“A tactical drafting and set collection game for the entire family.”
Kembe the gorilla wants to find his way to stardom. Unfortunately for Paparazzoo players, that means photobombing the trip to the zoo. In Paparazzoo, 3-5 players lead tourists around a zoo, while taking as many pictures as possible. Photos of animals lead to points, with bonus points for photos taken at specific times and for completing specific sets of photos. Additional tourists can lead to even more points, but large groups are more vulnerable to photobombing. Players will get around the zoo and score points by drafting and playing cards, which grant various actions. Players can move, take photos, control Kembe, or manipulate their tour group.
Paparazzoo is divided into three phases. The preparation phase updates the deck for players to pull from. The draft phase allows players to draft their action cards and pass the remaining cards to the player to their left. Finally, the action phase lets players use the three cards they gathered in the draft phase. These three phases make up a round, and the game is broken into five rounds. In the end, bonus points will be tallied, and the tour guide with the most points wins the game.
Paparazzoo is currently on Kickstarter, where it is a little more than halfway funded. The game has a team of five creators, who spent around two years tweaking the mechanics. These five creators make up Kembe Games, and Paparazzoo is their first major board game. We spoke to designer Kasper Kisjes about the process of making their first board game. “Paparazzoo is the result of a startup-like ‘try a lot, fail fast’ approach. We started out by listing the mechanics and themes that we liked. We then made specific combinations of themes and mechanics that could work well together, and started spending some time on each of these rough ideas.,” says Kasper. “Although the concepts of snake-like movement and action card drafting formed a solid basis from the start, some of the rules and mechanics took a lot of time to refine. Some mechanics that took some time to refine include the map layout, the cards, the scoring system, and actions. Kasper recalls that the most troublesome mechanic was one-way roads and roadblocks, which took over 50 revisions before finding a sweet spot.
Fans of fast-paced games that constantly require the player to adapt will find themselves right at home with Paparazzoo. The game has been influenced by quite a few popular games, including Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride. The team wanted the game to have short turns with a heavy amount of interaction. The giant, standing monsters of King of Tokyo inspired Kembe’s piece. Finally, 7 Wonders inspired Paparazzoo’s drafting mechanic.
The game is for 3-5 players, and Kasper believes that the game works just as well with three players as it does with five. “3, 4 and 5 player games each offer quite a different experience, with a different role for Kembe the gorilla,” says Kasper. In three-player games, it’s easier to move around, but controlling Kembe is much more necessary to survive. In five player games, the key to success lies much more in planning your movement such that you don’t get blocked. This setting is maybe more suitable for experienced players, who start valuing the outer paths of the zoo much more than they did before!” We asked Kasper about his favorite style of play, which favors mobility. “A very fun way to play, especially if everyone collides against you is to keep your group size to the minimum and move around in an agile way, constantly evading the gorilla.” With this style of play, players will find themselves in the right place at the right time all game long
Paparazzoo feels like a game that players of all ages and skill levels can enjoy. The game tends to take less than an hour to play, and the short turns allow for casual players to stay engaged. Paparazzoo’s theme is also sure to engage children, who will love to move that giant Kembe around the board. Paparazzoo features 21 animal exhibits, with some animals chosen by the game’s backers. The great variety of animals is sure to delight animal lovers. The theme is exciting, and art by South African artist Steven Tu helps to tie everything together.
We asked Kasper if there are any future plans, but for now, the team just wants to focus on getting Paparazzoo out for players to enjoy. You can visit Paparazzoo’s Kickstarter page here, where you can secure yourself a copy with €37, or $43.
