The Inside Scoop on Gaming

"You and your friends are living pleasant and complete lives in Happyville.
"You are highly trained and well-paid sous-chefs, who have decided to climb to the top of a tall building, as fast as you can.
"Devil Bunny Needs a Ham.
"And he's pretty sure that knocking you off the building will help him get one.
"Perhaps he is right.

"Perhaps he is not."

OK, so first off, the background of this game is not particularly awe-inspiring, or, for that matter, intelligible. You get the feeling that the designers first came up with the game and then wrote the title and premise while under the influence of powerful controlled substances in thirty seconds before sending the game to the printers.

For all its incomprehensibility, it's an amusing premise. Each player recieves either two or three tokens (depending on how many are playing) which they use in an effort to climb up the face of the building. Each player rolls six-sided dice on their turn to move their pieces; whenever a 6 is rolled, Devil Bunny knocks the top piece off of the building. If there is another piece below, the top piece is safely caught. Otherwise, the piece has to start from the ground again, or, if above the aptly-named "Line of Death", is removed from the game. The goal is to have as many pieces as possible reach the top as fast as you can.

And, all in all, it's a fun game to play. It's not too strenuous on the brain, so you can play it just about any time. The game starts out slow as the various tokens block the paths up the building, and speeds up around the time the tokens reach the Line of Death. The last part of the game is a bit more suspenseful as players make sure that none of their tokens swan-dives off the building from above the Line.

The board elements are well-done for the price; the black squares ("you can't move into the black squares, because you fear them" have such diverse fearful hazards as "bugs," "tar," "porcupines," and "wesley snipes." Included, supposedly as a special bonus, is a stand-up Devil Bunny counter.

Devil Bunny Needs A Ham is an entertaining and amusing little game. It won't hold your attention for very long, but it's a nice little diversion. It's probably not worth making a trip to the store to pick up, but next time you're going there, consider collecting all the spare change from beneath your couch and getting yourself a copy.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Devil Bunny Needs A Ham
Author: James Ernest, E. Jordon Bojar, Toivo Rovainen Category: Board Game Company/Publisher: Cheapass Games Line: Cheapass Board Games Cost: $2.00 Page count: n/a ISBN: n/a SKU: CAG018 Playtest Review by Sam Lindsay-Levine on 07/08/99. Genre tags: Comedy	"You and your friends are living pleasant and complete lives in Happyville. "You are highly trained and well-paid sous-chefs, who have decided to climb to the top of a tall building, as fast as you can. "Devil Bunny Needs a Ham. "And he's pretty sure that knocking you off the building will help him get one. "Perhaps he is right. "Perhaps he is not." OK, so first off, the background of this game is not particularly awe-inspiring, or, for that matter, intelligible. You get the feeling that the designers first came up with the game and then wrote the title and premise while under the influence of powerful controlled substances in thirty seconds before sending the game to the printers. For all its incomprehensibility, it's an amusing premise. Each player recieves either two or three tokens (depending on how many are playing) which they use in an effort to climb up the face of the building. Each player rolls six-sided dice on their turn to move their pieces; whenever a 6 is rolled, Devil Bunny knocks the top piece off of the building. If there is another piece below, the top piece is safely caught. Otherwise, the piece has to start from the ground again, or, if above the aptly-named "Line of Death", is removed from the game. The goal is to have as many pieces as possible reach the top as fast as you can. And, all in all, it's a fun game to play. It's not too strenuous on the brain, so you can play it just about any time. The game starts out slow as the various tokens block the paths up the building, and speeds up around the time the tokens reach the Line of Death. The last part of the game is a bit more suspenseful as players make sure that none of their tokens swan-dives off the building from above the Line. The board elements are well-done for the price; the black squares ("you can't move into the black squares, because you fear them" have such diverse fearful hazards as "bugs," "tar," "porcupines," and "wesley snipes." Included, supposedly as a special bonus, is a stand-up Devil Bunny counter. Devil Bunny Needs A Ham is an entertaining and amusing little game. It won't hold your attention for very long, but it's a nice little diversion. It's probably not worth making a trip to the store to pick up, but next time you're going there, consider collecting all the spare change from beneath your couch and getting yourself a copy. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)