D, you actually move up and down hills and around barriers, etc. Battles are resolved my each player roling a set of dice – the player attacking roles attack dice and the player defending roles defense dice. It sounds more complex than it really is. The game mechanics are really quite simple and easy to learn.

The Heroscape game is very flexible for different ages

My favorite thing about Heroscape is how flexible it is for different ages. There are two sets of rules – basic and advanced – so even young children can understand how it works. The base requirement is that they know how to count to 10. Even kids who can’t count can play with the figurines. You could even have them ligitimately play the game and move the pieces and just resolve the battles yourself – just narrate the battle as you role the dice.

With the advanced rules, the game is enjoyable for all ages and adds quite a bit of depth and strategy. There are many variables to consider and despite the dice-rolling factor there’s a fair amount of skill involved. Advanced game play is enough to keep any-aged gamer happy, no matter how old or sophisticated.

Family Play

The Heroscape master set is large enough that you could play with several players and still have enough figures and board space. Just a warning – Many board games for families have a much more benign theme and there’s not much conflict. With Heroscape, get ready to battle against your family members. You can play with each person being independent or you can work together in teams. Boys against girls anyone?

Heroscape expansion

Heroscape has a large line of expansions available to increase the size of the board and the number of characters available. One Heroscape expansion set features marvel comic book heroes like Spiderman, the Hulk, and Dr. Doom. The expansions can be mixed and matched in any way with the base sets and still work seemlessly. You could literally have Spiderman and the Silver Surfer battling dragons and dwarves. These Heroscape expansions allow for a high degree of replayability and variety.

For boys only?

The one possible downside of Heroscape is that it seems to be a highly agressive game and may appeal more to boys. Some of the characters are kind of creepy-looking which also may turn off females. However, I’ve heard of some families where the girls love playing equally, so I guess it just depends on personality. The game includes female characters and you could buy expansions with more female characters of those appeal to the women in your family.

Price and quality

I was pleasantly surprised by the price – under $40 ($37 after tax) for the Heroscape master set which includes 30 figures and 85 board pieces. When set up, the board is quite large and takes up a good amount of space on my large kitchen table. I was very impressed with the quality of the game components. I have little fear of anything breaking, even with a rough five-year-old playing. The figures are painted and very detailed and fun to look at. Given the quality of the set and the quantity of pieces, I felt the price to be quite a good value. There are smaller starter sets as well that I’ve seen for as low as $27. They are a bit smaller, but still contain all the figures and board pieces necessary to play a full game.

Heroscape game summary

If you’re looking for a flexible, fun, colorful game to play with kids or adults (and especially with boys), the Heroscape game is a great choice. The quality components are fun to look at and play with. The Heroscape expansion sets add endless variety. The rules allow you to set your level of difficulty depending on who you’re playing with. All this for a very reasonable price. I’m predicting Heroscape will be a sound board game investment. As the game adapts to my son’s abilities we’ll be battling it out for a long time to come.