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Cluzzle
From the Publisher...
Since when was it good to do something poorly? Since the award-winning game of Cluzzle turned sculpting on its head!
Cluzzle is a deduction game similar to 20 Questions. Don’t be too good an artist - the trickier your sculpture, the more points you’ll get! The result is a game which anyone can win that inspires creativity, intrigue, and social interaction. So grab your friends and family. Your ridiculously poor sculptures will inspire laughter that will be remembered for years to come!
Cluzzle has already received 5 different awards as one of the best family games on the market. It is rated above Pictionary as the #1 drawing and sculpting game of all time by industry experts at www.about.com making Cluzzle a perfect gift for the holidays.
Our Comments...
Review by Mike Petty, February 7, 2004:
Introduction:
I've been eagerly awaiting the release of Cluzzle for a long
time now. One reason is that it's designed and published by a
friend of mine, Dominic Crapuchettes. Besides this, I also wanted
a copy of my own after having so much fun playtesting it back in
2002 at our Protospiel game designers convention. No other game
from that year's event generated so much laughter and excitement.
It's been a long time coming for Dominic, but we received our
first shipment of the game a couple weeks ago. I'm very happy to
say the finished product looks great and the gameplay is as good
as I remembered it.
The game:
A "cluzzle" is a clay puzzle. The idea of the game
is terribly simple actually. Players pick an object from a list
on cards and they sculpt that object. The best scoring cluzzle
will be one that's guessed in later rounds, but players will
score no points for their cluzzle if it's not guessed at all. The
idea is to be somewhat tricky in your representation, but not too
tricky.
After all cluzzles are sculpted and displayed on their "claystations",
a series of rounds is played out. Each round, each player gets to
ask two yes/no questions. These questions are asked and answered
with no particular turns. Table talk is encouraged, so you don't
have to just say "yes" or "no" when answering.
Guesses can be written down for the cluzzles anytime during the
round. When everyone has asked a question, or when time has run
out, the round ends.
At this time, players read off their guesses. Correct guesses
earn a the sculptor and the guesser(s) one point in round one,
two points in round two or three points in round three. Since the
session only lasts three rounds, you're fresh out of luck if your
cluzzle hasn't been guessed by that time. A complete game lasts
three sessions. Our games have been completed in 30-45 minutes.
Haven't we seen this before?
Many gamers will likely recognize similarities between Cluzzle
and the classic German game, Barbarossa. I've talked to Dominic
about the game enough to know that the core idea for Cluzzle was
inspired from playing Barbarossa. What Dominic managed to do with
his game, though, is take those fun elements of Barbarossa and
put them into a game that's more accessible to non-gamers. In the
time since I've had Cluzzle, I've played it enough with non-gamers
to know this to be the case. As much as I enjoy Barbarossa, I
find it has too many rules that I have to keep pointing out to
new players throughout the entire game. In contrast, Cluzzle is
so simple most people just start playing. As it is now, I bring
Cluzzle with me whenever I may be playing games. It works well
with many styles of play, from extremely light party gaming to
more competitive deduction, though I don't suggest mixing both of
those styles in the same group!
Negatives?
The only thing we've run into a number of times is the
question of how close a guess must be to be correct. For example,
I guessed a cluzzle to be a stocking cap when it was simply a hat.
Was I right? The rules gave no indication, so I asked Dominic how
he would judge such a situation. He said he leaves it to the
creator of the cluzzle. Personally I'd like to see criteria
spelled out in the rules that makes such judgments more standard.
He assures me something to this e
 Read
more information at the Board Game Geek website
Customer Raves - Write your own Rave about this game!
(Click on a person's name or game group to see other raves by the same person or group.
adamh
| Finally, a group game where everyone can participate, enjoy themselves, and think outside the box. It's hands-on, rowdy, and definitely the next "big thing" in gaming. It worked perfectly as an ice-breaker game and is just as fun amongst friends who have known each other for years. Mold on! |
The S-Man
| Cluzzle is definitely one of the best party games I have played. The game is highly addictive. I bought this game about 5 weeks ago and have already played it with friends and family over 10 times. The mechanic of making your sculpture somewhat difficult to guess seemed a little odd to us at first, but I think this is part of what makes the game so great because it appeals to people of all different artistic abilities and helps create humorous situations. |
Josh Mc Queen
| This was a great party game, a lot like charades and great for most ages. It takes some thought and depends on how well you can mold clay. I give it a 10 out of 10. |
Jon Kopp -
Arizona Games Club
| I can't believe I found this game online! I played it for the first time last weekend. It was brought to our group by someone who knows the brother of the game designer. It was definitely the most fun game of the evening.
