Do you know what would be a real party? Eating pizza every day! Unfortunately, life isn’t always a party, and eating pizza every day would probably mean my arteries clogging up or, worse still, I might get tired of my favourite food… For me, eating pizza is a celebration in itself, and are there any parties better than Pizza Parties? Well, unless the HR department organises the pizza party instead of giving a bonus payment… Fortunately, it’s not HR but Snacko Gecko that’s organising this pizza party.
Anyway, Snacko Gecko, the younger cousin of Dizzy Lizzy, loves organising pizza parties of all shapes and sizes. Some time ago, I had the chance to review Dizzy Lizzy (and even developed a game mode), and a bit more recently, I was one of the first to try a test version of Pizza Party. Back then, it was Lizzy who hosted the pizza party, not Snacko Gecko. You can read that preview here.
In the meantime, there’s been a lot of tinkering with the game, and Gecko has now taken over from Lizzy. Pizzas are still served with juicy insects, and there are still plenty of game modes available, just like with its spiritual predecessor Dizzy Lizzy.
Both Dizzy Lizzy and Pizza Party are characterised by the many game variants and variations the creators offer with the different game components in the box. That’s why both Dizzy Lizzy and Pizza Party feel like sandboxes with lots of possibilities. I therefore called Dizzy Lizzy a living card game, and that certainly also applies to Pizza Party.
Pizza Party comes packaged in a proper pizza box with a lid that opens so that the steaming pizza greets you. There are pizza slices and regular cards that players use to play different game modes. The pizza slice cards are actually shaped like crookedly cut pizza slices and fit together nicely to form a round pizza. The presentation is top notch and colourful.
The manual describes several game modes. A pizza can have endless toppings and, just like Dizzy Lizzy, Snacko Gecko will continue to develop new ideas. On hLINK, you can find multiple game modes.
There are pizza slices, cards with insects, and action cards. The main game mode is Greedy Geckos. Players try to make the tastiest pizzas with their favourite insects, but players don’t know which insects the others are collecting. With action cards, players can try to ensure (hopefully) that their pizza is the most delicious. For younger players, there is also a simpler game mode available.
Additionally, the rulebook includes a cooperative game mode where players must work together to make sure everyone’s pizza scores. There’s also a cooperative variant where one player is a traitor. Werewolves pizza party, perhaps? Finally, the rulebook also contains minigames with simple game variants, including my personal favourite: Snappy Catchers, where players have to grab pizza slices with their favourite insects as quickly as possible.
Snacko Gecko will soon arrive on Kickstarter and you can already get a preview via this link.
