Zoon is a non collectible card game from French firm I’ve never heard of.
The general concept of the game is that it simulates two tribes of “Zoons”
(cuddly little animals with humanoid characteristics and only
semi-pronounceable names) battling it out to capture each other’s “Emblem”
or tribal totem. The game is played out on a grid-like space on your
kitchen table (or desk at work& ahem). The tribes maintain their icon on
their sides “backfield” as it were, and deploy troops to protect the emblem
as well as capture the opposing emblem. Astute readers with an elementary
school background might be noticing the game “capture the flag” right now–
and you’d be right, that’s exactly what Zoon is. Where it diverges from
the playground, however, is where Zoon becomes interesting, and worth the
paltry amount being charged for it (and yes, it is worth the money).
HOW IT PLAYS: Each card represents one element of the limited Zoon universe.
A card can be a Chief, a Priest, a Monster, an Elite, a Soldier, an Emblem,
or a Trump. Most cards are Soldiers or Elites (which are better soldiers
that might have some special abilities). Monsters are usually very tough
soldiers with some nifty abilities tacked on, like flight, or a specialized
attack. Priests, Chiefs and Emblems are one-of-a-kind types with very
specialized abilities. Each card has a “touch score”& a number or star
icon on each corner of the card, with a picture in the middle, and a movement
grid demonstrating how the card moves, and an icon showing what classification
of Zoon it is. Trumps are special case, usually one-shot items that can be played
to effect combat or movement.
PLAY SEQUENCE: The play sequence is dirt simple:
- Choose a side (tribe).
- Decides who goes first.
- Deploy your Zoons face DOWN in the backfield.
- Alternating between players, either:
- Move a Zoon into an empty grid location;
- Move a Zoon into an occupied grid location (and have combat);
- Play a Trump.
- That’s it. Play until one side captures the other’s Emblem.
Movement: Movement is handled in an interesting manner. As mentioned above, each Zoon card has a little diagram printed on it that depicts exactly how that Zoon will move on the grid. Some Zoons can only go forward, some can go forward and backward, some can only go sideways. The overall effect is very chess like.
Combat: Combat is very bizarre and very amusing– really worth the price of admission in itself. I get the feeling that the designers built the rest of the game around this idea. Combat is initiated by one card moving into an enemy card’s space, as mentioned above. Keep in mind both sides are still face-down. Before combat, each player can rotate their cards 180 degrees in any direction. The player then touches any corner of the opponent Zoon’s face-down card. Each corner has a touch score, remember? The numbers, which equate to combat strength, are compared. The larger number wins, and eliminates the opposing card. In case of ties, the attacker retreats back a square and the defender stands fast. If the opposing player choose a corner with a star on it, he has to consult the special tribal information card each Zoon tribe gets to find out what happens. Personally, I find this combat system to be design elegance personified. Combat takes advantage of the card format perfectly and establishes a true “fog of war” situation where you never can figure out what’s going to happen until it happens.
Trumps: Trumps add a little spice to the game. Regular trumps represent a wide a variety of actions, some of which effect movement, and some of which effect combat. Missile trumps are played just like combat troops, only with a special X symbol on one corner. If the X symbol is picked during combat, the opposing Zoon is eliminated.
The Verdict
The artwork is silly, almost juvenile. The combat system is something Koko, the sign language-enabled gorilla, could probably pick up& yet.. Zoon has something indefinable. Zoon is funny, fast, and well designed for the card medium. I feel that the game’s artwork might detract from the “crusty old gamer” crowd, but it has potential for being a hit with the extremely young (hey, look at Pokemon). My only beef with the production values was the translation from Zoon’s original French. This leaves something to be desired. Even this was a pretty minor problem– most points are adequately conveyed, though lacking in a detailed explanation. For instance, the notion of retreat from a draw in combat& did they mean go back ONE square, or TWO? What if the Zoon can’t move backwards? Still, for the amount Zoon costs you really can’t go wrong trying it, if you like this sort of thing.
