Publisher: 25th Century Games
Player Count: 2-4 Players
Game Length: 20-30 Minutes
Complexity 1.5/5
In Longboard from celebrated board game designer, Reiner Knizia, players will attempt to design the coolest and biggest surf boards on the beach. Create sets of the same color boards while considering community goals as you race to the finish line.
ON YOUR TURN
Longboard is a fairly casual, set collecting, card game set in the world of big board surfing with a simple ruleset. Each player will be drawing cards and building sets toward goals that ultimately trigger the endgame. The game ends when a player has built 4 surf boards with 1 containing at least 7 cards.
The game revolves around a big deck of surfboard cards divided by color and number. The game has 4 colors (or suites) and a wild suit divided into numbers 1-8. Each player’s play area is divided into 2 spaces: your Supply and Build Area.
On your turn you have 1 of 3 possible actions: Increase your supply, Start or Extend a board or Swap a card and use it.
Increasing your supply allows you to draw a new card from the deck into your available supply. Starting or Extending a board allows you to move a card from your supply into your build area. Swapping a card allows you to steal a card from another player’s supply as long as you exchange it with a card or cards of greater numerical value.
The catch to building your surf boards is each card must be of equal or greater value than the previous card played in that stack.
Some board cards feature stickers that provide points at the end of the game. This is the primary path for victory. Once a player does achieve 4 boards containing at least 4 cards each with 1 board containing 7 cards, players add up their stickers and a winner is declared.
ARTWORK & COMPONENTS
This isn’t a complex game when it comes to components. The 110 card deck is colorfully illustrated providing an almost retro, 60s surfer vibe and a nice backdrop for the game.
PROS & CONS
➕ Easy setup and straight forward ruleset make this one highly accessible.
➕ Fun theme feels integrated well into the mechanics
➕ Quick game game time
➕ Gameplay isn’t complex, but does provide some interesting decisions
➕ Community objectives provide added layers to the game without bogging down the flow with unnecessary complexity.
➖ Objectives provide some variability, but game can start to feel same-y after a few plays
➖ End game is decided by the players so game length can vary based on group strategies
WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?
This is a light-hearted game that is easy to teach and plays quickly. The theme is going to appeal to a wide audience and it’s great for families and inexperienced gamers. Building your surfboard gives you a thematic and satisfying sense of accomplishment. There is just the right amount of luck to keep surprises coming and enough strategy to help players feel clever. Longboard works great for casual game fans with limited time or a limited attention span.
WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?
The best thing is watching your surf boards grow. It’s instrumental in showcasing the theme and brings a lot of pride to a player. It’s a simple thing, but sometimes you just need to build a really long longboard.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It’s hard to be critical of such a good-natured design. The mechanics are clean, simple and straightforward and it plays quickly… It’s obviously the product of an experienced designer.
The choices bring a little tension and are relatively interesting. I think my biggest critque is that I don’t feel overly impressed one way or another making me wonder if this one might be too forgettable. I’ve honestly enjoyed my 5 or 6 player with the family up to this point. It’s a good gateway game that serves as a nice distraction that no one has been against playing. I dig the theme and think it brings a fun, quirky backdrop.
While you can steal from your opponents supply, player interaction in the game is really limited and a little too pleasant for my tastes. It doesn’t quite have that bite that really draws me into a card game and I like to cause a little more trouble for my opponents. So while it is great for my kids, it doesn’t quite check those boxes for me.
If you are looking for a lighter, friendlier card game with a fun theme tied in… you should definitely give Longboard a look. It’s a good time for the right audience and plays quickly enough to satisfy non-gamers by not overstaying its welcome.