The basic idea is that everyone makes a puzzle out of clay for others to guess. The trick is that the longer it takes for people to figure out what you made, the more points you get! The pure absurdity of it had us on the ground laughing several times. Definitely a good game to get people laughing. At the same time, there was enough strategy that we all wanted to play again after the first try. This is the coolest new game I've seen for several years now. |
Interview...
Reaching For The Stars
Dominic Crapuchettes' dreams take off with North Star Games
LLC
Back in the summer of 2001, Terry and I took a long drive to
West Virginia to meet with some other game designers at Stephen
Glenn's first Protospiel event. Over the next few days we made
some great friends. Dominic Crapuchettes was one of them.
Dominic's strategic mind and his skill for designing solid games
was immediately evident. Each summer since then we've come
together to playtest our prototypes and share thoughts on game
design. As with all of our friends there, it's been exciting for
me to see Dominic's ideas develop and come to fruition over the
years. Last summer he told me he'd be releasing his first
published game under his new company, North Star Games. I was
glad to know of this at such an early date and, consequently, to
be the first retailer to offer his game online. Along with the
release of his game, we've planned a special giveaway and he
agreed to the following interview. Be sure to check out Cluzzle,
the first design from a guy whose name (as long as it is!) will
eventually be well known in the industry.
Mike Petty: Please start by telling us a little bit about
yourself.
Dominic Crapuchettes: My background has a strange mix of
diverse endeavors. I captained a rowdy Alaskan fishing boat
during the summers to pay for an impractical liberal arts
education where we read Homer, Plato, Newton, Tolstoy, Einstein,
and other mind boggling intellectuals from the western tradition.
During my free time, I played soccer, basketball, the piano, and
any board game I could trick my friends into playing. I also
followed the Magic international pro-circuit for several
years, culminating in winning $15,000 in New York.
MP: So you likely could have excelled in many different
careers or businesses. Why have you decided to start a game
company?
DC: After graduation, I tried my hand at several jobs, but
always dreamed about starting a game company. Designing games was
something that I had enjoyed throughout my childhood. One of my
early designs was actually banned from 8th grade when a group of
30+ students started playing during classes. It was called "Kabloogi".
I became interested in economics while my girlfriend was in a
public policy program and studied accounting and finance to help
get into a good business school. When I received an
entrepreneurship scholarship based upon my business plan, I
decided to start my company while still in school. Although I am
passionate about team sports for physical exercise, one of my
favorite pastimes for intellectual exercise has always been
playing board games with a group of great friends. I am
particularly good at strategy and communication games but I also
love word and knowledge based games. I am a very social person,
so playing solitary games on my computer is not a viable option
for very long. Part of what I want to do with my company, is
promote board games as a viable mainstream form or entertainment
here in the United States. It is one of the cheapest and most
wholesome pastimes ever invented, which is perhaps why is has
been around for thousands of years.
MP: I've got to ask more about that game you made in eight grade. What was it like?
DC: Kabloogi is a two person wargame that I created in 1982. Part of the great innovation was that each player got 4 moves a turn. Since that time, Kramer and others have started using that same mechanic with games like Tikal. At that time, we used graph paper to play. Each player would get half of the paper, take it to class, and set up their side of the board. Then we would tape the two halves together and start playing. I would make one move during class, then I would give it to my opponent who would make his move during the next class, and so on. Once the group of people playing the game increased to over 35 students, the administration decided to crack down on it.
MP: Too bad no one noticed the creativity behind it!
Let's say you were having some of your gaming friends
over for game night. What sort of things would you bring to the
table?
DC: Gaming friends--Puerto Rico, Princes of
Florence, and Easter Island (one of my heavy
strategy games). Close friends--Settlers, Cluzzle,
Guesstures, Werewolf, Cranium, Apples
to Apples, Elfenland, and all sorts of card games.
MP: Back to your own games, Cluzzle is your first
release from North Star games. What can we expect from this new
game company?
DC: North Star Games plans to produce high quality games in
every genre imaginable. We are currently working on social games
that mainstream America would be comfortable playing. Once we
have created a customer base that trusts our brand, we plan to
slowly introduce strategy games of increasing complexity.
MP: What exactly is Cluzzle?
DC: A Cluzzle is simply a clay puzzle. Every player creates
one of these clay puzzles at the beginning of the game. A good
cluzzle is something that is almost recognizable, but can only be
figured out after several yes/no questions. Since the game
rewards poor artistry, many hilarious situations arise during
each game.
MP: I know you've played a lot of Cluzzle over
the last few years. I enjoyed the game a lot when we played it at
Protospiel in 2002. It was good for many laughs and some
seriously fun guessing. Do you have a favorite moment that comes
to mind--maybe a particularly fun Cluzzle or hilarious guess?
