Unicorn Fever review: the dark side of unicorn racing
As it is easy to understand from the title in this new version of the game you will have to deal with the world of racing on the rainbow, where around colorful unicorns will collect gnomes, fairies, elves and other magical creatures ready to bet up to the last penny. However, it will not be a fair and honest contest: the players can and will have to intervene with spells and every means at their disposal to fix the race and favor the unicorn they have bet on.
Unicorns, rainbows and other extraordinary creatures
A quick glance at the lid of the box is enough to understand that the unicorns you will be dealing with are not the pure and ethereal creatures of legends. Opening the game box you will find yourself faced with a riot of colors, in which every element (be it counters, cards, various components and even the game box) seems to come from a lysergic fairy tale. In particular, two elements of the design of this product struck us above all else: the edge of the inner box and the Sprint Dice.Lifting the lid one of the playful details of the packaging design is observed, as the of the inner box are surrounded by a beautiful rainbow. This graphic element, positioned in a normally ignored part of the packaging, emphasizes the care for a game that finds one of its strengths in its theme and graphics.
As for the Sprint Dice, also these undoubtedly come from the land of unicorns, as they are beautiful transparent six-sided dice studded with rainbow glitter.
This is not a light and compact game: Unicorn Fever requires time and space to be set up and played, so much so that the weight of the box will justify a rather rich component than with the exception of some decks of cards , game coins and Glory tokens, will be housed on the brightly illustrated game board.
Excluding the dice, unicorn tokens and colored bases, the rest of the game components will be in die-cut cardboard.
Due to the quantity of game material, setting up the board will take, at least the first time, some time. Like the components, the game manual will also be a no-brainer: the rules of the game are laid out in a colorful 20-page stapled manual.
A day at the races… of the unicorns
From somewhere on the rainbow the unicorns run happily, around this joyful event a series of horse racing enthusiasts gather, ready to bet to win, whatever the cost. This is the singular background with which we approach this funny boxed game which at first can be intimidating due to the elaborate regulation and which takes into account many variables.A Unicorn Fever game has an average duration of one hour and will consist of four rounds at the end of which the title of Big Horn will be assigned, that is the most skilled and capable bettor, able to accumulate more Glory than the other players.
The four rounds will be theirs once divided into three phases (which we will see in detail later):
Actions Race Results The game will have some differences depending on the number of players. These variables will serve to limit and speed up some operations in the Action phase, if you play in 2, and in the number of cards in your hand that will be reduced, in the case of games with 6 players.
These small adjustments will serve to make the game more fluid and faster, however from our direct experience we can say that Unicorn Fever is a game that gives its best in the 3 to 5 player version. This is because above the 2 players it will be possible to enjoy all its strategic depth, without having to limit some of its aspects.
Unicorn Fever the game phases
As mentioned above, the four game rounds will be divided in turn into three different phases, which will determine the changes in the odds between one race and another, the collection of bets and the awarding of Glory Points to the winner of each race.Actions
This phase of the game is the most strategic one, during the actions the players decide on which unicorn to aim for and how to fix the race through the stipulation of some contracts or the use of spells that may favor or hinder the various unicorns.
Race
In this phase we witness the actual race. Unicorns move by many squares based on the number shown on the row of the Movement Card corresponding to their marker. In this phase, the special abilities of unicorns are used and the spells (positive and negative) cast on them are also resolved. This is the most exciting and exhilarating phase because despite the "little help" assigned to the unicorns, the outcome of the race will be subject to the whims of luck, which could favor even the worst of jugs.
Results
The last phase is for collecting the bets and updating the ranking of the unicorn odds.
At the end of the fourth round the game is concluded and it is verified which of the players has accumulated the most Glory, crowning him the Great Horn.
A game that rewards the daring (or the reckless)
The goal of the game revolves around betting and the ability of players to be unscrupulous, both in betting and in fixing races . In this section of the review we will therefore talk about the different types of Bet and what is the best attitude to triumph in a Unicorn Fever game.There are three types of Bets: Winner and Quick Place and Late Place.
The Winning Bet identifies which unicorn will finish first, while the two Place Bets allow you to bet on the arrival of a unicorn on the podium. The Winning Bet is the most profitable of the three, but obviously it can be cashed with the conditio sine qua non that the unicorn on which you bet is placed first; Placed Bets can be cashed if the unicorn on which you bet stands on the podium regardless of its arrival. In particular, Piazzata Tardiva, being expressed in the advanced phase of the turn, will be the least profitable ever.
If you are people who face challenges with a cautious and measured temperament, you will have a difficult life in this fairy racecourse: in this game you need to know how to unbalance and bet hard, without the fear of contracting debts with the elven underworld. The final Glory will also be determined by the amount of money you have at your disposal at the end of the fourth round.
In conclusion
Unicorn Fever is an exciting game of "hippocornic" betting and racing and has complex but not complicated mechanics: just one turn will be enough to internalize the rules.The game will make you fall in love with its amazing design and will definitely win you over thanks to the strategic depth needed to put a spoke in the wheel for other players . The Race phase is as exciting as a real horse race and the luck component perfectly balances the players' strategies so as to make the result of each race never predictable.
Unicorn Fever is suitable for lovers risk (more or less calculated), where only the most skilled (or reckless) bettors will be able to aspire to the prestigious title of Grande Corno.
And for those who want more ...
If the Fairy horse racing world has bewitched you and can't wait to bet again on these unlikely colored equines, the game experience offered by the basic box can be expanded with two additional products: Unicorn Fever - Royal Hooves and Unicorn Fever: Giant Unicorns.Unicorn Fever - Royal Hooves is an expansion pack of the game, which contains three new steeds and their respective cards. The expansion does not add any new modes or rules, however it does allow you to replace the base game unicorns with the expansion unicorns and their hilarious new special abilities.
Unicorn Fever - Royal Hooves is available for purchase online Unicorn Fever: Giant Unicorns is instead a set of accessories in which it will be possible to find the miniatures of the six unicorns of the base game in a deluxe version, that is painted in detail and in a maxi format. With this accessory it will no longer be necessary to assign each horse the ring base of a certain stable and the coloring of the miniature will allow you to easily distinguish each of the six unicorns.
Unicorn Fever: Giant Unicorns is available for purchase online
