Review of Stomple
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Description:
Introducing Stomple, the strategic marble stomping game. Outwit your opponents by stomping their marbles before they stomp yours. Outmaneuver by leaving their stomper trapped with no escape. Outstomp the competition and you win! The more you play, the more you learn the Strategy behind the stomping.
Length: 10-20 mins Age: 8 Players: 2-6
Prelude:
I discovered this new game on a whim. They had it on display at Gamex 2011, and me and my husband did a quick play-test of the game. During the play-test, a guy came up and told us there was going to be a tournament in 5 minutes for a free game and prizes.
We had just learned it, but hey? why not?
I made it to the last round of the Finals, and my husband made it to the last round of the “stomp out finals” – which was cool because if you got stomped out early in the the tournament, you still had a second chance to win, clever and nice all at the same time. My husband won second in the stomp out finals winning a free game and all I got was a lousy…hehe just kidding, it’s actually a pretty cute t-shirt!
Object & Gameplay:
The object is simple – the last stomper standing wins. Each player (2-6 players), blindly draws out a stomper from the black bag provided, then chooses who goes first. It proceeds clockwise. At the start of your turn, you begin on an edge. If you choose to stomp a particular color marble that happens to be joined to other marbles of that same color, you must continue to stomp all matching colors.
Once everyone who is playing has their stomper on the board, the game continues. On your remaining turns for the rest of the game you have two options: You can either stomp an adjacent marble(s) or teleport to your color marble. That's really it.
There are some strategies and particulars you learn along the way, such as trying to take out the other players marble colors keeping them from teleporting, blocking them in and, eventually causing them to run out of moves, thereby knocking them out of the game. Lets go over the two possible moves - first stomping an adjacent marble(s). In this particular scenario, the color black could move to any adjacent marble such as the white one, light blue or yellow etc., but he might want to break up his black marbles since they are unluckily in a giant line and can be knocked out easily. He has 3 possible moves to break them up, however he must continue stomping until he has no adjacent black marbles. So the the red route would cause him to loose the least amount of marbles.
The other option is Teleporting to your color marble. White has no adjacent marbles to go to but can teleport to one of his corresponding color marbles! This is handy when you have nowhere to go, still allowing for additional movements which means you're still in the game! If on your turn you can not stomp a marble, you must remove your stomper from the
board, allowing the other players to finish the game. You’re out!
Scoring:
If you are the last stomper, you win! This is a quick game so there is a point system if you want to play multiple games. Points are as follows 3 points for winning the round 3 points for each bonus marble 1 point for each solid color marble left
on the board.
Final Thoughts:
I actually enjoyed this as a two player game. It allows for a great deal of strategy and has the feel of chess but without the time commitment involved. It’s very easy to learn and the components are of high quality. The foam marble holders seem to hold the marbles up well, but who knows after years of future stomping! The only thing I did not like about this game was the box. It’s a medium thickness cardboard that will wear quickly with play. Additionally, it opens on the side kind of like how you would pull out a deck of cards, unlike other games that open in two sturdy separate pieces. If I hadn’t gotten it signed I’d probably ditch the box. Get this game you won’t have any regrets. Additionally check out their awesome website: www.stomple.com
Final Final Thoughts:
Quality: 3.5/5 (lost a 1.5 for the box) Fun: (5/5) Substance: (4/5 – there isn’t a whole lot to it, but quite a bit of strategic thinking with fewer people) Re-playability: 5/5 4475
Stomple, reviewed by KingKel (4/4)
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