SNAP Review – Kombo Klash

K-K-K-Kombo! Our kids are loving Kombo Klash from Hub Games.

Game

Kombo Klash is a clever game of crazy combos by “Nero” Ondrej Sova. Originally published as Kombo Afrika by Loris Games in the Czech Republic, it has been reworked by Hub Games for an international audience.

The box says it is intended for 2-4 players, ages 10+, and takes 20-40 minutes.

Art

We love the art in Kombo Klash. Every tile type is an anthropomorphic animal. Jake Parker’s illustrated animals really pop, with a comic book style that conveys action on every tile. It’s very clearly “fighting animals” on the board.

The cloth playmat is a clever touch that gives some definition to the play area and provides a handy track to keep score around the edge.

The scoring markers are simple, but we appreciate their vibrant colors and different shapes.

Mechanics

Each player has a hand of 5 tiles. Play tiles out to the board one at a time and decide if you want to use the special ability of the tile.

Each of the eight animals has its own special ability. Nearly all will allow you to manipulate the tiles, and some will score you points as you play them. But any ability must be triggered right after the tile is played – you can’t save abilities for later.

Your real goal each turn is to make a KOMBO – a group of 3 or more identical face-up tiles touching each other. You can trigger a Kombo at any time (you don’t have to do it immediately), but you can only score a Kombo once on your turn.

To score the Kombo, add the points for each tile in the combo and move your scoring marker. Then flip all the tiles face down that were part of the Kombo.

You don’t have to play all the tiles from your hand on your turn – you can save some for later if you want.

When the board fills up, players move all the face-down tiles to the discard pile. Keep playing until at least one player passes the goal score, then finish the round.

Expectations

Kombo Klash was first described to me as “a successor to Flip Over Frog” (also from Hub Games), which made me both excited and nervous. Flip Over Frog often requires you to flip 2 stacked tiles, which is surprisingly difficult. It really cut the fun down for me, so I was nervous that Kombo Klash might have the same shortcoming.

Anitra

Since it said Kombo Klash, I knew it was going to be a fighting game. But I kind of also knew it was going to be a combo-ing game.

Elliot

I thought it was going to be like Prisma Arena [our review], where you’re playing cards to do damage to other players. Maybe flipping over tiles to show that creatures were defeated?

Asher

So, what we expected was not exactly what we got.

Surprises

It turns out that Kombo Klash is neither a battling game nor difficult to flip. Instead, you’ll be placing creatures and using their abilities to try to get yourself high-scoring combos – and block your opponents if you can!

What surprised me was how quickly our kids took to this game. It’s incredibly family-friendly and kid-friendly. Our kids are pulling it out to play with each other after school, and sometimes showing their friends.

Anitra

I think the 10+ age recommendation might be a little high, but not too far off. Our 6 year old could play, but needed a lot of help to learn. A 9 or 10 year old should be able to open up the box and start playing in 5 minutes or so.

We underestimated just how fun it was going to be to play out these animals, use their abilities, and put them together in clever combinations to get exactly the Kombo you want. Not all animals scores the same way, so you’ll always be aiming for the higher points to group together into high-value Kombos.

With its colorful characters and remarkably simple gameplay, we highly recommend Kombo Klash for families everywhere.

You can get Kombo Klash now from Hub Games or Amazon.

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Kombo Klash from Hub Games for this review.

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