SNAP Review – Something Wild!

[Andrew] Anitra! Are you ready for something new? Are you ready for something fast? Are you ready for something… wild?

Game

[Anitra] This is a SNAP review for Something Wild!, a card game for 2-4 players from Disney and Funko Games. The box says it’s suitable for ages 6 and up and it plays in about 15 minutes. It’s got this cute little character right here! He’s so cute!

Art

[Andrew] Let’s hop right into the art on this one. There are a bunch of versions of Something Wild! and each one is themed around a Disney character.

[Anitra] Or a Disney-owned character.

[Andrew] Something like that.

This one right here, we’ve got the Mickey Mouse Steamboat Willie set, but there’s a huge variety – from cartoon villains, to Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, and more. They’re all illustrated in this distinctive Funko-Pop style.

[Anitra] Each set comes with one of these little minifigures and two types of cards: Character cards and Power cards.

[Andrew] The Character cards are the main playing cards, numbered 1-9 in five brightly colored suits. Each number depicts a different “character”, but the characters don’t really matter, just the number and the suit.

[Anitra] All the Power cards, on the other hand, depict the “main character” of the set, on the back and on the front. They show the suit down here at the bottom. The rest of the card is devoted to large icons depicting a unique “power” that players can use during the game.

Mechanics

[Andrew] Talking about those powers, let’s talk about the mechanics and how you actually play Something Wild!

[Anitra] Every player starts with a hand of three cards. Put the Character deck, the Pop figure, and a face up Power card on the table.

[Andrew] On your turn, you draw the top card from the deck and play a card from your hand into the area in front of you, your “tableau”.

[Anitra] Then, if you played a card that matches either the suit of the current Power Card, or has the little figure icon on it, take the pop figure.

[Andrew] If you have the figure in front of you, you may use a Power card. Either the one in the center of the table, or any one that you have personally scored.

[Anitra] Speaking of scoring, let’s talk about how you score!

[Andrew] If you have a set of three identical numbers in any suits, or a run of three numbers in numerical order all in the same suit, then you score! Discard those three cards. Take the current face-up Power card from the center of the table as a reward, and put a new Power card in the middle of the table.

[Anitra] If you’re able to use a Power card as part of your turn, it may help you achieve a set or a run for scoring.

[Anitra] If you didn’t score this turn, check the area in front of you, and make sure it’s still at five or fewer cards. If you have six or seven cards, you’re going to need to discard to get back down to five.

[Andrew] The first person to collect three Power cards wins the game.

Expectations

[Andrew] So Anitra, what did we expect from Something Wild?

[Anitra] I’d seen these boxes around for a year or two. I love the idea of a simple family card game with these cute characters.

[Andrew] I’m a cute character!

[Anitra] Yes, you are. I thought it would play a little like UNO or Zeus on the Loose – playing cards out into the center and then “stealing” a character with certain kinds of plays.

[Andrew] For me, the 6+ on the box told me this was going to be simple, and the set collection made me think of classic card games.

Surprises

[Anitra] But I was really surprised this was actually a set-collection/rummy kind of a card game. That was not what I was expecting at all!

As we played through the game, one person usually pulled ahead quickly, but eventually everyone else caught up. Every game we played, most players already had two power cards when someone finally got a third one.

[Andrew] The randomness in this game is a lot like what you find when you play games with a classic deck of cards. In fact, other than the Power cards, it pretty much is a classic deck of cards. That randomness makes the game usually balance out pretty naturally. But even though it’s nicely balanced, we didn’t have a lot of fun.

It feels like something is missing, either more choice or more luck, something like that. As it is, you just play out your cards and hope you can use a Power when it might do you some good, maybe, if you get lucky. There’s just not a lot of decisions to make because there’s no shifting around of cards as you play the game.

[Anitra] With ten different Power cards in the box, we assumed this would add some variety to our games, but even here, it felt very same-y. Most of these powers – at least the ones in this set – are focused on making cards wild or redefining what kind of sets you can score. We did find two powers that have a chance to make other players discard, and two that let you draw and play an extra card on your turn. But all of these are pretty limited in how and when you can use them.

[Andrew] One thing I do think would add interest is combining multiple decks together, which is something the game does actually support. In those cases, you’ll need to have the correct character in front of you to use a certain Power card, because they are related to the character. That could definitely mix it up, and a larger deck means you can probably add a couple more players to the game if you wanted to.

[Anitra] Sure.

Recommended?

[Andrew] So Anitra, do we recommend Something Wild?

[Anitra] I don’t think we can recommend this game for families like ours who play a lot of games. You’re going to want more than what’s in this box.

But, it’s a great step up from classic card games for families who play a lot of those games now. Like Rummy, or Uno, or Go Fish – this game will feel just a tiny bit more complicated than those. Your choices on each turn are always very limited, and there’s just a little bit of interaction between players.

[Andrew] So Anitra, what are we going to rate Something Wild! from Funko?

[Anitra] We’re going to rate it 2½ Mickeys out of 5.

And that’s Something Wild! – in a SNAP!

Interested in trying it out? Find Something Wild! on Amazon or at your local game store for under $10.

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Something Wild! from Funko Games 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?