From time to time you come across a game which is so much fun the first time you play, you simply can’t resist the urge to buy it. BaRPiG is exactly such a gem in a small package. My belly muscles were hurting of laughter after playing this Pig and Beer themed game with the creators. So I couldn’t resist myself from picking up a copy of BaRPiG. I am already planning when to play it again!
So about the game itself! BaRPiG is a 3 to 7 player card drafting, push your luck game with really nice illustrations. In the illustrations of BarPiG, a pretty funny backstory can be found. As one of the creators of the game explained to me, there is more going on than you might think. By closely looking at the artwork it is possible to for instance discover a secret love affair and a guy in disguise. There are 9 characters in the game, each with incredibly punny names. There is the Pourceror, Whisking, Barbeerian, Brewid and a couple more. Each character has, next to some incredible artwork, a unique ability to make fun of your friends in someway or another.
The objective in BaRPiG is to be the first one to level up 4 times, or like our host told us: “Win the love of Sally the pig”. We had an actual pig miniature to win over ;). At the beginning of every round all the players throw a die, except for the player who has Sally. The player who throws the highest wins Sally’s love and goes up a level. “This sounds way too easy and no fun at all” is what I hear you thinking, well there are item cards to mess with other players. You can use these items whenever you want, enabling you to make someone reroll or even steal someones level up.
When someone wins the love of Sally, he also gets the chance to perform his characters skill. This is where the real fun begins. These skills are hilariously stupid and I am only going to give one example because it is more fun to find out for yourself! One of the skills is to choose an animal all other players have to imitate. The worst player will lose some beers, a currency in the game. They will also lose a sobriety point. Losing 4 sobriety points makes you reset your progress and start all over. If you want a good laugh, ask your friends to imitate a worm ;).
Final Thoughts
I think BaRPiG will definitely be a great addition to my party game collection. However it’s a pity that the maximum number of players is limited to 7. Then again since BaRPiG has some actual game mechanics, rounds might be taking up too much time if you play it with more than 7 players.
Another thing I miss a little bit is the amount of different characters and maybe also items. Right now you quickly cycle through the characters ending up with the same actions multiple times in one game. Changing this could greatly increase the replayability. A simple fix for this is of course a nice expansion ;).
Like I already said, great artwork, lovely illustrations matched up with great character names. Also the quality of the cards is nice. They are a bit bigger than normal playing cards, thick cardboard and well printed! And again, some nice artwork on the box.
The mechanics for keeping track of your level for winning, sobriety for essentially losing and beer for buying new cards is well thought of. I don’t know if they came up with it themselves, I forgot to ask, but it’s simple and effective. You are essentially stacking cards, sliding them over each other to reveal more of the card and therefore the different values.
BaRPiG is definitely a game which needs to suit you and your group. It is fun and quirky but only when you make it so. A lot of character skills require creativity of the players. That is why the game is only as much fun as you make it yourselves! Of course this is simply fixed by making it a drinking game. Just grab a couple of beers, some friends and BaRPiG and you are in for a night with lots of laughter!
Hoi Marijn,
ziet er goed uit!