Matthew BaileyA magical cooperative social memory game that is 100% worth playing.
Sometimes, when playing games, you can experience a moment of joy where you are incredibly proud of something you’ve managed to achieve. When you’ve played as many games as we have, that moment doesn’t come very often. However, that moment did come in spades during our playthroughs of “Wilmot’s Warehouse.”
“Wilmot’s Warehouse” is a board game adaptation of the beloved indie video game of the same name, developed by Richard Hogg and Ricky Haggett and published by Finji. The video game, released in 2019, is a puzzle game where players manage a warehouse by sorting and organizing various items. The game’s charm lies in its simple yet engaging mechanics, which challenge players to remember where they placed items to retrieve them efficiently when needed. The board game captures the essence of the video game, bringing its unique and enjoyable experience to the tabletop.
Played with Jack (9) and Toby (6).
The board game is relatively similar to the video game, where the main objective is to store items in your warehouse so that they can be recalled later. The game starts with 35 face-down items drawn from a bag. You separate these into piles of seven and, in turn, you turn over one tile at a time, look at the picture, and then verbally discuss as a team where you are going to place that tile face down so that you can remember it.
The first tile has to go in the middle, and each subsequent tile has to be placed adjacent to it using any means possible. This could involve telling a story, grouping like-minded items together, or any other creative method you can think of.
At the end of each day, which consists of seven tiles, you draw a card that imposes some kind of restriction. This could be something like only being allowed to place tiles on the edge. The person turning over the card has the ultimate responsibility and isn’t allowed to know what is on the card, nor are the other players allowed to discuss it. Other restrictions could include only discussing items in terms of food.
At the end of the setup phase, you end up with 35 tiles with completely different items on them. At that point, you might think there’s no conceivable way you’re going to remember where everything is on those 35 tiles. Amazingly, you can if you do it properly and work well as a team.
The feeling of turning over that 35th tile is absolutely joyous when you know you’ve got everything in the right place. I don’t think I have experienced that kind of raw joy from something I’ve achieved in a board game in an extremely long time.
What is even more astonishing is that it’s been about a week since I played the game that’s photographed in this review, and I can actually remember exactly where every single one of those tiles is. I’m going to talk you through it just to give you an idea of how this works.
So, the centre tile we decided was a whale, and everything was based on that. Everything below the middle was underwater, and everything above was above water. We then placed some pincers to the right of the whale, like big crab claws, and they were holding on to a fidget spinner, something they were really proud of. Behind the whale were some fishermen chasing the whale with hooks, and below those fishermen was their basket for catching the whale. In front of the whale’s hands were all the other parts of its body. Directly above the whale’s hands were its nose, and to the right of that was its other nose. To the right of the nose was a single cyclops eye that the whale had, and below the hands were feet dangling off its bottom. Directly below the whale, which looked like Pac-Man’s ghost, was a poo dropping out of the whale’s bum, going all the way down to a big open mouth ready to eat it. But that’s so disgusting that the mouth spits the poo out, and then there’s a loop-the-loop on the seabed into a pair of pants waiting to catch it. The Pac-Man ghost eats the poo, spits it out, and it starts floating upwards on the right-hand side of the board.
Above the whale is a metal rubbish bin on its back, with a lightning bolt striking it and a big vortex cloud pushing the lightning bolt. Above the fishermen is their food: soup for starters, a big wedge of macaroni and cheese for mains, and an upside-down lolly stick for dessert. To the left of the lolly stick, they need to clean their big teeth, and below that, their tiny teeth, brushing them thoroughly. Below that is a shark chasing the whale. In the top right-hand corner, there are half a sun and a full sun. In the bottom left-hand corner, there is a cross sign, an hourglass, and stairs. These were ones we struggled to come up with storylines for due to the restrictions, but we remembered them anyway. Below the sun are some chopsticks trying to pick up the sun because it looks like a dumpling. The final tile, which I didn’t know due to the restriction, was remembered by the boys.
The fact that I can remember all this a week on from when we played the game really proves how much this can stick with you. This is a memory game, but it’s also about discussion, storytelling, and social thinking about what is going to happen, where everything is going to go, and why you’re making those decisions. It’s not just about what you think each item looks like; it’s also about agreeing as a group on what it looks like and how you’re going to remember it.
At the end of the game, you have a deck of cards with every item in the game, and you have to quickly place all the cards on top of the relevant pieces. The quicker you do this within the five-minute time limit, the better your end score.
I know I’ve had quite a few positive recommendations recently, but “Wilmot’s Warehouse” truly is something magical that I did not expect to enjoy as much as I did. I was absolutely blown away by how amazing it felt when we got all 35 tiles right in the game you can see photographed.
All the images are abstract enough that there are a whirlwind of possibilities you could think of. Just looking at the whale, for instance, it could be a whale, a toupee, a petal, or almost anything.
I liked the game so much that I purchased a second copy to give to a friend.
I often give recommendations here, and this is a really strong one. As this is a relatively small publisher producing a game based on a lovely indie video game, I really hope it does well and is successful, as I would love to see more from them.
Disclaimer: A copy of the game was kindly provided by CMYK for the purposes of review. I have since bought a second copy. All of my thoughts and opinion are our own.
