SNAP Review – Hamster Roll

Every once in a while a game comes along that makes you stop and look at it. You’re just moving along on the hamster wheel of life and something comes out that is so clever, and so simple, that you just have to marvel at it. It helps when it looks great, and draws a crowd.

Such is the case with today’s game, Hamster Roll.

This is a SNAP review for Hamster Roll.

Gameplay

Hamster Roll is a dexterity game for 2-4 players age 7 and up by Jacques Zeimet.

It was recently brought to the US by 25th Century Games.

Art

So Elliot, let’s talk about the art in Hamster Roll.

I mean, it’s a dexterity game with, like, a bunch of wooden pieces.

Most of them are rectangular slabs. And as you might expect, each piece that is the same size and shape is also the same color!

But that’s not the impressive part. I mean, look at this wheel!!!

This thing is huge, and it’s really impressive when you rest it on a table.

Mechanics

That brings us to the mechanics of this game. How do you play Hamster Roll?

Start by giving everyone the same selection of pieces, and choosing a player to go first.

Set the wheel on the table, (ideally a flat, level one) and put the black cone-shaped piece on the bottom-most segment.

The first player chooses which direction the wheel will roll by putting one of their pieces in a compartment two spaces “ahead” of the cone.

From then on, everyone must play in that direction. When you place a piece, its edge must be the furthest along the wheel – and you can’t place matching pieces in the same compartment.

You also can’t race out ahead too quickly! You can only place your piece in the current compartment, the next one, or the one after that.

Ah, but from there, the sky is the limit! You can place the piece in any kind of stacking or rotational way that you choose, as long as its edge is closer to the next compartment divider than the edge of any other piece.

I’m sure you’re asking by now – if the wheel keeps rolling ahead, at some point pieces are going to fall out. What then?

If any pieces actually fall OUT onto the table during your turn, you have to take them. But if they just shift around, or fall but land back in the wheel, don’t mess with them.

OK, but what if I can’t make a legal move?

Then, there’s another type of turn you can take. The rules call it “passing constructively”. Take a piece from one of the bottom two compartments of the wheel – then move that piece in ANY compartment further ahead than where it started. It does NOT have to be the new furthest piece along the wheel.

The game ends when someone has no pieces left – they win!

That’s the main game, but the rulebook also includes a couple of interesting variants including a team variant, and what I like to call the “chaos” variant.

Expectations

So, what did we expect from this game, Andrew?

We love basic dexterity games like Drop It and I was certain we were going to have a blast with Hamster Roll. I expected balance was going to come into play, but not quite the way it did here, actually

I expected this to be a fun game. I’ve heard lots of people talk about it; I’ve seen pictures. Stacking pieces and rolling the wheel sounded like a chaotic good time.

I saw this giant wheel and the pieces. I kind of expected we’d be making it roll. It has roll in the name!

Surprises

But what surprised us about Hamster Roll?

I mentioned balance, and Elliot mentioned rolling – I didn’t realize you’d be rolling the wheel along in one direction. And I was also pleasantly surprised that, despite rolling in one direction, a full game never really required a table much more than maybe three feet long (it’s pretty short).

The wheel is also super rigid, so if you’re careful, you can pick it up from the top and move it back to the start of the table again – and it’s actually fine!

For me, Hamster Roll was fun in a different way than I expected. Yes, it’s a stacking game, and it obviously has crowd appeal. But you can get incredibly tactical with this game, placing pieces that force future players into increasingly difficult situations. And it’s a really fun puzzle – at least for me – to see if I can get OUT of those difficult situations without dropping a lot of pieces.

After we had some hard feelings on our first family game, it REALLY surprised me that our kids picked this one again when I said “let’s just play something for fun!”

This was more fun than I thought it was going to be! Even though I get upset sometimes. It’s still really fun.

Recommended?

Games like Hamster Roll are some of the best games to bring out after a big family meal, when everyone is sitting around, letting their food digest, maybe not wanting to move too much.

The box is probably a little bit too big to roll out at a restaurant, but this is a great game for dinner at home.

We definitely recommend Hamster Roll as an easy to play, easy to understand, family game.

We’re going to give Hamster Roll 5 carefully balanced pieces out of 5.

And that’s Hamster Roll in a SNAP!

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Hamster Roll 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?