BITES by Allplay
Skin in the Board Games - Review
Summary: Race ants to the top of the ant hill, collecting food scraps along the way.
Objectives (variable): The ant that reaches the top of the hill scores the most points (4) for each corresponding-colored food token. Each lower position on the hill scores 1 less point. Lowest level scores 0.
3 variable finishing options:
Overachiever - Ants take the highest available spot when they finish.
Humble ants - Ants take the lowest available spot when they finish.
Introverted - Ants take positions in the order of 2,4,1,3,0 when they finish.
Ant color/ Food token:
Special tokens:
Chocolate - These tokens score 0 at the end of the game if you have any, but they can be used for a super power during your turn.
Wine - These tokens have their own scoring objective separate from the ant hill finishing position.
Set-Up:
#1. Build the ant hill.
#2. Place 1 food token of each kind next to the hill.
3. Shuffle tokens in a bag & use them to form a trail all the way to the ant hill.
4. Line up all ants at the start of the trail.
How to play:
Choose a player to go 1st. Humblest among you, or random.
That player picks an ant to move it to the next food token on the trail that matches its color.
The player then will choose to collect a food token either directly in front or behind where it lands. If another ant occupies 1 or both spaces, pick from the next available token.
Take turns in this manner. You can pick different or the same ants each turn.
When an ant reaches the end of the trail, it takes position on the hill according to the scoring objective.
The player that moved it gets to collect a food token of their choice from the side supply.
Continue taking turns & collecting tokens that you hope will score the most points for the stack until all ants take their final position on the hill.
Scoring: Each food token is worth the value of the position of the ant that matches its color.
Example - If the red ant finished at the top position (4 points) & you collected 4 red apple tokens during the game, you score 16 points for your red apples.
Add up the value for all your food tokens based on how their matching ant finished for your final score. Player with the most points wins.
How it is Won!: You don’t necessarily need to have an ant that is yours to win, but you do want to collect the most food tokens of the ants that finish in the high position.
How it is lost: Collecting too many food tokens of the ants that finish lowest will surely give you the L.
Master Strategies: Wine usually scores high, so collect them when you can.
Use chocolate powers to control the finish.
Objective Selection: Drawing random objective cards is always an option, but why do it random when you can pick?
The most fun way I’ve played this game so far is when each player gets to select their own set-up for a game each.
Bites UnBoxed:
Teaching:
Bites is a quick teach game that would easily put it in the gateway category for new players.
The only real huddle to overcome when teaching is emphasizing that it is a collection game rather than a racing game. Although, once each player has built a stack of a certain food item, they will inevitably end up trying to race the matching ant to the top of the hill.
Game speed:
This game usually wraps up in about 20 minutes. The game speed can be adjusted for time commitment by objective selection. Overachiever tends to play faster than Humble ants. The Turbo chocolate power will also speed it up, while slowpoke slows it down.
Game Categories:
Gateway: Easy to teach & learn for all ages 6+.
Collection: Bites is a collection game where the primary objective is to collect the highest scoring stack.
Appetizer: It plays light, so it can be played before a heavy hitter.
Filler: It is quick enough to be played between game gaps in a session.
Popcorn: This game can be played multiple times in a sitting. The variability of changing objective cards will keep it interesting.