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Hungry
Hungry Herd
Based on
Hungry Hungry Hippo, Hungy Hungry Herd is
a game for up to four players wit the goal of gobbling up as many marbles, or
“food” as you possibly can.
Zynga is
making the move from your digital life to your living room with a new line of
real-world board games based on popular Zyngafranchises.
The product
of a partnership with game giant Hasbro, the collection will include
real-world versions of Words With Friends,Draw
Something, CityVille and FarmVille.
Priced between $9.99 and $39.99, depending on the game, each title also comes
packaged with a little something –- such as $50 in Farm Cash –- that you can
use in the digital version of the game.
We were able
to get an early preview of some of the games, set to hit store shelves this
month, this past week in our San Francisco office.
Draw Something
Of the
bunch, Draw
Something was
the biggest hit in our office. While the game is definitely based on
Pictionary, gameplay is different enough that it feels like a new game. Players
draw a card -- the game comes with 180 -- and select whether they want to draw
a picture for one, two, or three coins.
Once a word
has been selected, the card is turned over and placed on the top of the
player’s drawing pad for other players to see. Each card has letters printed on
the back that are included in whatever word is trying to be guessed, so players
can use those letters to help them make more educated guesses.
Unlike
Pictionary, there’s no time limit for how long you can draw or how long you can
guess. The only rule? You can only use one sheet of paper.
Much like
the digital version of the game, if someone guesses a drawing correctly both
artist and guesser earn coins. If everyone gives up, the game just continues to
the next person at the table. The first player to 15 coins wins.
Hungry Hungry
Herd
CityVille
Monopoly
Words With
Friends
But Wait,
There’s More
Draw
Something sells
for $19.99.
Hungry Hungry
Herd
Much like
its name suggests, Hungry Hungry Herd is
a new take on Hasbro’s Hungry
Hungry Hippogame, featuring farm characters from Zynga’s FarmVille.
Players can choose between Gobbling Horse, Munching Pig, Snacking Sheep, or
Chomping Cow to get their snack on, and game play consists of counting down -–
the rules actually say yell “1,2,3, Go!” -- and then trying to gobble up more
snack that your opponents. The winner gets to select what animal he or she
plays with next.
In official Mashable testing
we had a ton of fun playing the game, but also ran into a few issues. The
animal’s necks, for instance, are designed so that they lock in place when you
store the game. Unfortunately, that locking “feature” also sometimes happens
while you’re playing, sudden death if you’re in a heated battle for the last
few marbles at the time.
The game
also has to be assembled every time you want to play it –- or never put back in
its box –- while it’s not terribly hard to put together, it is somewhat
difficult to pull apart. Our careful adult hands definitely came close to
destroying the thin plastic the game is made of in the process, so enthusiastic
and frustrated little hands are bound to do some damage.
Hungry
Hungry Herd sells
for $22.99 and comes packaged with 50 Farm Cash for parents or older children
to use when playing FarmVille.
CityVille
Monopoly
CityVille
Monopoly is
a new take on the traditional game of Monopoly.
Rather than trying to bankrupt all of the other players, the main goal of the
game is to build four different skyscrapers. Essentially the hotels of
CityVille, a skyscraper is built by buying three buildings, stacking them on top
of each other, and adding a skyscraper top to it.
Not just
houses, buildings in the game are different colors based on the type of
building they are. For instance, red buildings are houses, while blue buildings
are businesses. Decoration cards found in the game can also be added to
properties to increase their value. For instance, you might put a Tiered
Fountain card under your property card for the Tonga Room in order to collect
more from players who land on it.
The
skyscraper goal makes gameplay fly by much faster than it might with
traditional Monopoly,
and makes the game a bit easier for younger players or those with shorter
attention spans.
CityVille
Monopoly is
priced at $24.99 and comes with $85 in City Cash for parents or older children
to use in the traditional digital version of the game.
Words With
Friends
Of all of
the games, Words With Friends is going to be the most familiar. Much like the
digital version of the game, Words With
Friends has
a Scrabble look
and feel. Game pieces are translucent, with backing on the rear to prevent your
opponent from seeing through them. Unfortunately, out of the box some of our
pieces had the lettering already scratched a bit off. If you're using this game
a bunch, that likely means the letters won't be able to stand the test of time.
The
traditional version of Words With
Friends is
$19.99 and comes with a code to redeem an unlimited play pack for the digital
version of the game.
Zynga is
also offering a “Luxe” version of the game with a nicer game board and a place
on the tile rack to hold your mobile phone, and a “To Go” version of the game
for traveling.
But Wait,
There’s More
In addition
to the games we were able to play, Hasbro and Zynga are also launched some FarmVille-based
card games this month. Priced at $9.99, the games each come with their own
animal and include Disco Sheep’s Memory card game, Rockstar Cow’s ‘Old Maid’
card game, and Groovy Chicken’s ‘Go Fish’ game.
A CityVille
Skies blimp
will also launch on Dec. 1 and will allow players to fly over CityVille on
their iPad by dragging the blimp across the screen and downloading a special CityVille
Skies app.
What do you
think of Zynga and Hasbro’s partnership for real-world games? Can you see
yourself buying any of these titles? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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