Bush Poo Preview

Can we just grab a can of Febreze (not a sponsor) and clear the air a bit? I’m a child. I love poop jokes and other toilet humor. I will always be… cracking up (see what I did there?) at a good potty pun. So imagine my excitement as I find out a new game is coming out called Bush Poo and they need reviewers to take a look! Here is my presentation on the game of scat-dashin’ to the pot at the top of the mountain.

Bush Poo is a card game of traveling up a mountain to the be the first to poo on a proper toilet, or the first to poo right there in their pants. One is good, and the other is messy. And ends the game.

DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and I do know for sure that the final components will be slightly different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, but rather give a feel for the game. You are invited to download the rulebook, back the game through the Kickstarter campaign, or through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T

To setup place the roll-up mat on the table for each player to travel. Shuffle the pink-backed poo cards and place them face-down. Shuffle the green-backed poo cards and place them on top of the pink-backed cards to form the draw deck. Place all the Leaf (green) and Poo (red?? ew) tokens in the bag. Each player chooses a meeple and places it on the Start space. The race can now begin!

On a player’s turn they may move ahead one space on the board or discard the top two cards from the deck to move ahead two spaces. Once a player lands on a space with a circled number they blindly draw tokens from the bag. Green is good and red means drawing a poo card and resolving it. Other spaces may have shortcuts, or even a symbol to draw and resolve Poo cards from the deck. Poo cards can be Lucky, which usually gives more Leaf tokens; Unlucky, which either depletes a player’s Leaf supply or moves opponents on the board; or Challenge cards, which have all players competing for the Leaf token benefit.

Play continues in this manner of moving along the board collecting tokens for points until a player has reached the toilet at the top or the dreaded “Poop Explosion!” card is drawn, thus ending the game immediately. Players then count up points from tokens, cards, and any board bonuses to determine the winner of one of the messiest games ever played!

Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game and most components will be different at release. That said, I will comment on what we were furnished. The main board is heat-transferred onto a cloth mat. This will be printed in final version so I will not complain about its stickiness. The meeples may or may not be different. These are translucent plastic and serve their purpose. The bag and Leaf/Poo tokens are entry-level, but fine for a prototype. What needs to be addressed is the overall look of the game. I feel that for a modern game one thing you can usually count on is great art direction. Here, however, the art on the cards feature pieces in varying styles which is a turnoff, unfortunately. Yes, it’s a game about poop, so why am I complaining about the art? Mainly, because the game itself isn’t enough to carry it into a positive category, and the theme stinks (ha), so the art and components HAVE to be there for me. Hopefully it will have a different look at release.

I will tell you all one thing: this is not a game for me. I thought I would dig the poop theme and the race to the top of the mountain. In practice, however, this game felt a lot like a gross Candy Land experience. I must mention, however, that this game is a HIT with children. Oh if they could only play “the poop game” all night long their little dreams would be fulfilled! Adults, on the other hand, may see immediately-waning excitement upon subsequent plays.

This one is tough for me to recommend. That said, if you have a poo-themed game collection that isn’t quite complete, this is your lucky day. If you are more hardcore with your collection, I would have to advise you to pass on this. UNLESS! Unless you want to pick up a couple gifts for friends to show them how you really feel. It’s just not for me. The people at Hot Game Magnet are super nice though, so hopefully these remarks will be taken to heart.