Colorpop (Gigamic)

Gigamic is a game company that was founded in 1991 by three brothers from France. That means they are currently celebrating their 25th anniversary as a company. That is an impressive feat no matter what industry you are in. To celebrate their anniversary, they are trying to re-introduce their brand to the United States. So what makes a game a Gigamic? Short Explanation of rules, Fast Playing Time, and Quality Components. My wife jumped for joy when she heard that those were their three tenets, as those align with her beliefs on what a game should be as well. Plus, that triumvirate ultimately means the games will be family-friendly. This week I would like to introduce you to two games from their impressive catalog. The game today is called Colorpop! Colorpop is a game for 1 to 5 players, ages 8+, but it can be played as young as 6. It takes between 10 and 20 minutes to play and retails for approximately $35.

Setup
1. Connect the two legs to the back of the game board.
2. Take the ten slide trays and randomly fill them up with ten tokens each.
3. Place the slide trays in the game board.
4. Take the five secret color tokens and have each player pick one randomly, keeping it a secret throughout the game.

Game Play
Pick a random first player, or in our household the youngest. That player then finds a group of at least two tokens of the same color and pops them out. All other players do this in turn order. The goal of the game is to be the first one to have all of your secret color (chosen earlier) popped out. The game ends immediately when one person has had all of their colors removed from the game. In the event this becomes impossible, the player with the fewest tokens left on the board wins. In the event of a tie, the player who popped out the least of their secret color wins.

Review
If you play any games on the computer, I'm sure you've seen a version of this game online. The most famous one I can think of is Poppit! from Pogo. What makes Colorpop different is the game is now multi-player, and instead of trying to eliminate all the colors, you are only trying to eliminate your color, which is kept secret from others. A few things to remember is that when it is your turn to pop, you don't have to pop your color. In fact, you'll have to pop other colors to 1. throw your opponent off the scent and 2. to try and connect your single pieces together. My wife really likes this game, which is a huge selling point for me. The pieces themselves are of a high quality and almost resemble Spree candy. The way the board looks before the first piece is popped is very colorful! The only negative of this game is the setup time. It takes a while for one person to pop all 100 pieces back in the game board, but if you have a couple of people doing it, it's not so bad. Overall, I found this game to be a quick, fun game for the whole family.

This game was provided to me for free by Gigamic in exchange for an honest review.