Attraction is the kind of game that we use to help people 14 and over to understand what the Major Fun seal represents. Exactly the kind. Easy to understand. Easy to learn. Easy to adapt. Takes maybe three minutes to play a round. Then maybe an hour, if you really want to play around. With the rules, if you know what I mean. So many ways to play. So many more once you start making up your own. Compelling. Engaging mind and body and everyone you play with. Fun to play by yourself. More fun to play with friends. Pocket-portable.
You get, as advertised, 25 magnets. They are polished and delightfully light reflecting and irregularly shaped magnets, all of which have one side that is slightly narrower. The reason that is important is that when you start the game, each of the magnets are to be stood on that particular, slightly narrower side. This results in greater mobility and tippability – both of which add significantly the much of the bang you will be getting from your buck, so to speak. You position the magnets anywhere on your flat, smooth, tabletop-like playing area. You can play it on other tabletop-like areas, including tablecloth-covered tabletops and floors. We recommend that you try to position the magnets as closely together as you dare. Because it’s fun. In fact, it’s like a whole nother game. Because, see, the magnets really want to smack into each other and as soon as you put one magnet close to another it swivels on it’s little narrow bottom and looks ever so eager.
OK. So you don’t have to put them that close. In fact, you can put them as far away from each other as you want, and you still get a fun game to play.
Speaking of game: you and however many people are playing with you (probably no more than six – unless you happen to have bought more than one set, which turns out to be an even majorer fun idea) each take one magnet from the array. That magnet is your shooter. On your turn, you put your piece on an edge of the playing area and flick or slide it into the magnet congregation, attempting to, shall we say, attract as many magnets to each other as possible. Those are your magnets. You take them. And keep them. And the next player goes, and the next, and when you run out of table magnets, the person with the most wins. And at some point in the game, you might very well discover that instead of attracting any magnets, they all repel each other. This is both Magnets are moody. You may find this moodiness both amusing and depressing, as it greatly reduces your scoring opportunity for that turn. Fear, however, not. Sooner or later, they’ll all stick together, or fall off the playing surface.
The only reason it’s not the kind of game we’d recommend to people of the 13-and-under persuasion is the magnet part. These are strong magnets. And, if you are feeling sufficiently perverse, swallowable. Further, should you be feeling perverse enough to swallow two, they turn out to be lethal.
Attraction was designed by Jeff Glickman and is made available through R&RGames, recommended for people who are old enough not to try to swallow the pieces.
A review from Boardgamegeek follows
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