gamers both in the United States and Canada, instruction sheets in English and French. FACE-IT (Talicor, 2-4 players, about 30 minutes; $19.99)
Face-it is a new abstract game distributed by Talicor which offers a surprisingly large amount of play value in a simple and colorful format.
The game comes boxed with a
sturdy plastic grid gameboard and 41 plastic "faces" (10 each of
yellow, blue, red and green and 1 white "face" called
"Sneaky"). There are also 20 plastic coins, a cloth bag and, with an
eye towards gamers both in the United States and Canada, instruction sheets in English and French.
All of the plastic "faces" (round plastic pieces with "happy face" type faces in different colors) are placed in the cloth bag. Players start with the same amount of money (one chip in each of 5 denominations and let's call them dollars for simplicity's sake) of 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1) and draw a hand of 4 "faces".
On turn, players may place upon
the board up to four of their faces. (If playing more than one face, they must
all be of one color.) Faces may be placed 
anywhere on the gridded playing board
but only horizontally or vertically, never diagonally.
You score based upon the number of faces that are LINKED
to the color you played. (For example, play one face on the board by itself and
you get 1 dollar, play one face linked to four other faces of the SAME COLOR
and you get 5 dollars!) The kick here is that you get paid by your opponent! (If
more than two players, you get paid by the opponent on your right.) Should you
draw the white face (and only one of those are in the game), you TAKE a face from ONE
of your opponents. That opponent will now only have 3 faces to use on his next
turn when he can then
replenish up to four again. (The white face returns to the bag only to re-emerge
on a later draw - again and again.)
The endgame starts when the white face is
the only one left in the bag. Players may then play out the faces they hold but
when one player has no more faces, the game ends. Leftover faces in a player's
hand count against the player: -1 for each unplayed face held. The player with the most money
wins!
It is curiously fascinating to watch the board
fill up with these colorful faces. There is strategy here too as you try to set
up scoring moves for yourself while blocking off areas from your opponents. The
game is well constructed and durable. The
only real flaw concerns the money and this is a problem I've never
encountered before. The "coins" used for money are not solid. Rather,
they are circular with open areas. Have you ever noticed how a 5 can resemble a
2 when it's flipped? I did - when I kept giving the wrong change to my opponent!
As money is the basis for winning or losing, make sure you are careful in
handling your funds.
Face-it has strategy and lots of "eye appeal". The game looks good as the board is filling up. Although targeted for kids, the best thing about it is that this is a game that has enough strategy to keep the adults entertained. But the best thing about it is that an adult can play Face-it with the kids without losing his mind! Thumbs up! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Herb Levy
