SNAP Review – Lucky Numbers

So tell me kids…. Do you feel… lucky?

I mean, about numbers. Do you think you’ve got the lucky numbers?

This is a SNAP review for Lucky Numbers. Fill your garden with clovers and watch your luck grow!

Game

Lucky Numbers is a game of sequencing and luck. It was designed by Michael Schacht, published by TIKI Editions in France, and brought to the USA by Luma Imports. Up to four players ages 8+ can play a game in 20 minutes or less.

Art

Illustrations by Christine Alcouffe are simple but effective. Colorful clovers with golden edges match up precisely with the 16 clover spots on each garden board.

The pieces are chunky and easy to pick up and put down.

I love the little ladybug in one corner of each board! (We think this is to show you the orientation of the board.)

Mechanics

The game starts with four numbered clovers on your board, along a diagonal line from top left to bottom right.

On your turn, you may either take a face-down clover from the middle of the table, or take a face-up clover that someone else has discarded. Then place that clover somewhere in your grid.

You may place it in an empty space, or exchange it for a clover already in your grid. Any exchanged or discarded clover is placed face-up for all players to see.

Your goal in Lucky Numbers is to create four rows and four columns of ascending numbers. Whenever you place a number, it must be larger than any numbers on the left in its row or above in its column, and smaller than any numbers to the right in its row or below in its column.

You win the game by being the first player to fill all 16 spaces on your board!

If you’d like to play Lucky Numbers solo, there are 40 puzzles to play. Swap adjacent pairs of clovers to get all the rows and columns to show ascending numbers. (You can also swap clovers on opposite ends of the board.)

Expectations

Lucky Numbers looks like a very simple game. The art caught our eye (Andrew: “I have some Irish heritage”), and sequencing games are generally pretty easy to learn.

We had some experience with Lucky Numbers through its excellent implementation on Board Game Arena, so this influenced our assumptions coming into the game. We knew it was a great drop-in drop-out experience with perfect information – Nothing is hidden when you play.

We also knew, both from the name of the game, and the theme, and the simple mechanics, that luck was going to be a major factor here. This is important to know going in so you don’t expect lots of strategy and just end up with bad luck instead.

Our kids weren’t very excited about it, since it’s basically just numbered tiles on a small board.

Surprises

Once we played, our kids discovered they liked the game! It moves very quickly and doesn’t overwhelm you with decisions. Because it was easy to pick up and put down, nobody felt like they had to keep a bunch of information in their heads.

Like we said, we actually tried Lucky Numbers on Board Game Arena before we played it in person. We were surprised that it moved just as quickly in person as it it did when a computer was handling all the fiddly bits.

Our last surprise is that the game offered a great new way to talk about probability, and how to shape your luck by placing numbers to leave “room” for a greater range of numbers in your empty spaces. Teaching this kind of opportunity planning is a very valuable trait, especially in boardgaming. It was really helpful that it was so obvious to see it here.

Recommended?

Lucky Numbers is a compact game that moves fast, and hits the right “puzzle” notes. It’s a light game that feels light. It’s easy to set up and play. It would be great if there were a cloth bag so we didn’t need to space out the pieces and make sure they were face down, but this was probably left out for cost reasons. Lucky Numbers is available for $20 or less.

We love the quick game play, the opportunity to teach some probability and deductive reasoning, and approachability for kids as young as 8 (maybe even a little younger!) We give lucky numbers 4 clovers out of 5.

Find it on Amazon or at your friendly local game store.

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Lucky Numbers from Luma Imports for this review.

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