Musical Chairs

Growing up is rubbish as you have rent / mortgage payments, jobs & responsibilities, but the worst thing about growing up is that parties become dull. Going to a party as a kid was amazing, jelly & ice cream, magicians, more sweets than would be needed to sink a ship, pass the parcel and everyone’s favourite (until it went wrong) musical chairs.

Good news all of you bored adults there is a board game to bring you back into the good old days, Musical Chairs by designer Kelly North Adams and published by Rio Grande Games.

Jelly & Ice Cream

This is very much unlike any game I have played before and it mixes several game genres to quite accurately give the feeling of playing Musical Chairs without actually leaving a chair. Part card play (shedding cards), part set collection, part area control, but all fun.

To set up the game place the circular game board in the middle of the table and place eight randomly selected cushion tokens on the seats, shuffle the deck of cards and deal eight to each player. Finally all players place one of their meeples on a chair space (the other meeple is to remind you what colour you are) and the music stop token is placed next to the board.

Let’s Get This Party Started

The object of the game is to have the most points when the game ends (which will either be after eight rounds or if there are not enough cards in the discard pile to refill a players hand). You collect points by sitting on a chair when the music stops whose colour was played that round (hence collecting those cards), by playing ‘rest’ cards, and by collecting seat cushions.

The deck of cards consists of rest cards for every colour of chair, repeat cards which are not coloured, and numbers one through to ten of each colour of chair. All of the cards have a points value of either 0,1,2 or 3 represented by treble clefs.

The starting player must play the lowest value card in their hand to the table and then they have to move their meeple one to three chairs in a clockwise direction. The next player can play either the same number as previously played, a repeat card, a rest card or their next lowest higher number (i.e. if the previous card was a 6 and you have an 8 and 9 you must play the 8). A rest card is played directly into your pool of points cards, whereas all other cards are placed alongside the previously played card.

If you play a rest card you do not move off your current chair, all other cards require you to move 1 to 3 spaces. If you are unable to play a higher card you can call for the music to stop (even if you had the same value card as previously played or you have a rest or repeat card).

When the music stops the last cards colour (or the colour before if the last card was a repeat) chair cushion is placed in front of the chair. Then players will collect the cards of the colour that their meeple was resting on at that point. Please note repeat cards are considered the same colour as the previous card played and they would therefore become the property of the player who is collecting that colour. In addition any cards in your hand that match the colour of the space you ended on which are lower than the highest card you just won may also be added to your score pile.

Any cards not collected from the Musical Chairs table (as no players landed on that space) would be placed in the discard pile.

Butt Battle

You remember that feeling when you and a rival both went for a chair as the music stopped and it came down to who wanted it the most (or more probably who the biggest kid was), this game provides the same feeling when two or more players are both on the same seat space when the music stops. At this point a butt battle commences and all of the rivals for the seat play a card from their hand simultaneously to see who has the highest with that player taking all of the rewards and the losing player/s getting nothing. If cards are tied you play another card until there is a winner or all but one player have bowed out.

What A Lovely Cushion, Give It To Me, It’s Mine…MUM They Stole My Cushion

If, when the music stops, you happen to land on a space with a cushion in front of it you can collect that cushion by paying with one of your point cards (from your points pile not your hand). As well as having a point bonus itself the cushions also have game modifiers that can significantly increase your chance of winning the game such as allowing you to move backwards, winning ties in butt battles and 14 others. As each game only uses half of the available cushions no two games will feel the same.

There Will Be Tears Before Bedtime

If there are still seat cushions on the chairs then another round can commence but first players must refill their hand back to eight cards (or nine with the special seat cushion). Players can either discard their hand completely and refill or just take new cards and add them to their hand. If ever there are not enough cards to refill a players hand you can reshuffle the discard pile, however if there are still not enough cards then it will cause the game to end.

When the game ends you score all of your points cards as well as any special bonuses obtained from the seat cushions. The player with the most points is the winner, if there is a tie then both players win.

Party Bags For All

This is a fun light card game that somehow manages to replicate the feeling of playing musical chairs. It plays well at all player counts (two to four) and lasts between 30 and 45 minutes. I have enjoyed every game I have played and even when I lost (happens more often than not) I still had a great time. The rule about when the music stops takes a little getting used to and the cushions can sometimes feel very overpowered.

There is quite a tactical feel to the game as you can manipulate the music stopping (to some degree) and make sure you are placed exactly where you want to be, but so can the other players and knowing when to push for the round to end and when to hold back makes this a really fun experience.

I just can’t wait to see what toy I got in my party bag…………