SNAP Review – Tapple 10

What’s a thing in the yard or garden that starts with P?

uh… Picket fence!

All right, you got it! Now do it again.

This is a SNAP review for Tapple 10.

Game

Tapple 10 is a speedy word game in a small box, from the makers of Tapple. The box here says it’s for one or more players, ages 8 and up, and it plays in less than 15 minutes.

Art

Just like the original Tapple, there’s really no art here to speak of.

These cards are divided into four segments, in gray, black, and two different shades of blue. The back of each card has a single letter, in one of the four colors.

There’s also a 15-second timer in the box. And that’s it!

Mechanics

So, how do we play this game? And why is it called Tapple 10?

Well, it’s called Tapple 10 because there’s actually ten games in the rules that use the same cards and timer.

Most of them involve racing to shout out a word that fits the combination of a letter and a category, and then taking the letter card as a reward. Some involve taking turns, and getting as many right answers as possible while the timer runs.

There are team-based games, where control passes back and forth between two players or two teams.

The longest (and biggest) game is called Alpha Build. You spread all the cards out on the table, letter side up. Every player uses the letter cards to build a short word – three, four, five letters, depending on your difficulty. Then players take turns replacing a letter in their word with a letter that’s still on the table. The last one to be able to replace a letter wins the game.

Expectations

So, that’s one of the ten games in Tapple 10. We’re not going to talk about all of them. But in general, Anitra, what did we expect from this game?

We really enjoy Tapple. And you can find our review for it up here somewhere. So I was excited for something similar that was more portable… and hopefully quieter.

Spin-off games are really hit or miss, though. I was hoping that this wasn’t going to be a dud.

Once I looked in the box, I was a little nervous that this color scheme wouldn’t work. Light blue, medium blue, black, and gray?

I get nervous sometimes with these “system” games. “Here’s 10 games in the box that you can play with all these same cards!” Usually, you play one or two of them, and even those aren’t as good as a game that might be purpose-built for the kind of experience that those games are trying to replicate.

Surprises

But we were surprised by this one.

We were. There certainly are a bunch of different games in the box – it’s called Tapple 10 for a reason, like we said – but they’re all pretty close mechanically. Even if we don’t end up playing a bunch of them, and only play one or two of the modes; I still think I might like some of those modes better than regular Tapple anyway!

It’s a little gimmicky, like Andrew said. It’s as if someone was handed a stack of cards and a timer and asked, “How many different ways can you make a game with these?”

But! That doesn’t mean these games aren’t fun. The first one in the rules, called Tapple 10 Alpha, really feels very much like big brother Tapple, while being quieter and easier to bring to a public place like a restaurant.

And about half of the games have a solo mode, where you play a number of rounds and just try to beat your own high score. It’s not something we’d do often – Anitra probably more than me – but we definitely do appreciate that it’s there.

The colors really do work! They’re different enough in value and saturation, that it’s really quick to identify and match them.

Recommended?

So Andrew, how do we feel about Tapple 10?

The best pick-up-and-play games are the ones where you can look at the components and just kind of figure out what to do. And that’s totally true here. It’s pretty self evident that when you flip over a card, that letter means something, and it doesn’t take much of a stretch to connect the colors. In this, Tapple 10 absolutely shines.

I don’t think Tapple 10 gives you quite the same physical gameplaying experience the original Tapple does, because there’s no clicking timer, there’s no tabs to push down, but in terms of actual gameplay, there’s actually more here, and you can more easily bring it with you when you travel.

I totally agree with all of that. For all the plusses and minuses compared to the original, I think at the end of the day we’re going to give this the same exact rating but for different reasons, and that is four letters out of five.

And that’s Tapple 10, in a SNAP!

Find it at Amazon or your local source for toys and games.

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Tapple 10 from The Op 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?