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13 Beavers is a colourful multiplayer game by Format Games for two to six players suitable for both family or grown up friends games nights, with players seven years old and up. Each game is fairly quick to play and can be done as a single round or multiple to add the scores up and make it a longer game. It focuses on guessing whether a card is higher or lower to get your beaver character’s playing piece around the map with a couple of mini games and obstacles on the way.
What’s in the Box?
When I got 13 Beavers, the box was so bright and colourful and full of character that I had to try it. It’s also a game with a few pieces to setup but in general setup takes a few minutes when you’ve each chosen your colour beavers. In the box is the board, instructions and then the pieces used to play the game. This includes six different coloured beavers and their dams, a magnetic fishing pole with fish that have bonuses on them, some wolf head pieces with one being asleep, and of course the pile of cards with multiple different beavers on them from 1-13. Each of these different numbered cards has a different beavers on them, all doing some activity or job with a fun illustration.
Setting Up
Setting up the game is simple, all you have to do is take the board out and unfold it on a table. Then add the magnetic fish so that all of the words are facing down in the little pond area and the wolves, with their faces pointing down so you don’t know which is asleep, on the wold head shaped spots by the cave. Place the pile of cards somewhere easy to reach and turn the first one face up ready to start. When you’ve each chosen a beaver, put it in the dam at the start and you’re ready to go.
How Do You Play It?
The basic idea behind 13 Beavers is a game of higher or lower involving the cards. After the first card has been turned over you have to guess if the next one to be seen will be higher or lower. If you’re right you move forward a space and can decide to continue or place a dam on that spot. These dams are important as if you get it wrong then your beaver goes back to the last dam you placed. This means you can end up all the way back to the beginning and you can either risk it all or play more cautiously and dam as you move along. If a card is the same as the previous one this means you automatically damn in that position. There’s also some areas of lava that you can’t stop in, you have to push through as you can’t build a dam there so you have no choice but to risk it if you reach one of these spaces.
Along the route there are a couple of mini games as well as shortcuts you can risk going through. These shortcuts can include a large skip near the beginning where you have to guess the exact card and can lead to some players getting stuck there all game if they choose that option. There’s a small fishing mini game that can give you bonuses and comes with a little fishing rod, I don’t think anyone has skipped this when I’ve played as it’s surprisingly fun in itself.
How Do You Win?
The goal for this is to reach the end of the river first, though people can use their bonuses to slow you down and it can get quite competitive towards the end when people are failing to guess correctly and end up stuck in one place while others are catching up and overtaking.
Overall Impressions
13 Beavers is one of those games where all of the little extras and mini games within it make it fun to play for all ages. There are catch up mechanics, risky shortcuts and the chance to lose it all and end up back at the start if you take the biggest shortcut. You can play in a variety of ways and different people playing in these different play styles in the same game adds to the tension when you get to the end and the person who has been failing repeatedly on the tunnel finally makes it and is suddenly in with a chance of beating the others who have been making their way around the board. The main strength of 13 Beavers is the way it changes depending on who’s playing, the player interaction really makes this easily replayable and ending up with a different experience every time.
Overall 13 Beavers is a fun game for all ages and a family can enjoy it together or a group of friends. It can get a bit competitive and definitely one of those games where the simplicity make it easy to pick up and play and will leave you wanting to play again as each game doesn’t last that long.
