Gamer Dad Unplugged
Matt Carlson
September 2004
USA

My favorite game in my entire game collection is currently Cloud 9, published by Out of the Box Publishing. It is a very light and friendly game that can be quickly explained and played in about 20 to 30 minutes. I have other, deeper and more strategic games that I enjoy even more, but they require a more strategic group as well as a longer time requirement. For a short and fun game playable in about half an hour, Cloud 9 fits the bill perfectly.

The game is loosely set around a theme of riding in a hot air balloon which is simulated by a cute rubberized plastic gondola with slots for up to six pieces, each piece representing a player. One player is the pilot of the balloon and he or she rolls a number of six-sided dice each of which have four colored sides and two blank sides. After rolling the dice, the pilot must then discard a card from their hand for every colored side showing on the dice. If the pilot can discard the necessary cards, the gondola and all its riders are moved up one cloud on the gameboard. If not, the gondola and all its passengers come crashing down to the bottom of the board and everyone gets to add one card to their hand. Either way, the pilot position is then passed along to the next person at the table who is still in the gondola.

The game is played to 50 points. Points are gained by jumping out of the gondola BEFORE it crashes. Each successive cloud level on the gameboard is worth more points. Jumping out at cloud one, before the gondola has moved even once, gets you a single point. However, waiting until cloud five to jump nets you nine points. Make it all the way to cloud nine and you win a whopping 25 points. Adding to the challenge are the number of dice used by the pilot. For the first few levels, only two dice are rolled. Later clouds require three dice to roll and in the last two levels the pilot must roll all four dice.

While there is a fair amount of randomness in the game, the strategy and fun lies in trying to guess when is the best time to bail out. Almost everyone stays in the gondola for the first few turns, but once the three dice levels show up, people start to bail out. Since the pilot is never allowed to jump out, players with poor hands soon learn to hop out of the balloon just before it is their turn. While a pilot must play their color cards if they can, they can always save a wild card for later. A single wild card takes the place of any number of color cards, so they are great to save for those hard-to-make four dice rolls when only a few people are still in the gondola.

As mentioned, the game parts are top notch, with a cute little gondola and little wooden pawns that fit into six slots on the top. The gameboard itself is a surprisingly long bright sky-blue board with large white fluffy clouds in the center and a scoring track running around the outside edge. The cards are brightly colored and have a nice plastic coating, but seem a bit thin making them slightly harder than normal to shuffle. All these nifty pieces fit into a small box a little bigger than two fists in size making the game very portable.

Since every person riding in the balloon is essentially cheering on the pilot and their die rolls, the game has a very cooperative feel. While players can fail to move the gondola and force it to crash back into the ground, there is no direct competition between players making it safe for families that sometimes have aggression issues. It is a family board game, so gamers who exclusively play deep strategic titles will probably find the depth of play lacking, but with such easy to grasp rules, fast playing time, and inexpensive price it is a game that should fit into almost any family’s board game library. I’ve little doubt this one will make it into my 2004 Christmas shopping guide.

Kid Factor: This seems to me to be a perfect, fun, family game. While everyone is competitive, there is no direct antagonistic competition. If anything, playing the game seems to have a large feeling of cooperation as everyone in the balloon is always hoping for another bump up the scoring ladder. Some wisdom is needed to know when to jump out, but there is enough randomness through cards and dice rolls to level the playing field between players of disparate ages.

Reviewer Recommended Ages: 8+, a little younger with some coaching
Genre: Light Family Game
Score: 5 out of 5

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