Want details on how Arcastudio’s Otto Game Over plays? Check out the Game Overview.  Want to know what we think of this game – keep reading below.

Otto Game Over was recently on Kickstarter.  It seemed like an intriguing game so we grabbed a copy. 

The Game – Otto Game Over

Otto Game Over is an abstract, strategy game.  Weird name, maybe, but when you realize that  otto is the Italian word for eight and creating a path the shape of an eight ends a match it suddenly all makes sense.  This game will appeal to a lot of different groups.  It is a great game to bring to a game night with friends or for a date night.  It definitely makes you think and attempt to strategize a few steps ahead (Although everything goes to pot with the draw of a tile now and again).  Otto Game Over is a competitive game for 2 – 4 players and takes 36 minutes to play, according to the game box but if you think too long your play time may vary.

In Otto Game Over, you are competing with your fellow players at the table to lay down tiles on a board and score points in doing so.  The game plays out across multiple matches and the first person to reach 24 points wins the game.  

Players take turns laying down the game’s black tiles with white paths marked on them, the aim is to create enclosed shapes with the paths when combined with other tiles on the board.  When a player encloses a space, they put a scoring token down and gain points.  However, be careful as each player has special cards that can be played to change the tiles on the board or score more points and if you run out of the correct sized scoring tokens the next player can take your scoring shape.  These aspects really won us over at the table.

Game Components

The game components are of a very good quality.  The board is quite solid and well designed with an outer raised border so the tiles fit in well and don’t slide off the board. The tiles themselves are made out of the same cardboard as the board and definitely feel part of the board.  It never felt like picking up a tile would break it.  

The player boards are also made of the same material and are well designed, with spaces to hold all of your scoring tokens.  The wooden scoring tokens (four sets are included in the game) are also of high quality each in four bright colors.

The only component that could be slightly improved is the tile tower.  It is made of a fairly flimsy cardboard, it is nicely designed but we felt we needed to use extra caution setting it up and using it to make sure we didn’t tear it.  This is really a very minor concern on a solidly produced game,  

The game box is also worth a mention, it has a place for everything and it all packs in beautifully time after time.  Otto Game Over designers put thought into making the box as useful as possible for players, which is something we really appreciate. 

Game Setup

Setting up a game of Otto Game Over, we agree with the rule book here, “Game set up, it’s quick”.  Shuffle the tiles and secret cards, lay out the board, give everyone their player boards and colored scoring tokens then you are ready to begin!

Game Play

This is where the game shows it’s strength.  A simple premise, lay tiles to enclose scoring shapes is not as easy as it sounds when you are randomly drawing tiles.  And you have to contend with rules that require you to score when you can and not save a tile for later.  

Your strategy can be to go all out and try to make as many points as possible.  Or, the way I prefer to play, aim to make a figure eight and end the round the winner.  The risk with this strategy is the randomness of the tiles.  You have very little control over bringing out the exact tile you need to make the figure eight.  Also, since it takes three tiles to make one, some luck.  Hoping your opponents won’t get a tile that blocks you or that they will have to play there tile elsewhere to score and leave your eight alone.  

Then of course there is the dreaded secret cards that can blow whatever strategy you are pursuing out out of the water! 

Otto Game Over offers a nice balance of tile placement strategy with card strategy. For the first few games, you will need to remind yourself of what each secret card does.  The cards themselves only have pictures but there is a clear display in the rule book of each card and its actions. 

Overall Impressions

We like Otto Game Over because it is an easy game to learn with quick setup and game play.  It is well designed and the components are great quality.  While we generally prefer games with more story and theme, this did appeal to us.  We are definitely adding it to the list for our next game night.

We Love

• Well designed and quality components
• Secret cards that bring surprises to game play

Could be better

• Tile tower, the single component that isn’t the same high standard as everything else.

We don’t currently carry Otto Game Over in our store.  This game is available from the publisher https://www.8gameover.com/tabletop/worldshop/en/board-games/6-otto-game-over.html.  This is definitely an abstract, strategy game you should add to your collection.