ゆらゆらペンギン (Yura Yura Penguin)

Game 22 of the “Bailey Family Summer 2023 Board Game Bonanza” is “ゆらゆらペンギン (Yura Yura Penguin)” played by Toby(5) and myself.

“ゆらゆらペンギン” / “Yura Yura Penguin” (which roughly translates to Wobble or Swaying Penguin) is a card/dexterity game that can be described as a cross between Uno and Rhino Hero.

In a two-player game, you start by making a sea out of all of the cards and then place an iceberg with the starting card (which is made of harder cardboard with a rough surface compared to the shiny thinness of the other cards) and then take 10 cards each from the sea.

You then play the game very similarly to how you would play Uno, where you have to either place a card of a matching symbol or a matching colour.

There are 4 types of cards:

1. If you place an iceberg, you then have to put an iceberg down and start another layer.
2. If you place a 1 or 2 gem card, you have to place the gem(s) first and then play a card, which is a good way of making the tower less balanced.
3. If you place a penguin card, you have to place a penguin on the second tier from the top.
4. There are also aurora cards, which can be placed onto any colour and do other Uno-type things, such as forcing the next player to draw cards, reversing the turn order, or skipping the next player.

If you cannot play a card, you pick up a new card, and play continues until either a player has played all their cards or a player knocks over the iceberg. There’s an interesting rule where if all of the sea cards are gone, then all of the players cooperatively win.

I am not a massive fan of Uno to be honest, and as far as dexterity games go, we have outgrown Rhino Hero, but these two elements combined form a game that, in my opinion, is actually something quite special.

A lot of thought has gone into this, which makes it a really interesting package. Firstly, it is not too difficult, and actually making the tower is not that hard, meaning the chance of you winning by getting rid of your cards is just as high as the chance of winning by the other player knocking the tower over. While you can do things to make the tower wobblier, it is not that difficult to place continual layers. The cards are made of a shiny plastic material, which means that when you put one on top, sometimes air can get underneath them, and they will glide across the surface much like ice. I do not know whether this was intentional, but let’s assume it was, in which case it’s a really cool extra mechanic to the dexterity game.

All of the pieces are lovely, the penguin meeples are super cute, the cards are really high quality, and everything folds up nicely into a reasonable-sized box. My one gripe is that the inside of the box is printed to look like a penguin enclosure and shows where everything goes. It’s rare that I’ve seen this, and even though it hasn’t got an insert, I love the box all the same.

Now, the kick with this, though, is that it is a Japanese import and is not readily available in the West. I bought my copy from https://travel-games.co.uk/, and I would recommend them (the owner is lovely and delivery is super speedy), but as this is an import there is a premium to pay. It is possible sometimes to order games like this off of https://amazon.co.jp, but at the time I ordered this, it was out of stock. It has since come back in stock.

You can also order it directly from the publisher, but I cannot comment on the speed of their delivery.

There is also a mini version of the game which I accidentally bought before I bought this and have yet to open, which is exactly the same game, just physically smaller. From what I read online, however, the dexterity element of it is a lot harder as the meeples and the gems are not scaled down quite as much, and therefore having the space to place things carefully is a lot more difficult. Ben, the guy that runs https://travel-games.co.uk/ provided an awesome little note in with my package (shown in the photos below) where you play the mini version on top of the big version. Whether I still have the mini version in my collection towards the end of summer, we may or may not give this a go.

The mini version is barely any cheaper than the main game so I am not sure I would recommend it even if trying to save some money.

If you are doing a Japanese order, going to Japan, or have some other way of obtaining this for its regular retail price, this is a game that is truly better than both Uno and Rhino Hero and 100% deserves a place in my collection.

If you are not a fan of this type of game, I would not necessarily recommend you spend twice the amount you would spend on Rhino Hero and a pack of Uno combined in order to own it.

If, however, those games are family favourites and you’re happy to pay the premium of this being a Japanese import, then I very much recommend it. It does come with English rules, and it’s a really nice thing to just own.