Game Review: Eleminis by Smiley Pop

Eleminis is a light-hearted, quick, fast playing card game by Smiley Pop that is a perfect coffee table game.  The game plays in about 10 minutes and has rules that are simultaneously simple to learn and engaging to play.  I think it's a clear go-to when you've got friends over and have a few minutes to kill, or are heading out to your favorite pub and want something to occupy yourself without having to think too hard.


Rule Basics

The basic premise for Eleminis is you are trying to collect a full set of the 5 colored elemental cards.  It sounds easy enough, but every turn a player can mess up your collection instead of helping their own (and vice versa!).  The game plays with each person drawing a card from the center stack, one player at a time, and deciding where to place the card.  They can add it to an empty slot on any players row, or they can use the card to replace an existing card on someone's slot, based on what kind of card it is.  For example, the Fire element card can replace a Plant or Air element card already on someone's row.

There are also a handful of cards designed to shake things up a bit.  There's a Star wildcard, a Trash card that's difficult to get rid of, and several movement-only cards that let you mess with each player's set.

Play continues with each person drawing a card and placing it, until someone has a full set of the 5 elements.  You can only have 5 total cards in your set, so once the game gets going it starts to come down to individual player choices, and a bit of luck, to determine who's going to win.


Highlights

We've played Eleminis several times at our house, usually when we have guests over.  The first couple of games usually end with someone getting a lucky draw from the deck, but as people pick up the nuances of how the different elements replace one another, people start to develop their own strategies for how to play.  The rulebook has a funny blurb in it about how its encouraged to convince each other about the right way to play -- and it's 100% right, that's usually what ends up happening.

We added a house-rule to the game (also explicitly encouraged by the rulebook) that we felt was a good addition once everyone is familiar with the card replacing mechanic.  We made it so victory could also be achieved if you have a full set of the same element, making it dangerous to give other players too many duplicates.  It made us all focus a lot more on where to play the cards, and added a nice level of drama to the game.

Rating: 4/5 - A Great Game All Around

As mentioned, Eleminis has found its way to our living room table most weekends that we have people over.  I think it hits all the selling points of a party game:  it's fast and easy to play, inspires just enough engagement without overpowering the social dynamic, and has very little setup (its just a single deck of cards).  The only reason I give it a 4-rating instead of a 5-rating is that my personal preference are games that are a bit meatier and I wish there were more Trash cards in the game (giving someone a Trash card is way satisfying).  Otherwise Eleminis solidly deserves a spot on the list of games to bust out in casual social gatherings.

Find Eleminis in our store today for $11.99.

 


 

As always, share this review using the social media buttons below.  If you've played Eleminis yourself, feel free to leave a comment with your favorite tactics!  You can talk to me directly at themoderngamer@titanbeargaming.com or on social media using the hashtag #themoderngamer.

Until next time -- have more fun, would ya?  It's good for you.

Previous post Next Post

Comments

Leave a comment