Clacks: A Discworld Board Game

This game is very much clacks themed (a la Going Postal by Terry Prachett), but I'm fairly certain no one read the instruction manual after it was written. It is perhaps one of the most poorly designed manuals I have come across.For the competitive style of gameplay, you move your token between the lights on a 4x4 board and play "jaquards" to turn the lights on/off. When the six lights around your token match the letter on the word card, you have successfully transmitted that letter and can move onto the next. When you've completed all five letters, you win. In theory, this is a very short game. In practice, it takes two hours to figure out that this is what the instruction manual is telling you to do. Some tips: the jacquards switch tiles whether they are in your 2x3 area or not. Presumably they change the designated tiles to whatever side was facing down-- so not all will turn on or off at once unless they all started on/off. The tiles are inconsistent as to whether dark means the light needs to be on or off, so keep in mind the 2x3 pattern vaguely represents the target letter.For the cooperative version, you race against the "Postal Service" to transmit a letter long distance. I have not yet played that version, but I believe the mechanics are somewhat similar with some added features. I really don't want to have to try to decypher the instructions again.If you dare to purchase the game, good luck. I'm mostly annoyed they didn't really think through the gameplay before shipping it out. It definitely has potential, but they took Terry Prachett's good idea and turned it into a rather mediocre game.

I'm a Pratchett fan, and a solo boardgamer who likes abstract games, and this satisfied all that. I bought it to play solo, and had it on my table for a couple of weeks, playing game after game. Sure, the theme is pasted on, but the artwork is so pretty that it works.My only complaints are about the components. It was was hard to get the board to lie flat,and the paper had a big crease across it that was about three inches away from the fold in the board. It didn't affect the gameplay, and once the tiles were in place it was less noticeable, but it was disappointing, since the artwork was so nice. A good part of the reason I bought it was that it was so pretty, and that crease kind of spoiled it.And the stickers are exactly the same size as the tiles, which means it's hard to get them on exactly without a little bit sticking out one side or another. If they'd been just a tiny bit smaller than the tiles it would have worked better. Also, the stickers were really hard to peel off the backing. On several of them the punch went through the back layer, so I had to use my fingernails to try to get the backing off, and there was a fair amount of swearing going on. But once it was together I really enjoyed the game itself.You're given a message to send using braille-like letters. On the board are tiles that represent lights. One side is bright and one is dark, and you flip them to make a configuration. You draw two "jacard" tiles which give you two patterns you can choose from. You can orient the pattern however you like, and then flip the tiles on the board corresponding to the pattern. Your goal is to get part of the board to look like the letter you want to send. The tiles are nice sturdy cardboard that feel good in the hand.There are also cards that you can use to get extra jacard tiles, but they may have unfortunate consequences. They remind me a bit of the "chance" cards in Monopoly. They're made to look like memos to the tower operator, and like all the artwork are evocative.Each time you use a jacard tile, the meeple representing the postman moves a certain number of spaces along a map on the outside of the board. The goal is to get your message sent before he arrives in the town and delivers the message by hand. I couldn't figure out what the meeple was supposed to be. Maybe Moist Lipwig in his winged hat? But it looked more like a troll. I really loved the clacks tower meeples, though, that march across the landscape as the message is passed from one to another.Some fans have complained that the solo player represents the bad guys in the book (the clacks company), trying to beat the good guys (the post office). But someone suggested that the game could be taking place after the book, and be a friendly competition between Adora Belle Dearheart and Moist Lipwig, and that works for me.There's a two-player competitive game that doesn't use the map or the race, where the players try to mess up each other's messages, and a cooperative game where they try to help each other in the race. I haven't tried the competitive game, so I don't know how it plays. The solo game is based on the cooperative game.You don't have to be familiar with the book (Going Postal) to enjoy the game, but it adds some flavor if you are.

Great seller. Arrived in excellent condition. Good price so great value for the money. Sir Terry Pratchett’s fantasy world lives on. I’m amazed at how rapidly Discworld Emporium items become collectibles. But my purchase will be well used and well loved just like his books. A grateful tip of the hat to the seller and all the folks bringing this wonderful fantasy world to a new generation.

We have only tried the Co-op version and it was not intuitive to play and the instructions are not very clear. We found a you tube video that really helped - but once we started it was fun!

It's a lot of fun! And very different!

Die Beschreibung ist Englisch. Gemeinsam mit Freunden haben wir die Hürde aber genommen. Das Spiel ist nicht schwierig, fordert aber die Kombinationsfähigkeiten. Kinder haben einen deutlichen Vorteil Erwachsenen gegenüber, da sie Muster schneller erkennen und leichter um die Ecke denken. Unterhaltsam und allein, als Team oder Jeder gegen Jeden spielbar.