Loopin' Louie

I wouldn't have bought Loopin' Louie if not because of the praises it gets on Boardgamegeek. This is a children's game and a dexterity game, but many fellow geeks find this a fun game, pretty brainless but not entirely. I asked a childhood friend who is living in the UK to help me bring this back to KK when he was going back for holidays. It is easily available at UK online retailers but not US ones. So I took the opportunity of Elliott returning from the UK to buy this, and Brass too, which is much cheaper at UK online retailers than US ones.

When Michelle saw the game (well, to her it's a toy), she thought it was some cheap toy from KFC. When my mum saw it, she too thought it was a toy for my children (3 years old and 1.5 years old respectively). They did not expect that this was an expensive toy imported from UK for a 34 year old boy.

In this game, you have 3 chickens, and this Louie guy is flying a plane going in circles trying to knock your chicken off your barns. You have a lever and need to use it to stop Louie. In fact, you want to use it to redirect Louie to hit your opponents' chicken. The last player with any chicken left wins.

This is really a 5 minute or less game. If it lasts any longer than that it'll start to be boring. I've played this a few times and it's fun indeed. Real-time dexterity games have this effect of absorbing you into the game, because you cannot afford to be not focused. Having played this a few times, I think this is not something I will play very often. It is indeed a children's game. It's good as a diversion and a refreshing change if you have been playing heavy, "thinky" games.

Chen Rui (1.5 years old) is definitely too young for this game. Her house rule for this game is she should dismantle it as quickly as possible. Shee Yun (3 years old) is not quite ready for it yet. Her house rule is to either collect everyone's chicken, or to use her hand to knock all the chicken off the barns. Maybe she will like playing Sauron in Lord of the Rings, now that she is already taking on Louie's role.