Get ready to double everything! Or shall I say – “dobble”?
Dobble that cheese on nachos, dobble that non-alcoholic beer, dobble that focus and dobble your reflexes! And let’s get rolling, or shall I say, let’s get dobbling? Yes, we are going to have a dobble, or trobble amount of grammar mistakes in this review, we cannot do this otherwise, you know, got to respect the game!
Introduction
Dobble card game (also known as “Spot it!” depending on a publisher) – a fast-paced reflex-based party type game, perfect fit for family, friends, adults, or children. Super quick and easy to play, which is all about finding the Dobblegankers!
All the cards have 8 pictures in them. Compare the cards, and find a single matching picture faster than your colleagues! Too fast? You better dobble your arms & eyes then!
The game is for 2 to 8 players with an average playtime of 15 minutes. Read the rules in 5 minutes and you are ready to go. A surprisingly interesting game given its simplistic nature, some creative gameplay variations that can dobble your laugh & smile.
Review details
The review will be covered in the following structure:
- Fun
- Replay value
- Art & parts
- Game price
Feel free to read our full review below, or just scroll down to the review summary.
Fun
To start with, the gameplay feels always intense. You have to be fast, and faster than others. You have to name 1 picture from your card that is identical to another card’s picture, and the rest players do the same in order to get more cards in possession or get rid of them (depending on the game type you are playing).
This means that there is no downtime, you must always be on your toes paying attention to what’s happening. If another player is faster than you, it means that you must search for identical pictures again, as the center card has changed. After an hour or so it might get a bit tiring, you can probably imagine.
Another aspect of Dobble Card game is varying game modes. There are 5 different game modes that offer varying experiences. Of course, in all of them, you have to name those identical pictures, that’s the point of this game. In a “Well” (you know, a hole with drinkable water) mode, each player has 1 picture only while the rest pictures are stacked in a center. The first player naming the identical picture with a center card collects the top center card onto its own, to collect as many pictures as possible. Such a game provides 1 winner that has collected the most cards.
Or the opposite – a Tower mode – where there is only 1 picture in the center, and all players must get rid of their pictures as fast as they can, and there will be 1 player that loses the game.
So these different modes not only allow you to experience the game differently, but it also offers different conflict levels – 1 winner means no real loser or vice versa.
In the end, the game is really really simple does not matter what game mode you are playing, even for a quick and easy type party games. Play it casually as a filler game!
Replay value
It is certainly nice to get back to this game, but not too often. If so, you will get a bit bored as you always do the same – match pictures. There are no different actions or mechanics, this causes the game to be slightly behind when comparing it to another simple, quick to play party/children games, such as “Beaver gang”.
But one of the good things about this game is that it helps with your reflexes and focus. You just start to feel sharper after that. This is especially useful for kids and the elderly to develop and help improving concentration, reflexes, and short term memory.
Art & parts
The quality of the Dobble cards is decent enough. If it were a non-reflexes based game we would certainly indicate good quality, but given the fact that oftentimes you throw those cards pretty quick, they tend to bend and wear off a bit. So maybe they could be a little thicker, but that is no tragedy at all, all the cards are still in a playable shape after years of playing it.
What is more, the pictures in the cards are quite crafty, touching, related to all kinds of topics that could even teach kids a thing or two, such as Yin & Yang, Canada flag, dragon, or clef. And a great thing that the pictures are colorblind suitable, as they can be recognized by shapes not only by color (we are not making a separate section for colorblindness review, as in this case it is simply not needed).
Price
Finally, the pricing of the game seems few bucks too high, (keep in mind that prices vary so we do not disclose it in the text). The reasoning to this is mainly cards’ quality, they could be a little thicker, but on the other hand, the game has a nice looking metal little box to store the cards, which makes it decent enough. So all in all, it would make sense to purchase Dobble with a discount!