Dungeon Crawler Magazine
Aaron Booth
July/August 2002
USA

Last year at Origins 2001 I did an interview with Mark Osterhaus from Out of the Box and he gave me some information. He mentioned at the time a new game called Bounce (but could not give out more information) designed by Maureen Hiron. Now, seeing just how busy Mark was this year at Origins 2002, I didn't have the chance to ask him if Bounce and this new game, Switch, where one and the same.

Switch is a fast paced (VERY FAST) card game built similar to another Out of the Box game, Blink. Though Blink, which I've heard is similar to a game you can play with regular cards called Speed (Who would want to play with regular cards?!?), is only set for 2 players it is a fun game. Switch combines Blink with multiple players for a fast and furious rush to the end of the pile. Friends have told me before that they liked Blink, but wish that it was playable with more people. BOOM! Well, someone found a genie in a lamp and here is the answer: Switch!

Design:   1/2
Cards are dealt in equal piles to players. This game has 64 alphanumeric cards. Each card has one letter (ranging from A to H) and one number (ranging from 1 to 8). One card is in the middle and all players lay down to that. A die with a plus sign, a minus sign, and an equals sign is rolled to determine direction. If D5 card is down and = comes up, only cards with D's or 5's can be played, then the first card down changes what can be played again (Ex. H5 is played, so only H's or 5's). If a plus or minus sign appears, you move in that direction one step (Ex. D5 (+ on die) can have only E's or 6's played on it. Once someone has emptied his or her hand of 5 cards (or no one can play a card) everyone draws back up to 5 cards in hand and someone rerolls the die. This continues until someone has emptied their pile and laid down the last card in their hand.
 Appearance:  
It's a simple card game! You don't need useless art work or a gimmick box to promote it. That's what makes it great.

Fun:   
It is fun for the person on the ball dropping every card they have, but for the person getting left behind, it can be rather annoying. I've seen a couple of people get too frustrated and become ready to quit. After they calm down, usually they come out on top trashing the people smugly ahead.

Setup Time:  
You've got monkeys again if it takes over 2 minutes to deal and explain what's going on.

Overall:  
A very quick game lasting from 2 minutes to 5 minutes (the longest I've ever seen), to leave your friends in the dust sucking on the pile of their own cards. If your friends have gathered and they want something to do, throw them the Switch and you play too.

Out of the Box is a great company with many great games. They have continually put out excellent games and helped me make new friends by gathering the interests of others. I would have had many a boring night without some of these great products, and I hope they keep up the great job of putting out great games for all of us gamers. If it rocks, it's usually Out of the Box.

Back to Qwitch Reviews page