The Leaning Tower of Sanity (Wonky)

A man walks into a review board, dressed in his finest brown top hat and purple jacket.  He pulls out a deck of cards and a set of cubes.  "What's the meaning of this, where did you come from?"  Asks the head of the board.  The man grins mischievously, and replies, "Sir, I have a game that is so different, so unique, I have to sell it to you.  I made my fortune in candy, and I can make yours."  He proceeds to pitch the game.  The man, after hearing all this, says, "Sir, this is an interesting game, but it's bonkers."  "No sir," says the purple dressed man, "It's absolutely Wonky."



BACKGROUND:  Wonky is a card focused dexterity game published by USAopoloy in 2015 for 2 or more players.  Players attempt to create a stable tower out of unstable blocks using cards in their hand.

GAMEPLAY:  Each turn, players play a card in their hand.  Most of these cards tell you to stack a certain type of color of block.  If at any time all a players cards are only able to stack blocks that have already been stacked, they will draw until they can play.  If at any time the tower falls on a players turn, there turn ends immediately and they have to draw 3 cards.  The tower is reset, and play continues.

SPECIAL:  There are two types of special cards, Action and Combo.  Action cards allow a player to either pass without stacking a cube, or reverse the direction of play.  Combo cards will allow you to play a cube of any size and color, and either reverse the direction of play, or make the next player draw a card.



WINNING:  The goal of the game is to get rid of your entire hand, with the last card played not being an Action card.  However, if a player manages to place the 9th block successfully, that player automatically wins.

CONCLUSION:  Wonky feels a bit like Uno mixed with reverse Jenga.  This is a very simple game with a solid game play.  It won't set the world on fire, but it's great for a game with a bit of a different twist, like Kilter.  There is also an "Adults" version, which causes players to get drunk, making the game a little bit harder and apparently more interesting.  In the end, Wonky is a pretty solid game.