Let’s play…Viva Topo!

Based on looks alone, I will give award winning Viva Topo 2 big thumbs up . I love the wood pieces shaped like cheese wedges and mice with the little felt ears and tails. So cute can?

The goal of the game is to gather as many pieces of cheese (they come in portions of 1, 2 , 3, 4 and 6 slices) you can grab without getting caught by the cat who will sneaking around and waiting to pounce on you. This game involves a little bit of strategy because the farther you go on the board, the bigger the cheese but each mouse is only allowed to collect 1 tasty piece per turn. Once the furry fella is in the cave, he has to stay there. Probably because he passed out from the cheese binge. *BURP*

Oh yah! There is a twist to the game! Come on, you really didn’t think it’s that easy to be a cheesionaire (Geddit? Geddit? Cheese+millionaire?) and attain ultimate nirvana in cheese heaven right? On the die, there is a cat icon and when you roll one of that, the cat gets to move 1 space. After the cat makes one round around the board, it will double it’s speed by moving 2 spaces instead of 1. Pam warned us at this point of the game, Xan might start to get upset and cry because the cat will be moving faster and he will lose his little furry friends. That damn cat made him cry buckets! In between sobs he kept saying NO CAT! I DOWAN THE CAT!! NAUGHTY CAT! Needless to say the game didn’t last very long. Sorry Pam.

One day, we were supposed to pick my nephew to go for a trial art class with Xan so I decided to bring Viva Topo along just in case we get a chance to play it. Long story short, we ended up at my office and we (me, The Husband, The Son and The Nephew) had a go at Viva Topo. Like Xander, Andre loved the game at the start when it was nice and slow. They laughed, they squirmed around, the boys had fun. Once the cat picked up speed, it was all downhill from there. Now we have TWO hysterical cat hating boys. Who would have guessed a small wooden cat would create so much chaos? *face palm* Well, the tears didn’t last very long. Nothing an ice-cream cone won’t fix. Hehe!

The recommended age for the game is from 4 years and up. This sounds about right lah. Exciting for the kiddies, super entertaining for the adults when the kids burst into tears. 😛

Viva Topo retails at S$70.00 and is available from My First Games.