Pilo Pilo

Hey you!

Yeah you!

Do you have a slightly annoying family, who you love very much but quite frankly could do with having a pillow launched at their head from time to time? Perhaps they too feel the same about you, I know hard to believe isn’t it, why would they… but they might. Let’s face it we can’t be hefting around standard size pillows at our age, not only is your back already creaking at the thought of remaking all the beds that will no doubt be wrecked in the ensuing carnage, but pillows aren’t what they used to be. Ours are now so thin, these days they are much more suited to making origami swans rather than for actually sleeping on!

What you need is a more subtle way to relieve familial stresses without actually making it obviously about said stresses. Enter Pilo Pilo, the gentlest form of combat available to relieve some pent up family frustrations, a game all about quick reactions and lobbing tiny pillows at each other.

Something to cushion the blow

You’ll each be a brave and valiant knight, aiming to get rid of your pile of cards the quickest in order to win. To do so you’ll need to have a keen eye for detail, quick reflexes and the ability to take a pillow on the chin like a champ. To lose your cards you’ll need to correctly perform the action on the card, which more often than not involve grabbing a micro pillow form the centre of the table. If the attacking night is revealed you must throw a pillow at the defending night, but if you’re the defending night you must use the pillow as a shield from the attacking night. If you have the sleeping dragon, well he’s just tired and needs the pillow to rest his head and of course if the Silent King is drawn by anyone, no one should move a muscle.

Correctly perform your action and the card is discarded, but if you’re wrong it goes back to the bottom of your pile. The number of cards dealt and pillows used will be dependent on the number of players, but with only one tiny cushion used in a 3 player game, and two used for 4 players and above, this means there probably won’t be a pillow for everyone who needs one.

Try to avoid getting con-cushion

The Rule book suggests there are two phases to play, the action phase (throwing projectiles) and the resolution phase (checking who threw what correctly) but in reality it all just merges into one hilarious battle. Before you know it you’ll be flipping cards and hurling tiny cushions at each other faster than a knight running to the loo in a full suit of armour.

You’re going to need your wits about you, anyone who even touches the pillow when they shouldn’t will have to keep their card, not quick enough to perform your action, keep your card, done the wrong action, keep that card. We’ve had a three player game go to the wire where we all had only a few cards left each of us with a good idea what they were. Consequently the pillow was creeping ever closer to my opponents side of the table at the start of a round rather than being central to the table – very underhanded!

All in all, this is a super simple game to grasp the rules of, with lots of carefully highlighted important bits in the rule book. Things like revealing your card by flipping it over away from you, putting away fragile object before play and to try and avoid throwing the pillows at anyone’s eyes. It also suggest removing all of the silent kings from play to make it easier on younger players – we didn’t do this obviously!

Beware of the reaper-cushions of gameplay

Pilo Pilo is sooo much fun, and although simple can get quite competitive at times – top tip, make sure nails are short and jewellery is removed before playing because hands get grabby. Recommended for ages 7 and up, but honestly I think much younger kids would easily play this, just depends on how competitive you are and how much they like getting a pillow in the face.

And here’s something I never thought I’d rave about in a board game review – washing instructions! Both the tiny cushions and their cases are washable at 40 degrees, which is super handy as not only are they white, but they constantly end up on the floor after having bounced off a bonce. Of course inevitably the kids will lose all use of their arms and choose to retrieve the pillow from under the table by pining it under there grubby foot and sliding it towards themselves, so for them to be washable really taps into my practical middle aged mind-set.

Great, chaotic, comfy, combat, fun for all.