First Impressions: Get Bit Deluxe

Get Bit was not a hit with us...

Picked up a copy of Get Bit just before we went on holiday, thinking that the kids would enjoy it [1]. We tried it out last night and it didn't go well. The game's premise is simple. You are all failed mutineers from a pirate ship who have been cast overboard and are swimming for your lives. There is a large and hungry shark in the water who will catch and bit one of you each turn. Once you have lost your limbs, then you are dead. Once you reach the last two people, the one at the back dies and the winner escapes.

The game mechanic is simple; players each have a set of cards numbered 1 to 7 (although less cards are used with lower numbers of players - in our case it was four players so cards 1 to 5 were in play).

The cards correspond to the colour of their swimmer. Every turn, each player plays a card. The lowest numbers move to the front, but tied cards don't move (effectively moving backwards).

The shark bites the rearmost player's pirate every turn after the first. The play pieces are nice; they're made from decent grade plastic and the characters have detachable limbs for when they get eaten.

The shark also looks great.

The rules are vague; they aren't clear what to do when some plays a card lower than a tied set. We ruled that the person with the card would move ahead on the basis that the tied players don't move.

They also aren't clear when you refresh your cards, gathering back those that have been played back in. It's clear you do it when you get bit, but you also refresh when your hand is down to two cards. That's hidden in the examples.

The boys played it, but much squabbling ensued (especially when the youngest decided to refresh his hand illicitly [2] much to the disapproval of my eldest). Jill didn't seem to enjoy it that much either. I think that this is going to get sold on, as it wasn't that much fun and didn't really engage with any of us.

28 August 2016

[1] It was on offer at Gameslore, as the tin was dented. It'd been a game I'd been tempted by several times, but never bought. 
[2] Although it has to be said that he didn't actually use this to his advantage, it just upset his brother.