Wacky Wizard Video games, an imprint of veteran writer Sensible Wizard Video games, made a reputation for itself in 2024 with its wonderful household sport Star Realms Academy. It’s a sport that brings the deck-building mechanic to a youthful viewers. So my ears perked at Gen Con this 12 months once they instructed me about Push Push Penguin, the newest household sport from Wacky Wizard Video games.
It has cute penguin artwork, some enjoyable elements, and straightforward gameplay. Will this be one other hit from their household pleasant imprint or ought to or not it’s pushed into the ocean? Let’s discover out.
Gameplay Overview:
The aim in Push Push Penguin is to be the participant in second place when the sport ends. That’s proper, second place as a result of whoever is first will get eaten by the Orca. Properly, the sport says, “scared away”, however we actually know what’s happening. I noticed March of the Penguins.
The sport is performed out over a collection of rounds. At the beginning of the spherical, every participant secretly rolls their two cube and chooses certainly one of them to make use of for motion for the spherical.
Then, as soon as they’re all revealed, gamers will transfer their penguins (in flip order) quite a lot of areas matching their chosen die end result. In the event that they land on a fish, they get a fish token (which can be utilized for a reroll). In the event that they land on a slide, they take a shortcut down the trail. And in the event that they land on one other penguin, they bop them ahead one area. There are additionally Seal areas which have them rolling a die with variable outcomes (additional motion or fish).
The spherical ends with the lead participant rolling the orca die, which strikes the whale standee as much as 3 areas in direction of the penguins.
Rounds will go by on this method till a penguin encounters the orca tail. When that occurs, the participant rolls the Seal die, and in the event that they get an orca tail (1 in 6 probability), they survive and conceal behind the pack. If not, they’re eaten, and whoever is in entrance of the pack wins.
Sport Expertise:
Push Push Penguin is a sneaky little sport. It begins off as a easy roll and transfer down a path, accumulating fish, and looks like a race to the top. Whereas that’s true, it’s not its entire story. Within the early a part of the race, order doesn’t actually matter. You will be within the entrance or the again of the pack, and there’s no danger to you. However when you shut in on the whale tail, all bets are off.
And that’s actually the place the sport will get most fascinating. Because the penguins all bunch up on the ice flows, all of a sudden your die outcomes and positioning actually matter. A easy bump from a earlier participant might imply transferring into the mouth of the whale vs relative security. And that’s additionally the place Push Push Penguin is most fascinating. If you find yourself on these spots, jostling for place, there’s plenty of pressure within the sport.
We’ve had gamers get knocked into the whale marker, use 5 fish tokens on rerolls, and make it on the final one (to cheers and groans from the gamers). That’s additionally the explanation why Push Push Penguin is greatest on the greater participant rely. With 2-3 gamers, there gained’t be a ton of bumping round, and the sport is simply sort of alongside for the journey. But, if you end up enjoying with 5-6 gamers, the trail will get crowded, and all of a sudden, place issues. You’ll be able to plan out your flip, however there’s a good probability you can be bummed, maybe a number of occasions, earlier than you even get to go.
In most video games, that will be irritating, as you’ll be able to’t actually plan out your turns. However the enjoyment in Push Push Penguin comes from the chaos of the pack. This can be a sport that doesn’t take itself too critically, and also you shouldn’t both. The play time is about quarter-hour, and that feels spot on. Roll the cube, trigger some havoc, attempt to not get eaten. I additionally like that the participant in second place is the winner, because it stops gamers from enjoying too safely (simply having out in again). Though it could have been cool to have a number of random occasions to harm anybody who’s hiding an excessive amount of.
Remaining Ideas:
Whereas Push Push Penguin doesn’t have fairly the sheen on it that Star Realms Academy does, it was nonetheless plenty of enjoyable. My youngsters loved it and even requested to play it a number of occasions with out me prompting them. It’s not a sport the place they’ll be taught life abilities, and it isn’t one of the best at decrease participant counts. But when they only wish to have some enjoyable and trigger somewhat chaos, Push Push Penguin is a good possibility.
