SNAP Review – Get Bit!

“What are a shark’s two most favorite words?”

“Here, fishy?”

“Man overboard!”

This is a SNAP review for Get Bit!

Game

Get Bit! is a game of swimming faster than your friends, by Dave Chalker. It’s suitable for ages 8 and up and plays in under 20 minutes. This new version from Greater Than Games and Flat River Games can be played by 2-7 players.

Art

Let’s talk about the art in Get Bit!. In a game like this, the art isn’t just in the cards, but in the industrial design as well. Gone are the Lego style men of the original game, and all of the pieces have received a wonderful touchup and are made of this really soft adorable plastic.

The theme has been tweaked to be about bath toys, and it’s adorable. Look at this cute pink shark! It looks just like a little squirter toy, and there are six little swimmer toys, as well. The cards are all bath-themed too.

And just look at these happy shark cards and the little soap tokens!

Mechanics

These swimmers sure are really, really cute. But their arms and legs still pop off!

But that’s by design. We’ll talk about it in these mechanics.

Every player chooses a swimmer and takes the matching deck of cards. Lay the swimmers out on the table in a line, but in a random order. Put the shark behind the last swimmer.

Every player chooses a card from their hand, and then reveals them simultaneously. It’s time to swim!

Any players whose cards match each other don’t move this round. Then starting from the lowest untied number, each player moves their swimmer to the head of the line.

Each player sets their played card aside. In the first round, that’s it! Go on to choose another card from your hand.

But starting with the second round, the last swimmer in line gets bit! The player removes either an arm or a leg – their choice – from their swimmer and then moves them to the front of the line. They also get to pick up all their played cards.

When a swimmer loses their fourth limb, they are eliminated from the game.

When there are only two swimmers left, the shark devours the swimmer in the back of the line, no matter how many limbs they have left. The other player is the winner!

You need at least four swimmers for this game to work properly. So if you have fewer than four players, there’s a few modifications in the rulebook.

For two players, you each control two swimmers, but as soon as one is eliminated, the other player wins. With three players, the fourth swimmer will be controlled by random draws from the deck.

Expectations

So Anitra, what did we expect from Get Bit! ?

[Anitra] I first saw Get Bit! over a decade ago now, on the old Tabletop show with Wil Wheaton. The group that played it had a blast, running out in front of each other trying not to lose limbs to the shark. The swimmers were really blocky and looked like robots. In fact, that’s how Wil Wheaton described them, they’re “robot swimmers”.

I really loved this new theme from the moment I saw it – bath toys make this game a little more lighthearted.

I expected it would go over really well with our boys. There’s something about losing limbs and being eaten by a shark – or getting your friends eaten by a shark – that’s just right for them.

But I was a little nervous about player elimination. It’s no fun to sit and watch everyone else get to play a game after you’ve been kicked out.

[Andrew] I was also concerned about player elimination, since that’s something we always think about when we’re playing family games. Like you said, it’s just not fun to sit there and watch everyone ELSE competing for glory.

Surprises

But what surprised us in this game?

[Andrew] Well, how much more flexible this version of the game can be! The original only worked at four, five, or six players. This version can handle any number of players between 2-7.

[Anitra] One reason you can do a higher player count is because one player can be the shark. They get their own special deck that determines what limb they get to bite, and sometimes penalizes swimmers in other ways. But if their card misses, they lose a “hunger token” (one of these little soap guys) instead of biting! The shark can lose by running out of hunger tokens, in which case the swimmer with the most limbs wins.

[Andrew] And then there’s the surprise of how OK our kids were with elimination. Having to wait around and watch after being eliminated isn’t really a problem in this game. Both because the games are very fast – once you’re eliminated, it’s pretty likely that the game is going to be over soon – but also because you want to watch and see what OTHER players get eliminated, too. Our kids usually were rooting for the parents to get eaten.

Of course!

Plus, they could play with these cute little guys while they were waiting.

Recommended?

[Anitra] Would we recommend Get Bit! ? Yes, I think we would, especially with preteens and teenagers. It’s incredibly fast-moving, it has a great look to it with all these 3D figures that makes it really easy to understand. And who wouldn’t want to rip the arms and legs off their little swimmer guy?

[Andrew] It’s fun at two or three, but it’s BEST at four or more players. But this is totally a game your kids can play with their friends, as young as maybe 8 or so…. or do what we do and play it as a whole family, with kids trying to out-run (or out-swim?) the adults.

[Anitra] It’s FIN-tastic!

We’re going to rate Get Bit! 4½ limbs out of 5.

And that’s Get Bit! in a SNAP!

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Get Bit! from Greater Than Games (via Flat River Games) for this review.

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