Matthew BaileyToday, I’m looking at the final game from Kiwi Zou in this series of four, and that’s Potion Express.
Potion Express is actually the oldest in terms of age rating out of all the Kiwi Zou games I’ve played, suggesting it’s for kids aged 6+. Henry, who’s three, managed to play it fine, though he did need a bit more help than with the previous games. I reckon a competent four- or five-year-old could probably handle this one just fine.
So, what’s the game about?
The general concept is that you’re collecting ingredients for witches to complete their potions. The aim of the game is to be the first player to brew three potions—or if you’re playing a two-player game, it’s first to four.
Setting up the game includes something that, as someone who plays board games pretty regularly, I found one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever had to do. You split the deck in half, turn half the cards the wrong way round (or right way round, depending on your perspective), then shuffle the deck so you end up with half the cards showing their backs and half showing ingredients.
You then lay out a 3×3 grid of nine tiles and place the deck next to it. Each player takes a magic wand, and you place the potion tiles in a row of three, face down, with a draw pile somewhere nearby.
How does it play?
The way the game works reminded me a bit of Glastonbury and World in Progress, two other games we’ve reviewed in the past.
On your turn, you place your wand so it points at a row or column in the display. You’re not allowed to point at a row or column already selected, or at the start or end of a row/column where another player’s wand is pointing. Each turn, you must move your wand to a new row or column.
Then, you flip all three cards in the row or column so they show the opposite side. You now get to pick up all the cards in that line that are face-up with ingredients showing—leaving any sleeping bats (the card backs) face down on the table.
You can then use the cards you’ve collected to brew any potions for which you have the ingredients.
You don’t refill the grid until the next player’s turn, which keeps things ticking along nicely.
There’s a Stardust card, which acts as a wildcard ingredient, and a “turn-around” card, which lets you flip any card (bat or ingredient) currently on the table at any time.
And that’s it! It’s a relatively simple game, but definitely has a bit more strategy and is aimed at slightly older kids compared to the other games in the Kiwi Zou series I’ve played over the last few weeks.
This was definitely my favourite of the set we played—mainly because I really liked the mechanics and also loved the artwork. One really small gripe I had was that the ingredient icons could have been a bit bigger. At the moment, the generic bat artwork takes up about four-fifths of the card, which leaves a pretty small space for the ingredient symbol. For kids, especially little ones, this could have been clearer and easier to spot. Not a dealbreaker, but something worth noting.
Final thoughts?
Potion Express definitely stands out as being that little bit different from the others in the Kiwi Zou series—and that’s not a bad thing at all. If you’re picking up multiple games from the range, this is one they’ll grow into nicely.
It also comes in a really nice, compact box, which means it fits well into the travel game category. And come Halloween, this would be perfect—a small, quick card game with a bit more strategy, ideal for just-starting-school-age kids.
Disclaimer: Potion Express was kindly provided by Hachette Games for review. Flavien Loisier is the General Manager of Hachette and is an active member of our community. Rob Trounce has also recently joined our group and is Head of Marketing. Our thoughts and opinions are, however, our own.
