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HAMSTERROLLE

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Author: Jacques Zeimet

Publisher:
ZOCH ZUM SPIELEN

Awards: none

EVALUATION

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G@mebox author Doug Adams writes about the game

Hamsterrolle is another in the weird and wonderful range of dexterity games available from Zoch zum Spielen. I really enjoyed playing Bamboleo, from the same company, so I was very interested in seeing what this game was all about.

Hamsterrolle is dominated by one component - a large wooden wheel, around 15 inches in diameter, with a rim about 3 inches wide. On the inside rim of the wheel, one inch high vertical pieces of wood have been glued, pointing towards the "hub" of the wheel. These pieces of wood divide the inside rim of the wheel into twelve equally spaced compartments. The quality of the wheel is marvellous.

The object of Hamsterrolle is to be the first player to place all your wooden blocks into the wheel's compartments. The game comes with 28 blocks of wood, divided into seven differently coloured sets of four. Each player takes a set of seven blocks, and play begins.

The wheel is stood up vertically, like a bicycle wheel, and a conical "start" block is placed in the bottom segment of the wheel. Players then begin to take turns inserting one of their blocks into a segment of the wheel. Blocks can only be inserted in the "direction of building" and only in the current building segment, or in the next one or two segments in the build direction. No two blocks of the same colour may exist in the same segment.

As blocks are added, the wheel begins to roll forwards under the weight of the added pieces. Pieces away from the direction of building start to climb up the opposite side of the rim, and pretty soon begin to clatter out onto the table. When this occurs, the player whose turn it is has to take these pieces as a penalty. That player now has more pieces to add.

Another option for a player on their turn is to relocate a piece in the wheel. This is allowed as long as no two pieces of the same colour exist in the same rim segment.

The game ends when one player has successfully placed all their pieces inside the wheel. It appears initially impossible, but tricks are quickly learnt, such as wedging larger pieces between rim segments so they won't topple out.

While Hamsterrolle doesn't have quite the "wow" and fun factors of Bamboleo, it's still a very entertaining and clever game. Recommended for dexterity game fans.


Looking for this game? Visit Funagain Games!


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Copyright © 2006 Frank Schulte-Kulkmann, Essen, Germany