Whirly Derby

I do not know about you, but my kids absolutely love marbles and marble runs, so anything involving marbles instantly draws their attention. Whirly Derby is a really fun, family friendly, light betting game. The general idea is very simple. Each of you picks a colour, which gives you five marbles. Throughout the course of the game there are eight races, and you have to manage your marbles so that you use all of them by the end, but equally do not run out. You can replenish your marbles twice, going back up to the full five, but if they are all gone, they are gone.

On each turn, three cards are placed out. The first, second and third players in turn order pick which card they want to take, with the first player usually taking the best card, or at least the one they need most.

You then secretly decide how many marbles you are going to put into that race. If there is something you really want, you will probably put more marbles in. If the card does not matter much to you, you will put in fewer, all while managing your supply so you do not run out. These marbles get put into a chute, and then the race plays out, with the marbles spinning around the track and eventually coming to rest in first, second and third place. Players then take the cards they have earned.

As a consolation prize, the person who comes last actually gets a marble back, which can be quite a useful catch-up mechanic. All marbles except the one that came in last are removed, and you can only get your supply back by using one of your two refreshes.

In terms of the cards you collect, there are two different rule sets. The basic set has simple values, which is great for younger players and lets you focus on choosing the highest scoring card. The advanced set reminds me of games like Sushi Go, where you collect sets for extra points. For example, there are cactuses where the player with the most gets fifteen points, or a gumball machine set where having one or two is worth nothing, but collecting all three scores you a big bonus.

The game works extremely well. It is really easy to understand, and even Henry enjoys playing it and totally gets everything that is going on.

Component quality is generally very good. The metal parts are extremely cool and the cardboard components work nicely. I did have a few odd issues with the final finish track. The chequered flag, which in my head should hold first to third place marbles, actually holds first to fourth, which is a bit strange. Equally, one of our white marbles arrived cracked down the middle. This might be an isolated incident, but it is worth mentioning. We have reached out to Big Potato Games for a replacement, but they have not got back to me at the time of writing.

We were massive fans of Whirly Derby. It is a really fun game that I think will get great play with kids at Christmas. It is also the sort of game that children could quite happily play on their own without adult involvement, and I think it would go down extremely well with grandparents too. It is also perfect as an after-dinner drinks game just with adults. A very strong pre-Christmas recommendation from me.

Disclaimer: A copy of Whirly Derby was gifted to me by Big Potato Games. We have not been paid or incentivised for this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own.