Designers: Ralf Zur Linde
Publisher: NSV
2-4 players | 20 min. | ages 8+ | MSRP $25/ | BGG Entry
Time to teach and learn: 3 minutes
Game Synopsis
Every turn, dice clatter into a common pool. Every pool offers a new set of choices and chances. Which one will click the best for you? Select one die and click it onto another, adding the numbers together. I choose a five and click it into a six to make eleven.
Now, I write that eleven in one box on one row of my scoreboard. Each row has its own rules. Numbers must go up, numbers must go down, numbers alternate between odd and even, and so on. Advance your numbers across the rows, hoping to increase your score.
But here’s the catch: the pool shrinks as each player clicks a die and makes a combination. You may end up with a number you don’t want, forcing you to take negative points or mess up one of your rows. This game is fast, so the end can sneak up on you! With skill and planning and maybe a dash of luck, your score will clickety clack up the charts.
Why We Love Clickety Clack
This game is beautifully honest. The story it wants us to tell is simple: pick a die, make a number, write it down, try to earn points. Even so, there are truths waiting for us to discover, created by the collection of choices we make as we play.
One truth to contend with is no number can repeat within a given row. This means each number you place will limit future choices.
Another truth to wrestle with is probability. Saving the more easily rolled numbers can give you an escape route later in the game. The harsh reality is: you are often not in control of the numbers. Late in a game round, other players may only leave you combinations of 6-7-8, with all the harder to roll combos already clicked away. Facing that truth may force you to accept an occasional negative point in order to keep future options open.
The most delicious truth waiting to be discovered in Clickety Clack is the design of the scoreboard itself. Not every space on every row will net you points. This means there are traps set for you, set by you, as you roll and click and write your way through each turn. If the game ends and your final number on a row has no point value, you score nothing for the entire row! In order to go for larger scores, you must risk scoring nothing at all!
There are three waypoints to watch for on each scoreboard – any of which will bring the game to a quick end: two rows completed, three rows with numbers past a line, or all penalty boxes filled. If you lose yourself too much in your own scoreboard, you’re likely to lose because you won’t see the end coming. Last, and perhaps best of all, the scoreboard has two sides with different rules for the rows, giving players even more to ways to explore and enjoy.
Clickety clack offers meaningful, challenging and fun decisions from its simple framework. Don’t confuse its streamlined elegance with easy or boring. To us, those beautiful words are synonyms for Major Fun!
Congratulations to designer Ralf Zur Linde
More information on Clickety Clack at Board Game Geek
