Abandon Ship – Save the rats!
The monstrous ship is sinking and all you want to do is save the rats?
Yep.
What a great, funny premise for a board game. But the premise in Abandon Ship is only one of the reasons why it’s a great family board game.
See the other reasons why Brooke rates Abandon Ship so highly in her latest video review.
Can the whole family enjoy Abandon Ship?
Whether young or old, everyone in the family can enjoy this board game. It has simple play mechanics of rolling and moving, but there’s still strategy involved in which rats you choose to move. So it’s a good balance that keeps the game interesting.
One of the elements that makes it such a great family board game is that you aren’t limited to being one particular rat. When we first opened the game we got the normal calling out of, “I want red”, “I want blue” and such. However, that’s not how the board game is played. Rather than being one color and trying to get that rat to safety, everyone gets 3 rats to cheer for. And no one knows which rats the others are cheering for.
This is fantastic for a few reasons. First it gives everyone a chance to get in on the scoring action at the end. Second, it helps some of your rats move ahead even when it isn’t your turn because others might be cheering for one of the same rats and advance it. Third, and what I like the best, is that rats can sink without putting any player out of the game. So even if one of your rats drowns as the ship sinks, you still have a couple rats to cheer for. So none of the kids go away pouting because their rat is out.
What size table do you need?
As you can see in the video, the board in Abandon Ship is very long. It may not be when you first set it up, but it’s a two piece board and as you sink the ship during the game it will get longer and longer. The ocean board is 33 inches long and the sinking ship board just adds to the length as the game goes.
The board and the components are all very well made too. The rats are nice wooden characters and the tokens are thick and will stand up to much repeated play by kids young and old for years to come.
How does Abandon Ship score on the “Let’s Play Again” meter?
You may get tired of reading this every time, but Abandon Ship also scores high on our “Let’s Play Again” meter. It’s a cleverly themed game and doesn’t take long to play. So it’s easy to simply start over and play again. But just because a game plays relatively quickly doesn’t mean that everyone wants to play again. However, with Abandon Ship typically everyone will gladly play again.
Thanks Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) for the best rat racing game on the seven seas!
| The Board Game Family Game Ratings | |
 |
Caleb |
 |
Brooke |
 |
Jaden |
 |
Trevor |
 |
Mom |
 |
Dad |
 |
Average |
Could a 5 year old play this? She can play Chateau de Rocquefort. What would you recommend for a 5 year old with a 7 year old sister.
We think so. Though there is definitely strategy involved and it will take some thinking through what they want to do each turn – meaning which die to use to move a rat. We would see them playing completely for fun rather than getting really strategic. The great thing is that they’re cheering for 3 rats, so if one gets lost (drowns), they’re still in the game and can have fun.