I suppose the old adage about good things coming in small packages is as over-used as any.
But in terms of Kart sur Glace it fits.
Kart sur Glace comes in a plastic box which would normally hold two decks of regular playing cards.
There is a deck of custom cards which are used in the game, while the other side holds various tokens and bits used in the game.
The rules are provided as a fold-out, but come in French. Don't fret too much, an English version of the rules are accessible online.
What Kart sur Glace is, is quite simply a very compact little flicking game.
Each player has a small car, about as long as a quarter is in diametre. You flick the car with your fingers around a course you can set up on just about any smooth-surfaced table.
The aim of the game is to be the first one to cross the starting line after doing the number of turns agreed upon when starting the game.
Each player has four action cards valued two-to-five. On a turn you play one face down, with the highest card moving first.
On a turn a player has a choice of actions, flicking it from the rear of the car, re-orienting its direction, playing an extra bonus card.
Each time a kart goes between two bonus blocks of the same colour (set out as part of a randomly designed course) or between the starting blocks, the player picks a bonus card and keeps it.
You may not have more than three bonus cards in hands.
Bonus cards include: Guided missile, the missile reaches the leading kart. The owner of the hit kart discards one of his action cards, and Dynamite, the player puts a dynamite counter anywhere around his kart.
If a cart hits a counter it suffers an affect; dynamite' the player's turn stops immediately, the kart is put upside down, on the roof (It stays where it stopped). The dynamite counter is then removed from the course.
A course can be as simple as desired, or made more difficult having to maneuver around randomly placed obstacles. As the rules note even a dice works for this.
There is a lot of fun here, although the lightweight plastic cards are a bit hard to control. They simply lack the weight to truly pull off finesse shots.
Other than the weight issue, there is a lot of potential here.
Certainly lots of fun for such a small offering/
Check it out atwww.les12singes.com
If anyone is interested in this game, or other board games feel free to contact calmardan@sasktel.net
