Life of a Chameleon | Mensa Select Strategic Board Game for Adults and Families | Eat Bugs, Avoid Snakes

A little bit of a learning curve, but if you like a board game that makes you think a little but doesn’t take days to learn or play, this game is for you!

This has been one of my favorite games I've played in a long time! Not very complex to learn, but a lot of strategy involved to win. It kept four adults entertained for around an hour the first time I played. Definitely a great gift for all age ranges!

The Good:👍 Good directions are a must with strategy games like this one. The written booklet included with Life of a Chameleon (LOAC) is great and there's even a QR code to watch a setup video and another one giving complete directions. It is fairly complicated so playing with someone who's played before will be quite helpful.👍 This is a strategy game that you get better at each time you play. It involves mostly planning ahead and seeing options for taking actions that may not be obvious at first. Of course there is still a measure of luck involved with drawing the right card or rolling the perfect dice sequence. But LOAC is less luck than games like Ticket To Ride or Catan. Experienced, strategically minded players will almost always do better than newbies.👍 Two player version is a little different than playing with three or four players but still just as challenging.👍 Shorter playing time than many strategy games.👍 Turns are fairly short and the game keeps moving. Of course some players always take a while to figure out what they want to do.👍 Scoring is easy to calculate at the end of the game.👍 Game pieces, boards, directions and the box are well constructed and should last for a lifetime.The Could-Be-Better:👎 I wish the other side of the board offered more of a variation than just color preference.👎 The box is very sturdy (heavier cardboard than most games) and fits together well. But it is difficult to open because it fits together so well it creates a suction when you're trying to get it open. Of course this is much better than a less well constructed box but maybe there's a way to vent it somehow to make it easier to open.👎 The pyramid 4 sided die that was included with our game is not like the one described in the directions as you read the top rather than the bottom. My main issue with this die is that it fits too tightly in its designated location (a square hole instead of a triangular one) making it difficult to remove because it's hard to get ahold of. I may try doing a little heat modification of the plastic box insert to see if I can improve this.Conclusion: Overall, we really love this game. It is different every time we play and it seems like it will be quite some time before it gets old. Though it may not be needed, I can't wait for an expansion of some sort.

The box says 12+ but I would say 8+ with an adult.The components are nice and chunky and made out of wood. There's a nice finish on the cards although they are a bit on the thin side. The box is twice as wide as it needs to be unfortunately, with an oversized insert taking up half the space.The game is relatively simple to learn and is a lightweight strategy game.The basics of the game are:You get 3 actions per turn and you can choose from any of these:1. Change your color2. Move your chameleon one space3. Move a snake one space (to clear your way or block someone else)4. Add 3 bugs to the board using the 20 sided die.You can also do these free actions:1. Eat bugs of your color on your space2. Take an objective3. Complete and objectiveThe goal is to complete objectives by eating the right color bugs in the right order. The game length is variable and based on a 4 sided die that people roll after completing objectives.The company also put out a 3 minute setup video and an approximately 24 minute how to play video that are well done if you're not inclined to read the rule book.

This was a great addition to our board game collection. The mechanics are unique and the theme was fun. The only criticism we had we that the instructions need to be simplified - both the paper and video were too wordy and long. The video was probably better, but took 25 minutes to watch. Also, there should be a quick reference card for players. However, it's not enough to knock a star off this game. It's pretty fun once you understand the game play.The object is to earn as many victory points as possible before the end game conditions happen. You earn points by completing Objective (red) cards or Achievement (blue) cards. There are 4 possible actions to take on your turn and you get to take 3 of them. You can even do one action 3 times if you want. Basically, you have a chameleon on the board that goes around eating specific colored bugs to help complete objective cards. The mechanics allow you to move your chameleon, move a snake, change your chameleon's color or add bugs to the board.Final take: This game is a winner. It has elements of luck, strategy and risk taking. There's some luck (dice rolling), but most of it involves figuring out how to move your chameleon around to gather enough bugs to complete your objective cards. Our games took anywhere from 20-60 minutes. It was dependent on how quickly people take their turn, completed objective cards and the numbers rolled for 4-sided dice.

The board, the cards and game pieces are of good quality.The concept of the game is very similar to other strategies that I played. If you are a regular board game player, you will find it easy to learn. For those who are new to board games, then you will have to spend some time to learn the rules.The instruction booklet is pretty well written and the videos that can be accessed with the included QR codes are helpful.Overall, I like this game and this is a keeper.

Got this game for when my husband had surgery and we would be stuck at home....lots of fun, very engaging and we enjoyed it. Also liked that you could scan the qr code and it will show you how to play it. Very convenient for quick learning.