Game Review – La Boca

La Boca
Number of Players	3 - 6
Play Time	40 minutes
Ages	8 years and up

La Boca is a 3D puzzle game set in Buenos Aires.  There is a neighborhood there called La Boca that is famous for its colorful and eccentric skyline.  In the game you are trying to replicate it using 10 or 11 blocks of different shapes and sizes.  The number of blocks you use depends on the difficulty level that you are playing at.

The players are put together in shifting teams of two across the table from each other.  Then a challenge care is set between them on the board.  The challenge card has the different ways that the puzzle should look when completed for each of the players.  The players then build the puzzle using all 10 block that they are given.

They must build complete the puzzle in 2 minutes or less.  Based on the amount of time before the 2 minutes that they complete the puzzle, they score points.  The less time it takes to complete the puzzle the more points the players get.  The number of rounds that a player plays depends on the number of players in the game. 

The person that has the most points at the end of the game wins.

The game has two difficulty levels.  The basic level is completing challenges with 10 blocks.  The advanced game adds an 11^th block, a 3 space tall L, which does not seem that much harder on paper, but when you are trying to complete the puzzles, it is actually much harder.

The game uses inserts in the bottom of the box as the playing surface and comes with the following:  11 wooden pieces of different shapes and colors, 64 challenge cards that have the puzzles to complete (128 in all), 100point chips of varying values,  6 player boards, 30 partner chips to divide the teams with, and an electric timer.

La Boca is a very entertaining game.  It is an abstract game that is light enough that most people that do not like abstract games will enjoy it.  On the other side of it the puzzles are engaging enough that abstract game lovers will find La Boca entertaining as well.

Even though only 2 people play each turn those turns are over in 2 minutes or less so there really is not that much down time for the players that are not solving the current puzzle.

La Boca should be on any gamer’s play list and is a good entry level game because it is easy to explain and very engaging.