Nice Buns: Light Family Strategy Game for Families and Adults

Product Information

The theme is quite “cheeky” and it’s hard not to smile when you hear the title. There are not many tie-ins between the theme and mechanics here but in a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously, this is okay. Other than the playful name, it is rated G and can be played with small kids without any toilet humor sneaking in. Aesthetics The publisher gifted me a copy of this game; however, I always strive to provide fair, honest opinions. To start, the buns are all added to the bag and mixed. Then players set up the shared buffet tray with six buns of any flavour but fish (grey). Finally, each players takes two random buns from the bag – but not fish flavoured. Decide the first player and you’re ready to go. Giving your game a pun name is always a sure-fire way to get attention as people either giggle childishly to themselves or groan at the clever wordplay. Nice Buns, as you might expect, had us giggling as everytime one of us won we’d get the opportunity to say “those are some nice buns.” It’s the simple things in life and Nice Buns captures that in every aspect.

The replayability is going to be entirely group-dependent as there aren’t deep strategies to discover game-to-game. This is a light party game that provides a fun activity for friends and family to experience together. I can see children wanting to replay this quite a bit. Adults who prefer light games might want to play this often while enjoying conversation and/or happy hour with friends. I have doubts that players who crave heavier strategy in their games will want to revisit this one often, however. Theme When a player collects three buns of the same color, they place them on their personal plate where they remain safe. But if a dreaded gray fish head bun shows up, it attaches to your largest group of off-tray buns. The fish head bun prevents you from adding the attached buns to your plate and puts them in danger of being returned to the steamer bag. The first player to collect three different sets of matching bao buns on their plate is the winner! Review Tactics/Strategy Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Northern Ireland and the Scottish Highlands) may take longer to reach you. With the aim of collecting bao buns, players start with nothing on their plate, two buns in front of their plate and 6 random bao buns on the central serving plate. If any grey fish head buns are pulled out of the bag during this setup they are returned to the bag, with new buns pulled out in their place. The bag is then put into the middle of the table, with the three dice given to a random player – who will start the game.Whilst we will do everything we can to meet the delivery times above, there may be factors outside of our control and we cannot guarantee delivery within this time frame. The buns needed for victory come in four colours; green, blue, red and yellow. Once a player has a set of three buns on one flavour, they are immediately added to their plate and can no longer be touched by any player. However, should a grey bun be in a player’s area, it attaches to the largest available set they have and they cannot move that set to the plate. Also! Should any set hit four buns (even including a grey bun) they are all returned to the bag. Big Potato Games know how to make a game look good. That goes without saying! But Nice Buns has some damn nice buns! Some of the best buns I’ve seen, and I know buns. The components in this game are stand out, top notch and beautiful beyond beautiful. Despite the game’s take that mechanic and heavily competitive edge, it’s adorable. Truly adorable. Final Thoughts

The actions are all short and sweet, drawing from the bag, perhaps taking from the tray or stealing a bao bun from someone else. Each is easily explained and the iconography on the dice clearly shows what action they are offering. As a result it doesn’t take too long for play to get around the table, with turns not taking much time at all – until someone moans and groans about pulling a fish head from the bag. Being so light on rules and actions lets the game be perfect for families with younger children, whilst leaving full on gamers perhaps wanting a bit more meat to the bao buns.

Customer reviews

Once all the dice have been activated then the dice are passed to the player to the left, who then rolls them, splits them into groups and offers them first to the player on their left and so on. An important caveat is that each player can only ever have one set of a colour of buns on their plate. So, for example, once they have collected a yellow set of three bao buns, they’ll only be interested in green, blue or red bun sets for the rest of the game. The game ends when one player manages to get their third set of buns onto their plate, at which point they have won the game. The objective for players in Nice Buns is simple: collect three sets of matching buns before anyone else to win. The twist? You roll three dice and the player on your left decides which you’ll keep and which they’ll keep. Whomever collects three sets of three matching buns, wins! Set Up, Taking A Turn & Fish Buns!