Octopie

Octopie (2022) is a collecting game where you race to build an octopus by collecting eight matching-coloured Arms before anyone else. You play by collecting, flipping, and stealing Arm pieces to complete your octopus. It's a nice extension of Plamanism that's part memory challenge, part positioning puzzle with a healthy slice of fighting for your piece of the pie.

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The aim is to complete an Octopus with eight arms that include the same colour from the shared pile of Arm pieces. What makes it interesting is that the Arms are double-sided so flipping yours or your opponents can help or hinder as long as you remember what's on the other side. Then there are some handy Arms that count for either of their two colours.

Each go you roll a dice that lets you Draw, Flip, or Steal to add to your octopus. Flip is useful if you can remember which piece has the right colours you need, or which of your opponents Arms it would be most frustrating to turn over. Stealing is another way to sabotage your opponent's octopi. Drawing is simply taking one from the pile. So, each go you use what you can see and remember about the pieces in play to decide upon the best possible action. If you add an Arm with a pie you get a special extra action to make your progress to victory quicker.

The result is a simple game where stopping your opponent’s progress is almost as much fun as ensuring your own. You need to keep a careful eye on all the pieces that are in play, both in the shared draw piles and on your opponent’s octopi, as the piece that you need might be hiding anywhere.

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Our examiner, Rob Prior, first checked Octopie 18 months ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 9 months ago.