A_nchors A_Way — a_way Review

 sometimes wonder about the decisions that a publisher makes about its releases. You can have the best game with the smoothest mechanics, but if the rulebook isn’t up to par, or the icons hard to understand, or even if the name of the game is hard to pronounce or look up on BGG, that has to set back the publicity that the game might otherwise get, right? 

But there are plenty of examples of games that have overcome those obstacles. The Castles of Burgundy is famous for the smooooshy artwork on the tiles in the original releases, yet it has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Beyond The Sun famously had a plain, minimalist, some-say-ugly (but I disagree), while Scythe has an FAQ longer than its rulebooks, yet these releases were very successful. 

We were very curious when Blue Orange sent us a tiny little package of a game, with a very strange title. What is going on? Could the gameplay over come the unusual name? 

Absolutely.

In a_way (which my keyboard has tried to write with a ‘+’ or a ‘-‘ or even a ‘=’ between the two words, a_rgh!) players are racing through something called the “legendary Quazarys” galaxy to win the game. The gameplay is ridiculously simple. The players have three options on their turns: move a space, play card(s), or discard cards — and then they can still move a space if they choose to do so.

Since this is a racing game, one would think that option A_a, which gives you a double bump on the race path, would be pretty popular, and at first glance, it is. But once you dive into the game a little more, you realize that playing combos of cards is really the option you want to take almost every turn. It’s the heart of what this game is all about. 

Let’s start with some basics, though. Players set up either a five card racing lineup with home bases on either end, or a nine card plus-sign-shaped course with three or four bases spread out on each of the spokes. Players put their ship on the base opposite to their home base, and then take turns trying to get home faster than anyone else. Again, double bumps look good. First one to their home base wins. 

But there is a deck of exploration and action cards, each with one of four different suits or symbols. With a hand of five cards, there are plenty of opportunities to have duplicates. And that’s the trick; you can play as many cards from a particular suit that you have in any order you want.

In fact, you really have to do these multiple plays to win, because the space track isn’t just a quick route that leads you home. Sometimes there are arrows that point against you, meaning you can’t go that way. Some cards have dead ends, or circular routes or turns, and you need to add cards to get home faster. The ability to overcome these obstacles, and to play two or three or even four cards all with good exploration paths plus using special action cards to rotate the cards in your path is an absolute must. 

Plus, the game is short and players always seem to be just two or three cards away from winning. That means that it doesn’t feel so bad to mess with other players. I would argue that the meat of the game is rotating the cards in the path of the other players, or moving the little ships back, or eliminating whole pathways. it’s almost like playing a space version of Villainous, where the key to victory is the figuring how to move forward steadily down your path while also slowing down the other players at the same time. 

The pushing and pulling that goes on is frustrating enough in a World Cup soccer match, and it is usually pretty frustrating in a long euro, but in a short twenty minute racing game? You ain’t racing if you ain’t rubbing space debris into other people’s hyperdrives. If you get a bad draw of cards, or someone zooms past you at the end while pushing you back, you can easily just re-rack the course and play again. 

We have really enjoyed playing a_way, which apparently will be available for demo or purchase at the upcoming GENCON this summer. The game box is literally the size of the palm of my hand, and it is definitely going in my game bag as a great little tapas game. 

In my mind, a_way has jettisoned the anchor surrounding the name of the game. Anchors away, little Quazaryian racers — it’s time to boogie! 

Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!
— BJ from Board Game Gumbo 
** A complimentary copy of the game was provided by the publisher. **