Product Review for the Card Game “Hoagie”: A Game of Sandwich Building Skill!Our family is slightly competitive in nature and when it comes to card games, nothing is more enticing! So, when we received “Hoagie” in the mail, you can imagine the shrieks of excitement that pierced the air!
General Game Description:
The colorful packaging and quirky characters on the card design of this game just beg someone to open it and start playing immediately! The simplistic premise of the game, to build an “unspoiled” sandwich before your opponent, makes it even more attention-grabbing.
Age Range
This game is designed for players who are aged five and up. Although, you can modify it to make it simpler for a younger audience. In this case, I would recommend the game for ages three and up. You can definitely modify it for younger kids and just focus on building a sandwich by excluding the “spoiler” cards to start.
Number of Players
2–5 players are recommended to play at one time. This allows for a nice group of people to join in on the fun.
Strategic or Just for Fun
On the back of the game box, a “meter” is provided to indicate the type of game this is, either “party” or “strategy”. This game is more about the fun factor than strategy.
The Object of the Game
It’s simple—you must be the first to build the perfect sandwich while spoiling opponent’s ingredients with the spoiler cards.
Game Set Up
It’s easy and there won’t be any arguments about cheating or ‘rule interpretation’! The colorful step by step directions included in the box are clear and precise. You also receive two piles of cards, one for the hoagie ingredients, and one for the germs and other icky sandwich spoilers, or “oogies”!
Here’s a simple overview:
- One player shuffles both stacks together
- Each player receives six cards
- Remaining card pile gets placed in the middle as a draw pile
- Leave a space next to it for a discard pile
Game Play
Remember, the aim of the game is to build a perfect sandwich which consists of bread, ham, cheese, lettuce and the finishing piece of bread. Rather than getting rid of your cards, you continually try to collect the perfect sandwich building ingredients!
During game play, you must find the perfect balance and choose between piecing your sandwich together or “spoil” your opponent’s sandwich to prevent a potential loss. You can also use your turn to discard a card that you don’t find useful and then select another card. This is another way great way that this game keeps players on their toes!
My Thoughts on Game Play
I have played this game with my husband, our five-year-old and my mother, who is sixty-five—so quite a vast array of ages. Each has stated that they thoroughly loved this game because of the extra “challenge” of spoiling an opponent’s sandwich while trying to create their own. Lots of laughter and back and forth conversation arose when someone spoiled the other person’s sandwich. The added hint of “sabotage” definitely made this game more entertaining for us all!
That being said, there are questions we had about the game that we weren’t able to answer using the instructions provided. I think these can easily be corrected by the creators of the game or, you can just make up your own rules regarding these questions as we did!
For example:
Discard Pile: There is no indication if a player who is choosing to pick up a new card can also choose from the discard pile…especially if they see an ingredient that they need.
Draw Pile: There is no indication if players can keep selecting from the draw pile if they aren’t getting a card that they need. In other words, draw from the draw pile, discard the card, and keep drawing. We made up the rule that you can keep drawing until you get one that you can use.
Overall Review:
Overall, we really enjoy playing Hoagie! The game is really different from anything else we have ever played and our daughter finds it absolutely brilliant and highly entertaining! The illustrations are quirky and fun. The premise is simple. It’s a win-win game for me!
You can buy Hoagie from Amazon here!
Check out Quirky Engine Entertainment’s site and other brilliant games here.