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When I start to think about teaching a new game to my partner or my friends, I tend to start with an explanation of the theme. I never thought that one of those explanations would be “a game about gathering pigeons on a bench”. But that is exactly the premise behind this new title.
Oh my Pigeons! takes several simple mechanics and combines them together to make a very simple and fun party game with enough chaos and variety to mean its charm substantially outstays its welcome. Each turn, players play a card from their hand of 3 which affects the bench in front of them or in front of other players or even both. This could include adding or subtracting pigeon tokens from any of the benches, moving the benches entirely or rolling the single d6 die.
And it is with this die that the game becomes a little more unique. The Oh my Pigeons card is one of the most numerous in the deck, so you will be doing this a lot, and that means you will likely see all of the potential outcomes of rolling it in a single play session. Several of the sides allow you to add a significant number of pigeons to your own bench. Others allow you the chance to do this whilst stealing them from your opponents. And the final side, that allows you to flick the dice at your opponent's bench and knock tokens from it if they leave the bench surface.
To tell you that is the most satisfying part of the game is possibly giving away the child like joy I had when exploring this title for the first time. It is common knowledge in my house that my partner struggles with things like flicking coins in games (the fate coin from Veiled Fate as a prime example!) and it turned out that targeting pigeons with a die is no different!
Of course she will tell you a different version of events, one where I got far too excited at the opportunity to knock over tiny plastic pigeons, which I did, and that when they were knocked over they flew away much further than expected! (Top tip for owners of this game: play on a big surface where the tokens can’t escape under sofas and not as we did the first time on a small coffee table!) It is a short game, but you can definitely add a few minutes to the round time by having to go pigeon hunting between turns! My crowning achievement came however being able to knock the bench out from beneath all of the pigeons in front of me with them still standing!
Adding more chaos to each round is the several cards which allow you to swap or move the benches around between the players in some way. This mechanic means you are never out of the game even if your bench is suddenly stolen from and empty, as a quick change around might leave you with all you had before and more!
The art on each card is eye catching, amusing and there are enough details to mean you never really need to refer to the instruction booklet. In an age of kickstarter miniatures in games I would have selfishly loved to see several unique styles of pigeons amongst the 35 or so you receive in the box to add to the character, however this is such a minor point and the models they do use have enough charm as they are to mean I am finding no real fault here at all.
Each round takes between 20 and 30 minutes depending on your number of players (and how many times you need to find any stray birds!) and it is very easy to make it a game with a few rematches each time it is brought to the table.
It is a very quick, simple and fun game to add to the collection and I can easily see this coming out with our family and friends who may be intimidated by some of the heavier games in my collection, or simply on a night where we don’t have the hours or headspace to devote to our other more strategic favourites. I would also recommend this as a fun alternative for kids and with Christmas fast approaching I could easily see this making it onto a few lists or as a perfect stocking filler!