I don’t remember much from my childhood, though I do remember a certain little cartoon featuring two sneaky chipmunks that would often steal acorns from right under the nose of a certain yellow dog. While you won’t be taking on the role of Chip and Dale in this game, you will be aiming to score as many points as possible by rolling acorns. Of course, it won’t be that easy…rolling all squirrels or cars will add to the chaos and force players to lose all their hard-earned points for that turn. Before I go any further, I’d like to thank Marketing Coordinator Nora Meiners from Ceaco/Gamewright for providing me with a free press copy for review purposes.
Go Nuts!: 2-4 Players, Ages 8+. Average Play Time = 15 Minutes
Components
The game includes 9 custom dice (5 with squirrels, acorns, and cars and 4 with dogs and houses), 1 score pad, and one pencil.
Setup & Gameplay
Each player receives a dog die and the squirrel dice are placed in the middle of the table within easy reach of all players. One player is chosen to keep score and the player who most recently ate a nut goes first.
On a player’s turn, they’ll take all five squirrel dice and roll them. The dog die is ONLY rolled on someone else’s turn during a particular event. Rolling an acorn scores a point, rolling a squirrel scores no points, and any cars rolled are places off to the side also scoring no points. So as long as the player didn’t roll all cars or are squirrels, they can take the acorns and squirrels rolled and roll them again. It’s important to keep a running tally of how many acorns were rolled throughout the turn. Players can stop rolling if they wish to in order to score what they’ve earned. If a player has one die left but rolls an acorn, they can re-roll all five dice again and continue their turn.
If a player rolls all squirrels, they lost ALL the points they’ve accumulated that turn. However, they can earn points back by yelling “Go Nuts!” prompting a special event. The active player will re-roll the squirrels (not the cars off to the side, if any exist) as quickly and as many times as possible and keep track of the acorns rolled/points scored. Any cars rolled are NOT placed off to the side…they are simply re-rolled. In the meantime, every other player repeatedly rolls their dog die as quickly as possible and when everyone manages to roll a dog, the active player stops and counts their points. If a player rolls all cars, they lose ALL the points acquired and their turn ends.
Turns play out until someone reaches 50 points first…whoever does, wins!
Editor’s Note: The above doesn’t cover all of the rules found in the manual, but should give you an idea as to how the game is played.
The Review
“Go Nuts!” reminds me of “Zombie Dice”, but a much faster and more family friendly of it. Instead of shotgun blasts, you have cars and instead of brains, you have acorns…I think you get the idea. “Go Nuts!” is admittedly different in a few areas, namely the speed round and the fact that you can reuse the acorns you’re rolling. In “Zombie Dice”, you had to put the brains aside and hope for more on different dice from the cup. I did miss the color/risk mechanic as featured in “Zombie Dice”…that is, it was easier to roll shotgun blasts on a red die than on a green die. Here, all dice are equal.
The game is a bit different when played with four players instead of two. This especially becomes visible during the speed round where each opponent must roll a dog to stop the active player from accumulating points. It’s much easier to roll one dog (when playing with two people) as opposed to three dogs (when playing with four people) to stop the active player. The active player could potentially roll themselves way ahead of the others if one of the three players can’t roll the dog they need. You can of course adjust the rules so that only two dogs are needed in a four player game…it’s not in the rules, but I don’t see why you couldn’t try this variant yourself.
As production values go, the case is fairly portable and comes complete with a flap/lid. A magnet sitting under the surface of the lid keeps it shut when you’re trucking it around. I’d still recommend a rubber band while traveling with it though as the lid can come undone with enough force. The score pad is as basic as they come…though you won’t have to worry about ordering more when they run out as a simple grid on a piece of paper will do. In terms of fun factor, this game is a bit more interactive than “Zombie Dice” as players now have something to do when it’s not their turn (sort of). If you have youngsters in the family and you’re not keen on introducing them to zombies and shotgun blasts, then this game will fit the bill nicely.
Final Verdict: 7/10
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