CHENNAI: It is a truth universally acknowledged that, when given a number of wooden components in their player colour, many board gamers will pass the time by trying to stack them up in grand and improbable fashion. And that is precisely how Meeple Circus came into being. Games where you stack wooden components on top of each other are hardly new — Animal upon Animal comes to mind, as does Junk Art. However, what sets Meeple Circus apart is the game built around that central mechanic.
You and up to four other ringmasters are trying to put on the best circus show possible, over the course of two rehearsals and a final performance. The first rehearsal is just the basics, the second introduces guest stars and the final performance is...well, you’ll see.Each round, players draft from a set of cards and tiles that show various circus performers and/or props. You might take a tile that gives you a couple of expert acrobats, while someone else might snag an elephant carrying a beam across its back.
These pieces won’t just be what you’ll have to work with in the coming round, though – because pieces carry over between rounds, you’ll have these for the entire game. Complicating matters are the audience demands, which highlight specific acts that the crowd would like to see. Pull those off, and you could score bonus points — but you’ll need to draft the right people and tools for the job first.
Once the draft is done, it’s time to cue the music! There’s an official app for the game that acts as a timer while also playing circus music, and each of you have 2 minutes to create the best show you can. When time’s up, you’ll score according to the audience demands as well as your acrobats. Beginner acrobats will score if they’re on the ground (and carrying someone/something else), intermediate acrobats will score if they’re not on the ground, and expert acrobats score depending on how high off the ground they are (measured with a lovely little ruler that comes with the game). One of the demands is cycled out, and it’s time for the next round.
Round 2 introduces guest stars which are special characters that score in specific ways. For example, the strongman wants to carry a lot of other components, while the seal must balance a balloon on its nose, and the clown — which might be my favourite — must be included in your act and then flicked out of the ring in order to score; preferably without knocking the rest of your pieces down as well.The final performance ups the stakes considerably in two ways. First, each player has to do their performance in order — no more simultaneous play.
It may not sound like much, but it’s very different trying to complete these shaky structures with everybody else watching (if you’re lucky; trash-talking if you’re not). Secondly, it also adds special challenges that offer big points if you can pull them off — maybe you have to build your act with just a single hand, or pinch your nose and say ‘Honk honk!’ every time you place an acrobat, or blow kisses at the other players whenever you hear applause on the soundtrack.
As you can tell, these challenges run the gamut from inconvenient to downright impossible — luckily, you can sort between the various types (basic, fun and technical) and play with just the ones that will work for your group.If it isn’t already clear, Meeple Circus is an absolute riot. As your performances get more and more implausible, group-wide hilarity becomes almost inevitable. Failures are rarely punishing, and you can almost always mount a comeback which keeps things interesting.
I’ve seen the most sober of gamers collapse into a laugh-crying fit while just watching someone else do their final performance, and it wasn’t a one-off either! All in all, Meeple Circus is a wonderful game that you can play with just about anyone — as long as they’ve got the capacity to laugh at themselves and enjoy a little light fun, you’re going to have a great time.