About a year and a half ago I reviewed the game Spy Alley. Heading into the game I can’t say that I had high expectations as it looked like another pretty generic deduction mechanic mixed with a roll and move game. After playing Spy Alley I was genuinely surprised as I found it to be a hidden gem. I bring this up because one of the people behind Spy Alley designed the game that I am looking at today, Moose Master. I am a pretty big fan of the party game genre so I am always interested in checking out a new game especially when it is a game that the whole family can enjoy. Party games may not be the deepest games, but if they can get a laugh out of the group they can be quite enjoyable. I was hoping that Moose Master would be a good game to add to my party game rotation. Moose Master may not be for everyone, but if you enjoy silly party games you should have quite a few laughs.
We would like to thank Eric Stephenson for the review copy of Moose Master used for this review. Other than receiving the review copy we at Geeky Hobbies received no other compensation. Receiving the review copy had no impact on the content of this review or the final score.
At its core Moose Master is a pretty simple game. You basically draw a card and do what it says. Some cards have players perform various actions while others have players compete in different mini-games to determine who has to draw a penalty card. That may be what Moose Master is on the surface but the real meat of the game comes from the rules that the players have to abide by. During the game all of the players will have to follow at least two rules. These rules can range from being barred from saying common words, avoiding certain actions, and doing other things that you subconsciously might do without even noticing. Some of the cards drawn during the game add even more rules that players must follow. While you are busy trying to complete the various tasks from the cards that are drawn, you need to keep these rules in mind as whenever you break one of them you will be forced to draw a penalty card. The main objective of the game is to try and avoid drawing penalty cards.
The various little mini-games that you play throughout the game can be kind of entertaining. Competing to name items in a category, trying to list a new celebrity based on the last name of the previous celebrity, or adding to a story or a set of actions created by the other players can be fun. I wouldn’t consider them to be highly original though as they are pretty basic party games. On their own these mini-games may be entertaining for a while. What makes or breaks the game (depending on the person) is the addition of the rule cards that players must follow at all times. At first it might seem really easy to follow a few basic rules. You will quickly realize that it is much easier said than done though. The rules might be quite simple, but that is the reason why they are surprisingly hard to follow. At least in our group players would regularly break the two Moose Rules without even noticing before it was too late.
Things become even more difficult when you factor in the additional rules that can be imposed on players based on the cards that are drawn. Most of these cards force a player to mimic the player that drew the card. Whether they have to repeat a certain action or word, this gives a player the ability to mess with one of the other players. In addition to trying to follow along with the game this forces a player to pay attention to one of the other players so they know when they have to repeat a word or action. When you add in the Question Master card where players have to answer all of your questions with their own questions, players can really mess with one another. The mini-games by themselves would make for a pretty basic game, but when you add in these other mechanics there is quite a bit more to the game.
When most people first see Moose Master they will probably think that it is just a silly game. They would be right that Moose Master is silly, but there is also more to the game than just being silly. Moose Master doesn’t really have any strategy as you can’t make a plan that will improve your odds in the game. It can be kind of random at times, but there is also some skill to the game. There are a couple of ways to be good at Moose Master. Players that are good at paying attention to details will do well as they will avoid drawing penalty cards. An even better skill though is being able to mess with the other players. Some players will be really good at slyly saying the echo word, doing the mimic action, or asking a question where the other player won’t notice and thus break the rules.
There is some skill to Moose Master but it is not meant to be taken as a serious game. Moose Master is basically a game that that you play to have a good time where you don’t really care who ultimately wins. To fully enjoy the game you can’t take it too seriously. Ultimately you play Moose Master to get laughs when players make mistakes and are forced to draw penalty cards. If that is what you are looking for you will probably have quite a bit of fun with Moose Master. I could see some gaming groups having a lot of fun with Moose Master if the players don’t mind laughing at themselves.
Most of the time party games tend to be gauged towards either families or adults. I would say that Moose Master is meant more for families, but I can see adults enjoying it as well. Nothing in Moose Master is objectionable (unless players go out of their way to make it objectionable) so parents don’t have to worry about playing the game with their kids. The game for the most part is pretty easy to play as all of the cards are pretty self-explanatory. I would say that the game has somewhat of a learning curve though. This mostly comes from the number of different cards in the game. It will take a while to explain what you have to do with each card, and it may take most of a player’s first game to remember what they are supposed to do with each card. After you figure out what you are supposed to do with each card though the game is quite easy to play. While the game can be played by children I think the right group of adults could enjoy the game as well. If you don’t mind that the game is really silly you will probably enjoy Moose Master.
This illustrates the biggest issue I had with Moose Master though. Some people will really like the game and others will not like it at all. This is illustrated by the group that I played the game with. Some of the players enjoyed the game quite a bit while others didn’t really care for it. I attribute this to the game being so silly. People who don’t mind silly games where you end up laughing at yourself will probably like Moose Master. More serious gamers probably won’t like the game though as it is built on the silliness and not meant to be taken seriously. The silliness could really turn off some players especially since some of the mimic abilities can be abused to the point where players can be kind of annoying. This could be a real strain on some players until they decide to ultimately quit.
As for the components there are some things that I liked and others that I thought could have been better. Overall I thought the artwork was decent and the cards are easy to read and understand. The card stock is solid where they should last as long as you take care of the cards. I applaud that the game includes 110 cards as well. The problem is that I think the distribution could have been a little better. Unless you are playing with a large group you will not use all of the penalty cards in one game unless the players constantly break the rules. Instead I wish the game would have included more Moose Master cards including a couple more types of Moose Master cards. While the mini-games are kind of fun I can see them getting a little repetitive after a while. Adding in a few more types of cards would have added a little more variety to the game.
Moose Master is one of those games that you will likely either love or it won’t be for you. Basically Moose Master is a silly party game. Players have to complete various simple tasks or compete in little mini-games. These mini-games are solid but are nothing special. Most of the gameplay comes from trying to follow the game’s various rules. The rules may seem simple at first but things get more complicated as you try to keep track of the current rules while also paying attention to what is currently going on. It is much easier than you would think to break the rules which can lead to quite a few laughs in the right group. Moose Master has very little strategy but it does rely on some skill as some players will be really good at getting other players to break rules. Moose Master is ultimately a silly game though. The game is not meant to be taken seriously as the ultimate winner is not important. It is more about having some laughs and just having a good time. Some people will really enjoy this while others won’t like it.
For my recommendation I would say read through the How to Play section. If the game’s rules and premise sound like something that your group will enjoy, I think they will really enjoy Moose Master and you should consider picking it up.