SNAP Review – Mojo

Hey Anitra, you got that Mojo?

I don’t know. Have YOU got that Mojo?

We’re a bunch of dorks who play board games, so let’s say we’ve got the card game Mojo?

Sure. And you out there can have the card game Mojo too!

Game

This is a SNAP review for Mojo, a fast-moving card game for 3-8 players that takes about 30 minutes. Mojo was designed by Antoni Guillen, and it’s published in North America by 25th Century Games.

Art

Let’s start with the art in Mojo.

This is another numbers-on-cards game, so the graphic design choices are interesting. The font is a little off-balance and feels playful to me.

There are five different colors, which represent how common a number is in the deck – blue are the least common and pink are the most common.

I thought it was really interesting that each color has a corresponding animal, which shows up in the corner here below the number, but also as a subtle background design. I was paying so much attention to color that I didn’t even notice these animals until I’d actually played the game a few times.

This is a really great feature because we have some friends who have issues with different colors, so it’s a nice touch!

Then there’s the Mojo card. It has a swirl with all five colors – and the subtle animal designs still show up in here, too!

Mechanics

OK Anitra, we’ve got colored cards and a Mojo card – what do we actually DO with them? How do you play this game?

You try to get rid of your cards!

Everyone starts a round with eight cards in their hand. On your turn, you play a card onto the discard pile.

If it’s smaller than the number that was on the pile, your turn ends.

If it’s larger than the number that was there, then you have to draw a new card from the deck, and THEN your turn ends.

But, if it’s exactly the same as the number on the pile, you play another card. If you’ve got a bunch of the same number, this can be a great way to get them all out of your hand!

If you have three or fewer cards left in your hand at the end of your turn, you enter Mojo Time! You won’t be able to get rid of any more cards this round. Instead, place your cards face-down in front of you.

Everyone else keeps playing cards as usual. When it comes to your turn, flip one of your cards face-up.

More players may enter Mojo Time as they reach three or fewer cards, as well.

When someone flips their last card face-up, the round ends. That player takes the Mojo card.

It’s time to score!

You score all of your cards, whether they were on the table in front of you, or if you still had them in your hand.

But don’t worry! For each color you have, keep ONLY the highest number card in that color. Those are the numbers you add together to get your score.

If you have the Mojo card, and your score is the lowest at the table this round, your score becomes ZERO (as shown here on the Mojo card).

But if you have the Mojo card and someone ELSE has the lowest score, you must ADD ten points to your total for the round – flip the Mojo card to the other side!

Record everyone’s round score, discard all the cards, and deal out new hands from the deck without re-shuffling. The Mojo player goes first, and the Mojo card determines the direction of play.

The game ends after a round where a player has reached at least 50 points. Then whoever has the fewest points, wins the game!

Expectations

So what did we expect from Mojo?

At first blush, it was hard for me to know what to expect. It’s a card game, there’s not a lot of visual cues telling you what to do on the cards, so honestly I was pretty open on this one.

When I first saw Mojo, I thought it might be a trick-taking game. It also made me think of Mind Up!, which we reviewed a little while ago. And that’s not surprising, because they were both illustrated by the same artist.

I learned it on Board Game Arena and then taught it to the family.

Oh, did you?

Surprises

That was the first surprise – I absolutely stunk at teaching this game; at least the first time.

It feels really simple, but there are several small things that aren’t really intuitive about how the rules work. So before you play, go back and review the Mechanics section of this review to make sure you didn’t miss anything!

Or, if you’re like us and you assign one of your children to figure the game out and teach it, you’re going to want to double-check.

That’s kind of the warning I mentioned in my expectations, though.

There’s no scaffolding to give you direction on how the game works, or really that much in the way of graphic design to direct you in how to use the cards. And that’s okay – after all, playing cards have been around for hundreds of years and they don’t have any of that stuff either! It’s not necessarily a negative, just something to be aware of.

Recommended?

So Anitra, do we recommend Mojo?

We definitely recommend it as a fun family game that’s a little bit more strategic than some of the other “numbers on cards” games.

I’d even go farther and say that if you’re a hobby gamer and the best you can do is get Uno to the table with some of your family, you should seriously consider Mojo. It’s got great Uno vibes but it has a little bit more decision space when you’re playing.

It’s inexpensive, so it’s worth taking a chance on, and once you play, you’ll be thankful you never have to Draw 4 again.

We’re giving Mojo 4 colors out of 5.

And that’s Mojo, in a SNAP!

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Mojo from 25th Century 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?