- “Tick Tock Boom – Pocket Edition”: Review of the fast-paced mini-party game
- This is how Tick Tack Bumm plays without a bomb
- Information, evaluation and conclusion
Ever since “Tick Tock Boom”was released in the late 1990s, the success of the word-finding game with the bomb is unbroken. The Viennese games publisher is extremely creative in this, again and again new versions of the party game on the market. Including those party edition, which we have already tested. And even if there is already a travel version – the smallest edition of the cult game so far is even better suited as a take-along game: “Tick Tack Bumm Pocket”, which is a pure card game – and thus also the first “Tick Tack Bumm Pocket” without the exploding one Bomb.
How does Tick Tack Bumm Pocket play?
At the beginning of “Tick Tack Bumm Pocket” each of the three to eight players is dealt seven cards. The other cards form a draw pile, the top card is placed face up next to it. There are cards in four suits, each one shows a number. After Mau Mau principle must be placed either color on color or number on number.
But now it comes: Before you can play a card, the task of the card on display must be fulfilled. The possible tasks are divided into three categories:
- Shows the map Word and a Eara rhyme must be formed, such as hand/sand.
- But show the map Word and a magnifying glass, is a word from this area. For example, a ball sport is asked and the answer could be water polo or volleyball.
- The third option is a card with a bomb icon. This means that a word with a given syllable or sequence of letters is now searched for, just like in the “original” tick-tock-boom.
Everyone plays at the same time
The game gets its speed from the fact that it is not played in turn, but as, for example, in Ligretto* all at the same time try to complete the task and get rid of their cards. Only those who quickly call out the answer they are looking for and pop a suitable card onto the discard pile will advance.
But be careful: If you confuse ear and magnifying glass in the heat of the moment, you also have to use two penalty cards draw like the one who answers the task correctly, but then does not have a suitable card to discard.
Anyone who has discarded a card is not allowed to answer it, but has to be careful who of the other players is the first to react correctly so that there are no discrepancies in all the turbulence. Whoever gets rid of all cards wins.
Information and conclusion:
Tick Tack Bumm Pocket is a fast-paced game that requires you to react quickly. Because often the word you are looking for comes to mind, but someone else is already yelling the right answer through the room and hitting a new card on the table. The cards are easy to distinguish, the symbols for the questions are shown in large in the middle. Similar to the other tick-tock-boom editions, the actual tasks are very simple in and of themselves – the difficulty is that time is always of the essence. The stress factor here is not the ticking bomb, but the fact that everyone is allowed to blare out their solution at the same time.
Tick Tack Bumm Pocket – Watch the game on Amazon
This is exactly where the problem that often came up in our test rounds lay: at some point you lose track of who said what first. With this “Tick Tack Bumm Pocket” manages the feat that on the one hand it plays hectically – sometimes even chaotically – but on the other hand it also requires full concentration. In our opinion, this means that it is only suitable for one or two games as an in-between game, after which a break is needed.
However, we give the authors respect for the idea of mixing tick-tock-boom elements with mau-mau/uno – you have to come up with that first. The approach is great because it makes it even easier to get started. The bottom line is that the card tick tock is different enough from other versions to have a raison d’être. But one thing is also certain: If you love the “original bomb game”, the pocket version is not a worthy replacement for you.
- Information about “Tick Tack Bumm Pocket” at a glance:
- Number of players: 3 to 8
- Age recommendation: from 12
- Duration: 5 to 15 minutes
- Publisher: Piatnik
- Author: Michael Hirtle and Brad Ross
- Per:
- Compact take away game
- Fast paced
- interlude game
- Cons:
- Editor’s rating: 7 out of 10 points
Conclusion: “Tick Tack Bumm Pocket” has some of the speed of the main game “Tick Tack Bumm Bombe”, but as a pure card game it doesn’t come close to its suitability for parties. Nevertheless, it’s a nice little take-away game for in between and can bring speed and atmosphere into a celebration – if everyone involved doesn’t feel like hectic for a few minutes.
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transparency notice: To test the game, the publisher provided us with a review copy without further conditions.
