This game will have you building gadgets and ‘Gizmos’ aplenty with the sharpest minds around at the local Science Fair.
Were you a bit of a ‘science fair’ nerd back in the day? Was your idea of a fun weekend building model rockets or tinkering with science and STEM toys? Me too! Gizmos is nothing like that! Sure, this a game about building cool stuff at your local science fair. But it’s a little less engineering and a little more Dexter’s Laboratory on the real-science scale. And that makes it a game that everyone can have a lot of fun and get a little too competitive with.
Gizmos
It’s time for the science fair, and all of the sharpest minds of the generation are gathering with to prove that they’re the smartest, most creative, and quickest thinker on their feet. No, they’re not here to solve the energy crisis or cure any number of diseases or reverse climate change. They’re here for a much bigger prize – the science fair blue ribbon.
In CMON Game‘s Gizmos, Players take on the roles of these great thinkers to construct new ‘gizmos’ and eventually build a new machine. The various gizmos can work together to trigger bigger and gigger reactions, all resulting in real-world victory points. And as you know, more victory points are how every great science fair is judged.
This is a game where turns- and gizmo chain effects- have the opportunity to get very big, very fast. Strategy and planning ahead is important. But of course, you’re only one of many great minds at the table.
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How To Play
To set up the game, shuffle the gizmo cards and lay out the gizmos in the main display as well as the marble display. Each player gets an action board, a ring to store marbles and their starting gizmo. The gizmo will have a cost in marbles as well as and effect or action that it will add to the game.
Each turn, players can take one of four turns. “File” allows players to select a gizmo from the main display and replace it from the deck. “Pick” lets players pick one of six marbles. “Build” has players ‘build’ their gizmo and put it into active play on their action board. Players can also build gizmos directions from the main display if they pay the necessary cost in marbles. Finally, “Research” lets players pick cards from one of the decks to either file or build.
As gizmos are built, the player’s machine will start to come together in a way that reminds me of a Rube Goldberg machine. As more gizmos are added, more and more actions will be triggered, resulting in larger and larger turns- and hopefully many victory point tokens- for each player.
The game ends when a player builds their fourth level-three gizmo or has a machine made of up sixteen gizmos total. The player with the most victory points is the winner and takes home the coveted blue ribbon.
Awards And Nominations
Gizmo has been nominated for or won the following awards:
Origins Awards, Best Board Game, Nominee, 2019
Mensa Select, Winner, 2019
Gioco dell’Anno, Nominee, 2019
Boardgames Australia Awards, Best Australian Game, Winner, 2019
American Tabletop Casual Games Recommended, 2019
Meeples Choice Award, Nominee, 2018
Golden Geek, Best Family Board Game, Nominee, 2018
Board Game Quest Awards, Best Family Game, Nominee, 2018
How Many People Can Play, And How Long Are Games?
Gizmo is a game for two to four players and games take an average of forty to fifty minutes. The suggested minimum age for Gizmo is fourteen years old.
This is not a game with a solo mode.
How Many Gizmos Are There And How Many Machines Can We Build?
Many. In the second edition of the game, there are 112 gizmo cards over three levels of gizmo. Even without accounting for duplicates, there is a lot of variety in the machine you can build. No two machines and no two games will be the same.
Is Gizmos Difficult To Learn And Play?
No. The rules are straightforward and during gameplay the cards and Player Dashboards more or less tell you what to do turn-to-turn. The strategy can be a little tricky to get the hang of. But I think the most difficult part of Gizmos is simply not losing track of everything your machine does as more and more gizmos get added to it. But if you can stay on top of your ever-growing machine and all of its moving parts, Gizmos will quickly become a breeze and very fun.
What Other Games Has CMON Made?
You may recognize CMON games from Zombiecide and Marvel Zombies Zombicide, Marvel Unlimited, Cthulhu: Death May Die, Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game, Dune: War for Arrakis, Nova Era, Myakuza, Masters of the Universe: The Board Game, Sheriff of Nottingham, Fairy Tale Inn, Stranger Things: Upside Down, Cyberpunk 2077: Game of Night City, The Assassin’s Creed Roleplaying Game, and many others. You can find more about CMON as well as a full list of their games and where to purchase them, here.
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Can You Feed This Gizmo After Midnight?
I don’t think anything would happen. But just to be safe, you probably shouldn’t feed the Gizmos board game, either. Or get it wet. Light is probably alright, though.
Happy Adventuring
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