Aug 21

A Preview of Koala Rescue Club, an Adorable Print and Play Game

In 2022 the koalawas listed as an endangered species by Australia's Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Koalas rely on the eucalyptus tree to live in and eat. The Koalas and their habitat are in danger from urbanization, brushfires, agriculture and other threats. Koala Rescue Club is putting a spotlight on this issue through a wonderful print and play game. Designed by Phil Walker-Harding designer of Sushi Go, Koala Rescue Club is on Kickstarter until August 25th 2024 for only 6 US dollars.

Setup

The setup for a print and play is super easy, print then play. Well there is a little more to it. Players can print and laminate their game I do this with most of my print and play games 1 because I use games as a way to go off line and 2 my awesome wife Mary got me a laminator. Players can also play on their tablets or desktops for a really great sustanible option. The only other thing you will need is a 6 sided die and a dray erase marker if players decided to laminate.

Game Play

Game play is fairly simple like most Print and Play games. This is a puzzley game where a player will roll a die then that determines what polyomino (think Tetris) shape is going to be drawn. There are two aspects to how players will mark their sheets. First the players will have to plant trees then they will fill the trees with adorable koalas. Once a player has some trees circled on their sheet they they can place koalas on later turns. To place a koala a player has to have existing trees and then use the rolled polyomino shape to place koalas on the already circled trees.

The game is played over 30 rounds of circling trees or placeing koalas. I got a preview of Map 1 there are 2 maps in the Kickstarter bundle and when future maps come out if you are a Kickstarter backer you will get access to them. On map 1 There are 5 areas to plant trees and place Koalas. Each of the areas gives a bonus when players complete a row or collum. To complete a row or collum players have to have planted trees in all the spaces on the row or collum then placed koalas in all the spaces on the row or collum. Bonuses include circling extra trees, placing koalas, getting more volunteers, building a sky bridge, or marking spaces off on the hospitals.

The sky bridges open up the new areas to plant trees and place koalas. This is helpful because areas can fill up quick. If players do not have the space to place the rolled polyomino then players have a couple of options first a play may alwys use a single tree or koala rather than the shape used, players may want to do this to finish off a bonus but they need to be aware this puts them behind the other players. The other option is to use a volunteer. Players start with one and can earn more though bonuses. Volunteers can change the die roll for the player that used it. For example a player can choose to use the shape associated with a 3 when a 4 is rolled. Volunteer are a one time use, players might get more but once you use it its done.

The price cant be beaten at 6 bucks you can have hours of entertaiment or you could get a hot dog and think about koalas.

At the end of the first 15 rounds players add up scores, 1 point for each area filled with trees, 1 point for each area filled with koalas and if a player filled in all the spaces at a hospital they gain those points. This also happens at the end of the game, both scores are added together at games end. There are merit badges in the game these are a bonus to the first and second player to complete the task. In map 1 players can fill in area A first for a 3 point bonus.

Thoughts

The game has simple rules and is easy to figure out. After one play of the game players should have mastery of the rules due to the fact that you do similar actions 30 times in one game. I really enjoyed the puzzle that was 2 polyomino puzzles stacked on top of eachother. As with a lot of roll and write games there is a single player varient or you can play with dozens of your friends. The price cant be beaten at 6 bucks you can have hours of entertaiment or you could get a hot dog and think about koalas. I choose the game.

Koala Rescue Club is only on kickstarter for a few more days so go on over there ang grab a copy now. I am about to leave on vacation and this will be coming with. It can be played in the car, if you are not driving! This is a great family game and a portion of each game is going to be donated to the Australian Koala Foundation to help actual koalas in Australia.

Players: 1-100

Year Published: 2024

Recommended Ages: 6+

Time to Play: 20-30 minutes