| Our Recommended Age: | 6+ |
| Recommended Age: | 6+ |
| Players: | 2-6 |
| Cost: | $30.00 |
| Play Time: | 30 minutes |
| Company Site: | maydaygames.com |
| Contents: | 54 Yellow Victory Points Crystals, 10 Blue Victory Point Crystals, 12 Tokens, 2 Dice, The Macroscope, 1 Marker, 1 Game Round Tracker, Instructions |
Macroscope is ingeniously constructed and resembles everything I love about old inventions! You get to build your own Macroscope before you even play! A nice element to an already fun game. Your goal is to simply get the most points by guessing what the hidden item is with as few tokens removed as possible. Quick and easy to learn and play but challenging enough to keep you coming back!
MayDay Games has always put out games that are great for the whole family and Macroscope is among one of our favorites. It is recommended for ages 6+ and I feel like that is about accurate. Any kid of any age can remove tokens and see a picture (the tokens are small so be careful) but it will be hard to guess what things are with just a few tokens removed for younger ones.
I’m not saying it isn’t possible. You know what your kid is capable of, so if you feel they could play then play! I’m sure they will love it! When playing with the kids we usually guess a little later than we normally would to make it a bit more fair but no we don’t have to let them win.
In fact we no longer have to give them extra time on guessing as they are picking it up very quickly. There might be a few cases where kids won’t recognize an item though.
The game comes in a lift top lid box with an insert inside with two parts. The Macroscope, which comes unassembled, is made out of good quality chipboard. You get to pop out all of the pieces! Ahem…it’s almost like popping bubble wrap…almost. You also get to assemble it which is actually great and perfect for this game and its theme. You are an inventor aren’t you?
Aside from the main component of the game there are the cards. A huge deck of paper cards with pictures on both sides (except one card that has the logo on a side) that go in the Macroscope. They are made out of paper but its a thin glossy paper so it feels smooth but they can tear so be careful.
I sort of wish they were cards or card stock instead but honestly I am not sure they could fit as many cards in the game as they did if they were thicker so of course I’m glad they have what they do. There are 200 double-sided cards after all! 200!
There are plastic gems, instructions and a chipboard Round Tracker and Marker and 2 Dice. The dice are standard D6 and gems are fun clearish plastic that is very shiny…and pretty. Overall the game is made very well and the artwork is perfect the them and beautifully done. It looks sort of steampunk which I love! The pictures on the cards are black and white but are well done. You can always tell what it is (maybe not as soon as you would like) and if they had color would probably be very beautiful. Now let’s play!
Objective:
Have the most points at the end of 10 rounds! This is true for either version you play. Oh…right. You can play two different ways!
Setup:
First you of course have to BUILD the Macroscope. If you are like me you had it built before you even read instructions! If I didn’t then I wouldn’t have been the one to build it…gotta be quick! It isn’t hard at all to put together and it is pretty secure. The top part is wobbly but doesn’t fall off or anything. It needs to be loose to remove cards without peeking.
Once you have that assembled place the stack of cards, the whole thing, in the Macroscope. You should have the card with the logo on it on the top so you can’t see the pictures.
Now make sure the top of the Macroscope, the part that raises up and lowers, is in place and remove the top card. We like to put it under the current card so we don’t accidentally peek on the next one.
Put the Game Tracker next to the Macroscope and place the inventor or Marker on the 1 space. Put the die nearby and pass out 2 Yellow Crystals to each player. Make a pile with the rest of them and randomly choose a first player. Play moves clockwise and the Macroscope must be visible to all players at all times.
Play:
You can turn the Macroscope so you can see it better. My family plays the family version a lot and likes to just pass the Macroscope around to each player on their turn. The arrow on the card should be pointing away from you. Basically it points to the side of the card that is up.
Now roll both dice and for each one you can remove one token per number rolled. So if you roll a 2 and a 5 then you can remove one of each of those numbered tokens.
You don’t have to though and there are no more matches for your number rolled then you can choose one to remove. The family version doens’t use the dice or the crystals.
Remove tokens one at a time because after you remove one token you can either choose to remove the second, make a guess or pass to the next player. After the second token, if you chose this option, you can pass or make a guess. Take 1 yellow crystal for each window of the Macroscope that you opened if you are not making a guess. If no one else wants to make a guess then it is the next player’s turn.Yes you can make a guess during another player’s turn.
If you want to make a guess you have to announce that you are making a guess and then say your guess out loud. In the family version you simply write down your guess and you are out of play until everyone has guessed. The family version has you write down your guess which I like better…you still have to announce you are guessing though.
Players can challenge you if they have a different guess but they have to pay you 2 yellow crystals and cannot guess something that has already been said.The player with the fewest points gets to challenge first.
The number of tokens still covering the picture is the number of Victory Points you receive (take them from the pile) if you guessed correctly. It is also how many you lose if you guessed wrong..bummer… Now cover up the windows randomly with tokens and remove the card. Obviously if you do not have any you cannot lose any and if you have fewer than needed you just lose all that you have.
Once you are done scoring the round carefully, without peeking at the other side, put the card face up (the side you saw already) in the smaller compartment of the box.
Now move the Marker to the next space and the next player starts off the round. If you manage to open all the windows and no one has guessed then you cover them all back up and remove the picture. Start a new round. Wow..no points that round!
Winning:
Once the Marker reaches the 10 space you play the final round and the player with the most Victory Points at its end wins! In the family version you use the Score card set to keep track of your guesses and Victory Points. Only those players who guess earliest, and correctly of course, get the VP but all other correct answers get 1 VP. Guess wrong and get nothing though.
We play the family version so we take turns removing one token and the kids love trying to guess the picture. This is a quick game for Family Game Night, great filler for Game Nights and perfect for anyone new to the gaming world! We love playing and I kind of want to leave out the Macroscope for display…it’s seriously cool looking. The Diva has mentioned it as one of her top 5 games she loves and requests it all the time.
Macroscope is one of those rare games that is beautiful, well made, easy to learn, fun to play and has some educational value as well. It is the perfect game to teach kids to take a little bit of info but see the bigger picture. A lesson I am sure they will take with them as they get older.
Show us your best guessing face! @MyGeeklings #Macroscope @MayDayGames
