#63: Beppo der Bock

Beppo der Bock

• designer: Klaus Zoch & Peter Schackert
• publisher: Huch & Friends
• date: 2007
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: 2693/6.37
• age: 5+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: in print
• cost: $42.50 (Boards & Bits)

I went through three phases with my acquistion of Beppo der Bock:

1. The WOWSA phase - where you open the box, start playing with the basic mechanic (the magnet/steel ball/wooden goat shooter) and are blown away by how powerful the magnet is and how much fun it is to shoot the little balsa wood goat around the board
2. The THAT'S IT? phase - where you realize that the mechanic is pretty much all there is to the game - otherwise, it's just a simple roll'n'move, albeit with a goat & some wooden refugees from the Weeble factory who never had their bottoms rounded off
3. The AH, NOW I GET IT phase - where it becomes clear that the virtues of the game (plays in 5-10 minutes, does reward experience with the shooter device, is attractive to & playable by kids as young as 3 with adult help) outweigh the phase 2 reaction

It won Spiel des Jahres Kinderspiel in 2007... which I think was more about the coolness of the mechanic than the sheer fun of playing. (I realize that this review sounds like I'm damning with faint praise - please understand, my boys love this game, which is the primary reason I've ranked it so high.)