Matthew BaileyGame 53 of the “Now and Then Summer Marathon” is “Snatching Pears” played with Toby(6) & Jack(9).
“Snatching Pears” is a memory-matching dexterity game. When I first sat down to play, I had some reservations, but I quickly realised that this is actually a really good, simple party game where the two mechanics work surprisingly well together.
This isn’t going to be the longest review because the concept of “Snatching Pears” is relatively simple. You lay out 70 cards on the table, consisting of 35 pairs of pears. The first thing worth noting is that for a memory game, 35 different pairs is quite a lot. This actually improves the game beyond what you’d normally expect because it’s quite challenging at the beginning due to the sheer number of tiles available. As with most of these games, it ramps up as the game progresses; as there are fewer tiles to choose from, it becomes easier to match those pairs of pears. This naturally provides a potential comeback mechanic for anyone who’s lagging behind. Each pair of pears you take is worth two points.
All of the cards also have a colour, and this is where the second mechanic comes in. If any player turns over a pair of matching colour backgrounds but not matching pears, then all players have to quickly grab a pear from the middle of the table (of which there is one less than the number of players). All players who manage to grab one get one point.
This mix of two very distinct styles actually works really well, largely because, at least among my kids, Toby is good at memory games, and Jack is better at dexterity games. This allowed both of them to feel like they had a chance, whereas, in just one of those genres alone, they might feel a bit down because they know it’s unlikely they’re going to win.
Memory matching is the key way of winning, as obviously, the picking-up-the-pear mechanic is more of a penalty for the person who doesn’t get a pear rather than a huge advantage for those who do. However, it does help with points and can sometimes be the difference between winning and losing the game.
We really liked this a lot more than I expected from a pair-matching game. So much so that after we finished playing, Katie got involved (a rare treat for everyone), and we played another game, which she absolutely smashed.
The components are generally of really good quality. The tiles themselves are thick cardboard, the game comes with a nice insert, including a lovely little box to store all your tokens, which is a nice touch, and the pears themselves are good quality vinyl, made to a high standard. My only criticism is that the pear tokens used as currency are unusually thin, cheap, and not very nice card, which is surprising considering the rest of the quality in the package.
I had a lot of fun with this (more than I expected). “Snatching Pears” is out now. It’s reasonably well-priced, and if you like this kind of pair-matching game mixed with a bit of dexterity, this is actually a really good one.
Disclaimer: A copy of “Snatching Pears” was kindly provided by “Happy Yeti Games” for the purposes of this review via the “UK Board Game Circle”. All of our thoughts and opinions are, however, our own. While I am currently unaware of the price, this has been taken into account.
