East Tennessee Gamers
Greg J. Schloesser
August 2006
USA

The familiar “get four pieces in a row” mechanism seems to be endemic to game design, and is probably best known from the popular Milton Bradley game Connect Four. It has appeared in seemingly dozens of different games, and continues to reappear with great frequency. The most recent incarnation is MixUp, by the prolific designer Maureen Hiron and Out of the Box.

MixUp challenges two players to align four symbols or colors in row or square pattern by sliding tiles into seven rows, each of which can hold seven tiles. The 54 plastic tiles come in three different colors (blue, green or red) and three different shapes (moon, lightning or raindrop). One player will attempt to align four tiles with identical colors, while the other will attempt to align like symbols.

A comment on the packaging is in order. The board is made of sturdy plastic, and contains a compartment on the reverse to hold the tiles. The cover for this compartment also serves as a stand, which insert into the board, causing it to tilt for play. Very nice.

Game play is exceedingly simple. Players alternate sliding one tile into a row. As soon as one player manages to get four in a row or a square pattern – color or shape, depending upon their objective – victory is achieved. That’s it. Really.

The tactics in MixUp are familiar, mainly attempting to set-up your pieces so that you have more than one placement option that will give you the victory. This certainly can be challenging, but frankly, there really isn’t anything new here. More often than not, victory is achieved in the same manner, or by one player simply not noticing when his opponent is in position to place a tile and capture the victory. Each time I have played, I get that “been there, done that” feel. I find the experience blasé, and rather unsatisfying, as there isn’t any novel twists present. To be fair, however, my adverse reaction is quite likely due to the fact that I’ve played numerous games of this type.

The game is likely best suited for children, or for folks not well versed in games using the familiar “four-in-a-row” mechanism. In that venue, it should prove enjoyable. Folks who have a bit of gaming experience under their belts, however, will not find anything novel or new here.

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