🕑 6 min read
For the purposes of this (review) post, player names have been changed to protect the innocent and the furry.
Legend has it that the mesmerising yellow moon which hangs in the night sky above the junkyard is actually made from cheese! Many a rat child has dreamed of making their heroic journey and staking a claim to the heavenly globe of gouda. Then when all had given up on reaching it, a fellow junkyard rat scavenged an ancient manuscript amongst the discarded rubbish. A comic book! Not just any old comic though, no. This book illuminated the very first moon landing in full and precious detail.
Ever since then the race was on to train 'rattronauts' and build a rocket ship capable of reaching the moon. One small step for rat, one tantalising leap for rat-kind.
This delightful backstory sets you off on a board gaming experience which is likely to have you constantly grinning, and hatching new plans as the game readily shifts gears and powers towards a manic race - to become First Rat.
On game night we played with 4 players which (after playing a few games myself) seemed to be a nice sweet spot. However, First Rat will play well with 1-5 players.
Each player starts with 2 colour matched 'rattronaut' playing pieces, and the simple instruction to move your rat pack up a pile of junk towards victory. During your journey you will be collecting resources like baking soda and vinegar (rocket fuel); or calculators and tin cans (components), then spending them to construct your rocket ships which will ultimately catapult you to the cheesy moon. At the heart of this very easy to learn game, is the synchronisation and efficiency of your rat movements. Plus, as you gradually ready your rockets for launching, many other opportunities will present themselves to generate special rewards and essential bonus powers to help you to first place. For example; 'light bulbs' will light your way forward, score victory points, and allow you to pick up additional resources in well lit areas. Also you can collect 'mini cheeses' which are in-game currency that allow you to purchase additional powers at shops and help you share in the wealth of the scrapyard with your opponents. Finally you can scavenge 'apple cores' which move your burrowing rat around at speed, collecting unique powers, unlocking more rats to send into space and scoring valuable victory points.
The game feels like you have a multitude of possibilities to follow through on to outwit your junkyardian opponents, and you never really feel 'out' of the space race either. There is always something to look forward to, manipulate, and help you onwards towards your final destination.
You can win in only one way - be the player with the highest victory points at the end of the game. However, you are confronted and teased with many ways to earn those points. Ideally, being the First Rat to each victory point condition is the tried and tested route to success. Ending the game is also simple; the game ends when one player has placed the last of their (8) scoring cubes at victory point locations dotted all over the game board OR when one player has sent all 4 of their rattronauts into space!
In our game, everyone seemed to enjoy the experience and ultimately the player who eventually won, was definitely 'First Rat' to several high scoring victory point locations.
All in all, if you enjoy a fun, fast paced, easy to learn game with medium complexity, then you MUST give First Rat a go if you are able to. With 4 players who are paying attention, plus a bit of chilling at the same time, expect to spend about 2 hours (including the rules explanation).
There is a lot of replay-ability in this game through optional rule sets and bespoke (reverse the board) setups. However, I don't see any need for them right now, as the actual game reacts well to different players and their quirky strategies.
If you want to know more about this game then you can find Board Game Geek link here!
I love this game and hope to show it to more players in the future.
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