SNAP Review – Super Mega Lucky Box

Why does this game have us singing? Watch the video and find out:

Game

Super Mega Lucky Box is a flip-and-write game for 1-6 players by Phil Walker-Harding and published by Gamewright. It plays in 20 minutes or less and is best for ages 8 and up.

Art

This is an abstract game. The art is mostly numbers and boxes. And yet the illustrations by Serge Seidlitz immediately conjure up images of Schoolhouse Rocks and other 70s cartoons.

The dry erase markers work really well on the cards – and erase cleanly. Thank you, Gamewright, for giving us good erasers!

There are tokens for lightning and moons. And they’re really solid and easy to grasp, even though they’re quite small.

Mechanics

Let’s talk about the mechanics of Super Mega Lucky Box. It’s basically BINGO with some strategy and combo-ing.

Every player picks a few Lucky Box cards and grabs a scorecard and marker.

Split the 18-card number deck in half so you have a deck of 9, then flip the number cards one at a time into the middle of the table.

When a number is revealed, everyone crosses out that number somewhere on one of their Lucky Box cards. If that cross makes three in a row, you’ll unlock a bonus! Stars and moons are end-game points, but number bonuses let you cross off more boxes, and lighting bolts let you change a future number drawn from the deck.

When the deck runs out, the round is over. If you’ve completely filled any of your Lucky Box cards, you’ll get big points. Everyone gets a choice of one new Lucky Box card to add to their tableau, then you move on to the next round.

After four rounds, the game is over; tally up your points and see who got Super Mega Lucky!

Expectations

We’ve got all these cards and this bubbly art – what did we expect from Super Mega Lucky Box?

From the first time I heard of it, I knew I was going to like it. I enjoy flip-and-write games, I generally like games by Phil Walker-Harding, and I love abstract games. Plus, I saw that you could build combos. Who doesn’t like combos?

I wondered if this might scratch the same itch as Fleet: the Dice Game, another favorite in our family. I did expect that it would be quite a bit simpler than Fleet: the Dice Game, and more suitable for families.

This game is combotastic! It’s super fun when you set stuff up, and you get the one card that you need, and it creates a combo that clears off multiple cards at the same time. However, just like other games with combos like this, it might get hard to remember all of the different things you do as you go along, especially if you’re in a family environment and get distracted.

Surprises

Lucky is right there in the name, and yet the game is a little bit more dependent on luck than I really wanted it to be.

It feels great to get combos, but you still need the luck to go your way, between the Lucky Box cards that you draw and the numbers that are drawn, you just might not ever get the number combination you need.

If you set up a big combo – like I talked about it before – and you never get the number you need to set it off, you’re just waiting and waiting.

Our middle child Asher is not a fan. He just doesn’t like this Bingo-style of game. It was a real bummer, because we have so much fun playing it. But that’s OK.

I also like that there is a solo mode, and it’s almost exactly the same as the multiplayer game. You still get the joy of combos and the agony of waiting for just the right number to come up.

Recommended?

Super Mega Lucky Box is incredibly fast-moving and very easy to explain. It can be a lot of fun with the right group – one where you can all groan together or cheer together for the numbers that come up.

It’s not a great choice for players who hate getting trapped when they’re unlucky and can’t figure out a way around it.

Sometimes you can mitigate luck in games, this is not one where you can do that. So if that’s something that drives you crazy, it might not be the right game for you. But for our family, this one really worked (except for Asher).

At under 20 bucks, this is a can’t miss for the fun-loving, not-too-serious gamers in your life.

We’re going to give Super Mega Lucky Box 4 lucky stars out of 5. Count your lucky stars!

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Super Mega Lucky Box from Gamewright for this review.

This post contains affiliate links, which do not change your price, but help support The Family Gamers.

SNAP review music is Avalanche, provided courtesy of You Bred Raptors?