Meeple Circus released at the end of 2017 is unsurprisingly a circus themed board game which is designed around dexterity, from publisher Matagot. Designed by Cédric Millet, the game sees 2 – 5 players become ring masters during two rehearsals and a final grand performance, where you must impress the audience waiting to applaud. Acrobats of differing experience, animals ranging from elephants to a tiger and more will grace the circus stage. However, is there a solid game to play or is it all for show? Let’s find out!
A game of Meeple Circus is played out over three rounds, each getting progressively more involved by introducing a new element. At the offset of the game players will receive a blue beginner acrobat meeple and a yellow intermediate acrobat meeple. From here on what will appear in players performances will differ. At the start of the round players will, in turn order, choose a component tile and claim the depicted components and then a Circus Art 1 tile, again claiming the depicted components.
Next, you’ll open the app up and hit play on one of the music tracks. Instantly everyone around the table will be placing their pieces onto their circus board to gain points. Once a player has finished placing, stacking and balancing they shout “Ta-da” to show they are done. The first player to do this takes a 2-point tile and the second player to finish gets 1 point. When all players are done or the track is over, whichever comes first, the performance is over and it’s time to count the applause earnt.
Blue meeples score a point if they are on the ground and carrying something; yellow meeples score a point if they do not touch the floor and red expert acrobat meeples score depending on their height, if there is nothing on top of them. On top of the acrobat scoring are public objectives that can be completed multiple times. These range from an elephant with a plank balanced on its back to a acrobat of any colour standing on another’s head, and often gain around 3 points.
Players can then disassemble their performances, keeping all their pieces. A new batch of component tiles are laid out and the Circus Act 2 cards, featuring Guest Stars are unveiled. Starting from the player in last everyone gets to pick a component tile and guest. These guest cards are slightly different. Players only get the special guest on the card not all things depicted on the card. This is because the image depicted is a new way for that player to use their special guest to score bonus points. An example is the tiger which scores points for having an acrobat laying on top of it, you’d get the tiger but not the acrobat meeple. Round 2 is played the same as round 1, with the app playing a countdown track, with the only addition being the guest bonus points.
Round three adds in yet another way to score via Circus Act 3 tiles, as well as star guests scoring double points. The 3rd round tiles are where the game is almost more honest with itself, letting its fun side flourish and getting each player to do something slightly silly. Be warned if you are very much an introvert this round may pain you as not only will you be doing the performance solo with everyone watching but the act 3 cards really does need to be done if you want to stand a chance of winning, scoring up to 7 points.
These range from standing up and bowing when you hear applause on a special countdown music track to pinching your nose and saying “Honk! Honk!” when placing an acrobat. They are all light-hearted fun that for the right group can create plenty of laughter, however I can see this round losing a few players as they back away from the table. Hopefully you’ll still be happily at the table and even the player with the most applause points, as that is how you win the game.
The unique guests that enter the fray in round 2 are great for making each game have a unique twist, especially with each card being double sided. Due to this even if the same performer or animal gets chosen they might not necessarily score points in the same way; needing to be balanced in a different way, not touching anything or my personal favourite the clown whom you need to knock off your carefully balanced display.
Due to the way that components are chosen there is the potential for someone in round one to gain an advantage by choosing components first. This leads me to thinking that some sort of mitigation could be needed for the game to continually hit the table. When deciding on new components in games above a 2-player player count it would be potentially fairer to instead of going in order (ABCD ABCD) reverse the order for the second pick (ABCD DCBA). After round 1 when it is the player in last place that gets the first pick, this rule feels fairer, as a catch-up style mechanism. Alas, if in round 1 the starting player is the only person to grab vital component needed for a public objective card some thoughts of unfairness creep in.
The collection of wooden components are fantastic, with obvious shapes of the animals and meeples. These are great to balance and stack and even make a satisfying noise when another player’s display tumbles to the table. Alas, there are a few components which are too thin for me to be able to categorically say they are robust enough, so players won’t need to go out of their way to keep them in pristine condition. These are the circus ring tiles that players will be stacking on top of and the circus act tiles, which are thin enough to be classed as cards, and even compared to cards they feel thin when held. I’m unsure why they are like this with the component tiles being actual cardboard tiles, it’s an unfortunate and odd production decision that lets the title down.
The biggest issue I have with Meeple Circus doesn’t even come in the box. The app is brilliant for playing the countdown music, driving entertainment and at times tension. Regrettably, the app is somewhat of a battery burner with the screen being always on when music is playing. When playing make sure you turn down your brightness or have a charger on hand otherwise you won’t have enough battery left to take a picture of your gloriously balanced performance!
As mentioned, introverts may initially struggle with being put on the spot in round three. This being said, Meeple Circus can also be great for getting younger or slightly shy players to come out of their shell, if they have had a chance to laugh along with others before the lime light is on them. Shaky hands, the fast-paced music and components toppling all fuel this laughter that makes Meeple Circus simply fun to play. The guest star and circus act 3 cards will make each game a bit different but soon you’ll have gone through the variants and that is because it is hard to stop playing. Just like to a visit to a circus there might not be too much to think about, but it’ll be a solid performance and you’ll be entertained throughout.
[Editor’s Note: Meeple Circus was provided to us by Asmodee UK for review purposes. The game is currently available on 365 Games for £29.99. It is also available from local UK board game stores, find your local store here]