Colour MY Kritters Review: Unique Magic!
Intent: Inspire you to try playing Colour MY Kritters!
This copy was provided by the publisher. The project is currently on Kickstarter so if you’re interested feel free to check it out by clicking here!
Do you have a colourful imagination? Do you enjoy unique creations? New to deck builders? Well this game just might be for you! Colour MY Kritters designed by Jørgen Brunborg-Næss, illustrated by Oksana Kosiak and Alekzander Zagorulko and published by Simplicatus Games is an introductory deck-building game for 2-6 players in which you compete to score the most points by the end of the game. How many Kritters will you collect and will the colours work in your favour?
Overview
Your Kritters have lost their colour, and it’s up to you to collect them alongside some mixing bowls and brushes and make the magic happen and bring some colour back into their life! In Colour MY Kritters you will be building your deck collecting various Kritters and supplies to score the most points by the end of the game, which occurs when both the Paintbrush and Mixing Bowl decks run out or the last Kritter is drawn from the Kritter deck.
Setup for the game is quite simple. Each player is given six cards to start off their own Kritter deck. The market Kritter deck is then placed in the centre of the table with four cards being drawn face up as the Kritter Market. The Magic Wand deck is set face-up beside the Mixing Bowls and Paintbrushes, the number of which are determined by the player count. The game now begins.
On your turn, you’ll draw and play all three cards, now if you play any cards with the “+1” symbol, you’ll draw an additional card and this cascades, which means that later in the game it’s possible to draw and play MANY cards on your turn. Now you’ll add up all the splotches of colours on the top left of each card you have and purchase one card from either the Kritter Deck or the items on the side! The Magic Wand will help you change all splotches of one of the three colours to another (and allow you to draw another card.) The Mixing Bowl and Paintbrushes will help you score a colour at the end of the game. Any Kritters you buy get replenished and the game continues.
All your played cards and the one new card you obtained are discarded. You draw three new cards and keep on going. If you ever run out of cards in your draw deck, (which you will), you’ll reshuffle the discard pile to form a new deck. The game ends when either both the Mixing Bowl and Paintbrushes cards run out or the last Kritter card is drawn.
You’ll score points by the amount of cards with a specific colour you have, which you will pair with a Paintbrush or Mixing Bowl or even both! The Paintbrushes and Mixing Bowls act as multipliers for the cards of a specifc colour, but you can only use one of each for each colour. For example, if you have thirteen cards with yellow in your deck and have two Paintbrushes and one Mixing Bowl, you may use one Paintbrush and one Mixing Bowl and get 26 points at the end, alongside some more by pairing the remaining Paintbrush with another colour and other cards.
The player with the most points wins! Will you colour YOUR Kritters? Or will they remain unsaturated.
First Game Impression
I’m always a little nervous to playtest or play a game that is just going to Kickstarter, as we know some games aren’t always completed or well thought out by the time they reach the public eye. This was not the case here, Colour MY Kritters surprised us with how smooth it played and how much fun we had by the end of the game! What immediately caught my eye is the unique illustrations on each of the 63 Kritter Deck cards. It was a wonder to discover all sorts of Kritters and recruit them to build MY Kritter family!
The flow of the game was super smooth and fairly quick, with a two player game there was almost no hesitation between me and Tylor. We knew what we wanted and we went for it. Although I feared the game might run long, with the two/three player variant the game having us purchase two cards instead of one, the game went by quickly and was an extremely enjoyable experience.
Thoughts After Five Games
A family introductory deck builder that will draw people into the genre. Although you do not trim your deck down, building your deck and playing the game eventually feels like an engine builder, as many cards allow you to draw more cards, by the end of the game you’ll be able to draw as much as twelve cards each turn, which certainly feels legendary.
The ease of the gameplay is another huge strength of this game, your decisions are limited to the splotches you draw so it’s fairly easy to make those decisions but it’s still strategic enough that you could really prioritize certain colours or even race your opponents to the Paintbrushes or Mixing Bowls. The right amount of luck coupled with some strategic choices, it’s a great mix if you ask me!
The other element I personally really enjoy is the unique art, some of the Kritters are so cute yet others are… lovely monstrosities that you just want to recruit! I’ve admittedly spent way too much time admiring all the wonderful illustrations. Oksana Kosiak and Alekzander Zagorulko did a phenomenal job.
