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Modern art is a bit of a trigger subject for people. How do we define art? What makes one person’s painting more valuable than another person’s sculpture? Do we recognise the grandeur of temples as art, and if we do, should we also acknowledge all buildings a form of art? Can we consider literature as art, and does that make these words I am writing for you, here, and now, art? Why can a model of a banana duct taped to a wall sell for $3350, yet if I did that I would be escorted to the nearest mental institute?
These questions are not answered in Junk Art. But what you will learn in this amazing game is how well you yourself can interpret ideas, how accurate your sense of balance is, how steady your hands actually are, and most importantly you can finally answer that question that has been gnawing at you; is your table on a slant or is it just your imagination?
Junk Art Vs Plastic Version Vs 3.0
This is officially a review on the 3.0 edition of Junk Art. But there are a few versions out there available. Rest assured however that the game plays exactly the same no matter what version you have got your hands on. Junk Art and Version 3.0 are the exact same. The only difference being a wooden box for the first edition, (easy on the eyes), and a standard cardboard box for 3.0, (easy on the wallet).
The plastic version, as expected, has plastic pieces instead of wooden ones. Which along with being even easer on the wallet, is also much more child friendly. I prefer the wooden pieces myself as I only play the game with adults but the plastic version is available for those with younger gamers. It is always good to have options, and honestly, it would be great if more dexterity games would follow this example.
What IS Junk Art?
Much like the question of ‘what is art?’ this question isn’t any easier to answer. But I will damn well try. If I didn’t, then there wouldn’t exactly be much for you to read now would there?
Junk Art at its root, is a dexterity game. And possibly one of the best ones readily available on the market. I cannot tell you just how much fun I have had playing this game. When you boil it down into basics, then all it is, is stacking things on top of other things. That’s it! But with how accessible it is to players of all ages, the ease of set up, and how much fun the game is to delve into, then I guarantee that it will become a fast favourite of your group. And if it doesn’t, send it over to me and I will combine all sent games into one, mega, incomprehensibly magnificent game.
The Game
As you open the box, you will immediately be drawn to the 4 colours of ‘stuff’. Do not get ahead of yourself though, this isn’t like most games where everyone chooses a colour to play with (most of the time). It is these blocks of vastly varying shapes, sizes and colours that you will be tasked with stacking, balancing, and of course, creating art with!
The game will have you choosing 3 venues at random. Each of these venues will have different stipulations to the way in which you build. For the most part, it will be some variation of revealing cards and building whatever shape, in whatever colour is shown. Or drafting cards and making your opponent build the shape that you give them. Sometimes the winner is whoever builds the tallest structure, sometimes it is whoever has the least number of pieces fall off, sometimes it is simply the last person standing. This is easy though, right? I mean, just stacking stuff is hardly difficult, we have all played Jenga.
Not quite so! You are building upon a tiny little plastic plinth. None of your pieces are allowed to touch the table. You are allowed to rotate and place the plinth however you wish before you start. Placing it on its side will provide you with double the starting height for example, great for when the winner is the one with the tallest structure. This will, however, reduce your base by half of its surface area to work with, not so great if the first piece you need to place is a ball (which has happened to me more times than I care to recall). You won’t last long in this case, (trust me on that) no matter what engineering skills you possess.
You will compete (or not so compete) with each other over the course of the 3 venues, and whoever has the most fans by the end wins.
The Venues…
The venues in Junk Art represent your world tour. Travelling from city to city to attract new fans for your structures. As mentioned above, each venue will have its own unique stipulations. They are mostly slight variations of each other, but different enough to make each game feel a little bit different from the last, as usually, only 3 of them will be played per game. Each shape in each colour has a single card to represent it, and it is this deck that is used in different ways to tell you what piece(s) you need to place next. The venues and the way in which they are played go hand in hand together as the theme of the venue playstyle reflects the cities in interesting ways.
Some of the venues incorporate different mechanics in very interesting ways to give you the junk pieces you will be using. For example, Tokyo will have you drafting cards, then choosing one to give to the next opponent, then your hand of cards gets passed on. This process proceeds until all cards have been played. Amsterdam can only be played with 3-6 players, and this is because you will be playing a mini trick taking game at the start of each turn in order to try and be the person who gets to choose who is getting which piece to build next.
There are even venues that go a step further to mess with your perception of how ‘easy’ simply stacking bits of junk is. This is the only game I have ever played where the concept of ‘semi-cooperation’ makes any sense at all. There will be times when instead of having your own plinth to build from, you will be working together on a single or combined plinth. This adds to the challenge, as you need to build in a way that is structurally sound so that you don’t topple the tower, whilst at the same time trying to set your opponent up with a tough move to balance on. There is even a venue that goes a step further than this and requires you to move around the table to continue building from an opponent’s structure. And even a bigger venue type that combines Junk Art with Flick ‘em up. I do not own this game however so am not sure how that works. I am sure it is a lot of fun though.
Where Some See Junk, Others See Art!
There is much to love in this game. Building structures is so satisfying, especially when you manage to pull off the balancing act of a lifetime! The venues are all different and fun to play. The game plays great with 2 players, and great at 6 players. I love that there are a few blank venue cards included so that you can get your creative hats on to make your own venues, (stay tuned for my upcoming custom venues feature!) and even an email address provided in the rule book to submit your ideas to.
This would be such a great way to interact with us as the consumer; if our ideas were collated and produced as an expansion pack of venues for instance. I even reached out to Jay Cormier (one of the designers) to see if there are any expansions on the horizon. Amazingly, I received a response, but we will have to be a little more patient it seems for now. I have no doubt that we will see expansions at some point though, as the game would be super easy to include modular expansions.
Do not interpret this as thinking that there isn’t enough in the box to keep you occupied though, far from it in fact. The game is just so good, I was just eager for more.
The Components…
Let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment. I imagine most of you skipped everything I wrote above to find out just what it is like to get your hands on these wooden bits of imagination fuel. (Please wash your grubby hands first!). I can positively tell you, that I was not disappointed with any component in Junk Art. The star of the show -the wooden pieces- are absolutely great. They are light weight and chunky, with unique and interesting shapes to play around with. Some people have commented on the plastic plinths in relation to the wooden parts, but this makes perfect sense to me. The wooden bits, are, naturally susceptible to heat, precipitation, etc, whereas the plastic bases provide an even playing field for everyone, no matter what (table slants excluded).
The cards are great quality, the fan tokens are simple and plain, which I appreciate as it doesn’t take the shine away from the main attraction and there is even a tape measure included in case someone is adamant that their structure is taller than yours. Even if it clearly isn’t. I even love the component tray insert, as everything fits in the box incredibly well and there is even an individual space for the dumbbell pieces as they are the most fragile. The rule book is massive in size alone, easy to read and explains each venue really well.
As you can tell I find it hard to criticize anything in this game. But criticize I must…
The Junk…
I don’t like the artwork. That is, it. And that, as art in general is, simply my own opinion. But then I guess this whole review is just that too. Shhh! Don’t poke holes in my logic!
The Critical Round Up…
This game is fantastic. I love dexterity games and Junk Art stands tall above all the other ones I own. The game plays great with family, with young players, with new gamers, with seasoned gamers, and even those looking for a fun game to play with some tipples of rum.
I could write about this game for days but having already cut parts out to save my editors eyes from melting, I will wrap this up here.
Long review short: I love it. Try as I may, I cannot find fault in Junk Art, and you should definitely, 100% go and buy it! Right now! Why are you still reading!? Go, go go…
