[Ad – Gifted Products] Every other Monday, we play a board game at our local Geek Retreat and have a few shapes, as a way to kick off the week. This time, we played Whirly Derby with Robin, Dann, Amelia, myself, and Amelia’s friend who joined us for the afternoon. Whirly Derby is a very unique looking board game, being primarily made of metal and with rolling marbles made of glass throughout it. Setting up the board game is easy, as you sort of fold out a little cardboard base, plug the metal topper on it, and then add in the triangle ending bit, that the marbles come out of.
Once you have your marble track all set up, each player is able to pick a color to represent them. This color gives you five marbles, a token for re-rolls and a loop that holds the marbles in place on the table. The game then starts once everything is set up; three cards are placed down in the middle of the table, which show off trophies and the points they each get. There are two ways to play which effect scoring. In the easier mode, the top number on each card is what is counted. In the more challenging mode, you need to look at the bottom of the card to see how to sort of power-up the points through combinations.
As we are playing with a younger crowd, we decided to follow the top numbers on the cards, as it was easier for Robin to follow. We also didn’t use the Thunder marble, which can block up the hole when it’s played. The whole thing is very fun and makes the game feel a little less random generally. Whirly Derby in the easier mode has everyone secretly select how many of their marbles to play in the round, after the three cards are revealed. Then, everyone will put them in the cardboard launcher. The person in charge of releasing the marbles (which changes every round), then shakes the launcher and rolls the marbles into the marble funnel. They then race around, coming out the bottom, showing the order. The last marble is then returned to the player who it came from. The first, second and third place can select trophies in that order. All of the marbles a part from the last one is then discarded. When the round ends, the token for the round is flipped over, showing how many rounds are next.
This means that players do need to manage their marbles, as they only get five marbles for the whole game to start with, however, there are ways to re-roll. Before the last round, you do have a token that has two re-rolls, which bring back all your marbles. After the first re-roll, you flip your token to say one. After you have used your last one, it gets discarded. There is some strategy in picking the number of marbles you want to use based on how much you want the trophies, which is quite fun. Whirly Derby is a simple game, but it’s one that feels truly unique! All of us really enjoyed it, with Robin and Amelia announcing it’s one of the best yet. Amelia’s friend also hadn’t played anything like it! My only real, small issue is the game is a little challenging to fit back into the box.
That looks like so much fun! I can always count on you to showcase something super unique for game night.
The game seems so awesome, fun and engaging. I grew up playing with marbles, they’re so much fun. I will check it out.
Love how Whirly Derby is a very unique marble-racing game! Sharing it with my SIL for her kids to check it out!