MERIT Report Card
Overall Letter Grade: B+
Strengths: Great introductory deck builder. Accessible design and caters to all ages. The illustrations are pleasant and unique, drawing you into the game. A quick game that would be a joy to kick off a game night with.
Areas of Improvement: I wish there was slightly more to the theme, a little backstory on how they lost their colours could have added quite a bit to the game.
Memorability: B
How often do I think about the game? A fair amount, I really like the design of this game, it’s inviting and accessible. The balance between strategy and luck is kind as well as it’s not a game to really compete over but a fantastic way to kick off a game night.
How often is the game brought up by the individuals I play with? Due to COVID-19, we haven’t had the chance to introduce it to other folks, but we’ve attempted a virtual play and that went over quite smoothly.
How many memories can be built from this game? Personally a fair amount, as all the Kritters are unique it’s a little bit fun of thinking of backstories for them, with that come many laughs. The games are all fairly close as well so you can definitely have some nail biting moments.
Education : B
The best educational element here is the introduction to the vast landscape of deck builders, this is likely the easiest deck builder that I’ve played that I thoroughly enjoyed as well. It’s quick, you learn what you need to do right away and get to feel the benefits within the first five turns as the cards you first purchase are bound to show up quite quickly.
Beyond that, the comfort of decision making is present as well. Many games induce paralysis by analysis to varying individuals. As your choices are fairly limited with what you have, you’ll get to feel comfortable making decisions over time, which will likely translate over to heavier games or even every day life decisions. The agency to make decisions is one of the most important educational elements of board games.
The game essentially is a race to get those victory point multipliers the Paintbrushes and Mixing Bowls. It’s really interesting to observe yourself learning on how to optimize your Kritters and gain the items at the right time. The catch here though is that if you get the items early, they essentially become dead cards, meaning that if you draw them, they don’t really give you any benefit during the game. This is a critical element of many deck builders, but also can be applied to many real life situations, primarily understanding and knowing the right order of doing certain tasks, allows you to reason properly and plan ahead efficiently.
Replayability: B+
I enjoy the replayability this game, the Paintbrush and Mixing Bowl’s variability in cost, alongside the large Kritter deck ensure that no game is ever the same, you’re also building a deck, of which you randomly draw from so you’re in store for some grand moments for sure! You also just want to keep playing to beat that luck of the draw and have the perfect combination you’ve been waiting for!
What makes replayability great is how quick this game plays, I don’t see us spending two or three hours playing this game but having this as a warm up game would certainly add to our game nights.
Imagination: B
I feel like I say this for every game, but the artwork makes the game so enjoyable to play! Art is just so interesting, it’s so wonderful to see different artists take on various themes and put together some really creative and unique art pieces.
This game offers a new world and really allows you to make it your own, I can see folks picking a favorite Kritter or trying to base their deck to include only a certain type or feature of a Kritter, the possibilities are endless. The nice element too is you can really immerse yourself in this world and use your imagination to create some wonderful background stories for all your Kritters!
The theme is light, but because it’s a fairly light game it works out, you’re really drawn to save the Kritters and put some colour in their life. I do wish there was a bit more flavour text in the intro, detailing why the Kritters lost their colour, and what indeed happened in this universe.
Target: A-
We are huge advocates for games that draw more individuals to the hobby and this is certainly one of them. Whether you’ve been playing board games for decades or minutes this game will certainly entertain. The premise is quite simple, the gameplay is smooth and there’s a little bit for everyone here. This game would be fantastic to kick off a game night and be great to teach individuals about the wonders of deckbuilding.
The other element I really enjoy about this game is accessibility, there are many symbols and this game certainly thought about colour-blindness. Simplicatus Games does a wonderful job with this game and I would highly encourage you to check this out.
Tylor’s Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This game was a lot of fun! I think it is a great entry level deck building game and it is pretty easy to learn. You really have to plan and be weary of when you need to purchase your point multipliers or you end up losing out on a lot of points. On top of that, you have to pay attention to how many multipliers are left because you could miss out if you push your luck on purchasing extra cards instead of the multipliers.
Overall, I’m pretty excited to introduce this to friends. I think it will make a great addition to start or end the night off. It will also be a great game to pull out and play with just Ilya and I.
Final Thoughts: The introductory deck builder you need to try! Accessible, inviting and unique artwork are all elements on why you should consider giving this game a shot. The simple rules and quick setup allow this game to be a great introduction to your game night and provide a lasting and memorable experience.
MERIT Report Card Letter Grade: B+