DC: My favorite Cluzzle moment is actually the entire evening
when songwriter Alanis Morissette came over for a game night
earlier this year. She created one of the game cards for the
first print run, and strangely ended up drawing her own card. I
was proud of my wit when I responded with "Isn't it ironic?"
MP: How did you get Alanis Morissette to create a card for
you, not to mention come over and play your game!
DC: I'm as surprised as anyone that Alanis took the time to
make a game card for Cluzzle. She actually knows my
parents on a professional level, and my Dad contacted her soon
after our business plan started incorporating getting celebrities
to make game cards. Not only did she create a great game card,
but she wrote a few paragraphs for our website explaining why she
chose her subjects. When I went to California to visit my parents
for Christmas, we decided to organize a game evening so Alanis
could play Cluzzle. She came over around 7pm and we
talked and played games till well after midnight (Cluzzle,
Guesstures, and a variation of quick Scrabble).
MP: Did she enjoy your game?
DC: It seemed like she had a wonderful time playing Cluzzle.
There was lots of laughter and afterwards, she asked for a copy
of the game. As people were leaving, she suggested having more
game evenings in the future. Then she proclaimed that the next
game night would be at her place! I saw no reason to argue.
MP: The first game I played that you designed was what
became Easter Island. As you said, it's a pretty heavy
strategy game. Now it seems you're focusing more on social or
party games. Does this reflect your personal taste in gaming at
this time?
DC: There was a long period in my life when I only played deep
strategy games. Looking back, it seems like I had something to
prove, perhaps to my father who taught me chess and entered me
into countless tournaments when I was four. Now I seem to enjoy
strategy and social games equally.
MP: I see at your site that you want to combine "fun
and philanthropy". In what ways are you doing this?
DC: North Star Games will give 10% of all on-line profits to
charity. This means that anytime the owners take money out of the
company, North Star Games will also give money to charity. I am
excited about giving back to the community at the same time as I
grow the company. Only time will show if we can pull it off
without going belly-up!
MP: What's been the hardest part of brining your game from
concept to final production?
DC: The most difficult part was in giving up rules that I had
spent hundreds of hours to create. Coming from the European
tradition, it had seemed like Cluzzle could not get
simpler. When I played the game with a group of business
students, I realized several of the rules were confusing to non-gamers.
Although I had to throw out one of my favorite mechanics, at
least I'll be able to use it in a different game.
MP: Was it hard to keep going during the many months the
game was being developed?
DC: I still go through sleepless periods--like last night--because
I am worried about the path I am taking. My classmates are
currently landing high paying jobs while I am faced with the
prospect of over-working myself, losing my shirt, and having a
resume that looks misdirected and weak. Of course, there are just
as many times when I feel like I am on top of the world because I
am doing exactly what I want to be doing with my life. What keeps
me focused is a deep-rooted belief that bringing great games to
the US will be more fulfilling for me than any other option. Not
only do I believe in the quality of Cluzzle, but I trust
we'll be able to continue bringing equally great games to market
in the future. So yes, it can be very hard at time, but it is
also very rewarding.
MP: Now that the first print run is complete, what's been
the most rewarding to you personally?
DC: I am very proud of how professional the final product
looks, but I am happiest while watching people have a great time
playing the game. Another thing that makes me smile every time I
see it, is a chair in our living room that we made out of
hundreds of boxes of clay. We call it the "Cluzzle Throne".
I'll try to get a picture of it on the website sometime this
month. My roommates have been very supportive and lenient with me.
At one point we had over 400 boxes in our living room as we tried
to get our first batch of games collated!
MP: I'm sure producing Cluzzle and running a new
company is taking much of your time, but I wondered if you had
any other game designs in the works.
DC: I have completed about 7 designs over the past 15 years
that are good enough for market. As a game designer, I am a
perfectionist and have a hard time letting go of the creative
process. North Star Games will choose designs (my designs or
other submissions) that make the most business sense based on our
product line. Then we will playtest the game hundreds of time
with our target audience before releasing it to the public. I am
a firm believer that great games must be tested for years before
they have the polish we are seeking. Right now, we are looking at
producing a game that is already in the public domain, mostly
because it has gotten sufficient testing from countless gaming
groups over the last 15 years.
MP: Dominic, thanks for taking the time to do this
interview with us. I hope you enjoy much success through your
games and your new company.
DC: Thanks Mike. This is the first interview I've ever had and
it's been a great experience for me. It is good to slow down from
my normal hectic pace and contemplate basic questions like,
"Why am I starting a board game company?" It has helped
reaffirm my commitment to the company. I truly appreciate how
supportive you're being of my game and company. Thanks again.
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