Review by Spellenwijs

Short review

Sheep Showdown is full of humour. And if your group likes this kind of game, you're sure to have a fun evening.

“Uh, ‘this kind’ of games? What do you mean by that, Hans?”

Well, short games with ‘Take That’. Games where you can take actions to the detriment of another player. Games where you deliberately try to thwart each other. The best comparison I can make is Exploding Kittens.

If you like that one, you'll probably enjoy this one too.

A friend of mine even said during the game: “oh, this is a party game!” but I don't think that definition really applies here. A hilarious or funny game. That's about it.

But a party game feels a bit lighter to me. Sheep Showdown still requires a fair bit of thinking.

Or well, you can try ;). Usually you lose track of the chaos on the board or you just get absolutely screwed over by your opponents. And with the right group, that will lead to some funny situations.

Moreover, Sheep Showdown includes player elimination. Players can be eliminated in a round. And relatively early too. So you don't have to wait long. At most a few minutes. I just don't think this is a feature for a party game.

In terms of production, it's neat. It's an eco-friendly game, which means that the environment was taken into account during production. I could even throw the bag the wooden dogs came in into the green waste.

The critical note is in the game rules. Firstly, I don't like long, foldable leaflets – but okay, that can be a cost-conscious choice. Secondly, I missed some explicit explanations on a few things. I submitted those to Growly Games. Below you can see their answers:

• Question: What happens if you move a dog with the wolf to a green field?
• Answer: Then the owner of the dog gets the card in question.

• Question: Can you use a rocket to move over a field with another dog?
• Answer: Yes

• Question: Do only dogs on cards die next to Kowalski or all dogs?
• Answer: All dogs, including the dog on Kowalski.

• Question: Are you blocked if you can keep making a loop with action cards, but cannot pick up any new sheep?
• Answer: No, as long as you can reach another field with a move, you won't get stuck. You might not collect anything anymore, but you won't be blocked either and so no card can be stolen from you.

In terms of gameplay, it can go any way. Sometimes you perform poorly in the first 2 rounds, but flourish in the 3rd, resulting in you still winning.

Personally, I always wonder what I'm playing the first 2 rounds for... on the other hand, the game remains interesting for everyone – including those who start poorly – until the end.

Finally, I want to say that the downside of the wolf feels somewhat negligible. You can sometimes really take points away from someone by moving them. And that in exchange for just 1 wolf. Which – if someone steals it from you – can also be taken away from you. Often that is really worth it.

My point is: just take that wolf, because that's usually where the funniest moments arise!