Skyteam

My son gave me a copy of this for Father's Day and we finally got round to trying it out at the weekend.  It's a quick (20-30 minute) 2 player dice placement game... player 1is the pilot and player 2 takes the role of co-pilot.  Each turn  you roll 4 dice and allocate them to tasks.  Some of these have to be completed in sequence, and some require a specific value on the dice. Of course, inevitably there are more tasks than dice!

Some of these taks are mandatory... adjusting the pitch of the plane and adjusting speed.  Others have to be completed before the end of the game.  Not surprisingly this includes things like making sure the landing gear and flaps are down, and using the radio to clear other planes out of your flightpath.  You can also use dice to brew up some coffee which helps the crew's concentration and let's you alter the value of dice.  Each turn your plane descends another 1000ft and gets a bit closer to the airport.

Lots of planes for Air Traffic Control to clear

If all goes well, and you've completed all the tasks, have the plane flying level and at the right speed, and haven't crashed into another plane... then you successfully land and get a round of applause from your passengers! The 2 big challenges for players though are that you can't see the other players dice, and you aren't allowed to talk during each round!  This means you need to have a good plan in between rounds, get lucky with the dice, and be good at 2nd guessing what your partners hand of dice might be by the dice they are putting  down.  This last bit is something I'm never good at which did lead to lots of eye-rolling by my son!!

I have to say we both loved it... it's simple but challenging and really thematic.  We were very pleased with our progress each turn and had most of the tasks completed or well underway... right up to the point where we realised we'd miscalculated the distance to the airport and crashed in a field somewhere near Montreal!!

The game includes more challenging scenarios with bad weather, tricky airports, fuel leaks etc but for now we'd be happy just getting on the ground!!  Highly recommended... one of the best games I've played in a long time!!!