KUGO is surely one of the most versatile games we've ever featured on Board's Eye View. Pre-schoolers can amuse themselves merely stacking the sculpted blocks, and older children and adults alike will enjoy working their way through the multitude of dexterity games that you can play using some or all of the KUGO components.
Indeed, we wouldn't be doing justice to KUGO describing it simply as a dexterity game. Rather, it's a dexterity game compendium and toolkit. With KUGO you have a choice of numerous games (seven in the rule sheets that come in the box but with rules so far for twice that number of games downloadable from the KUGO website) and it's a game that's sure to inspire players of all ages to try their hand at designing their own dexterity games using KUGO's comprehensive array of components.
Open up the KUGO box and you'll find a huge selection of satisfyingly chunky wooden blocks of various shapes and sizes. The columns obviously lend themselves to skittles games but there are also ramps and other blocks that can be deployed in a wide variety of flicking as well as stacking games.
As a taster, you'll probably first set up the Into The Cup game, where players will be flicking pucks up a ramp to try to land them in a hollowed-out block. Even with this very basic flicking game you'll quickly notice a key detail that distinguishes KUGO from most other flocking games - even classics like Crokinole: in place of mere discs, KUGO's pucks have bevelled edges. It may seem only a small difference but it is quite literally a game changer: the bevelled edges enable the pucks to much more easily sail up the sides of ramps, opening up a raft of game-play options.
There are flicking games that require players to rebound their puck to score: either crossing a goal line or landing on a target: the KUGO box includes an assortment of boards so you can vary the way you play and score. And of course there are games that combine elements of each of the simpler ones, so that you can progress to playing them once you think you've mastered your flicking technique. In Castle Catapult, for example, players are using ramps to leap their puck over a wall of blocks in order to down an opponent's skittles.
Shown here on Board's Eye View is KUGO Play, which is the most comprehensive pack but KUGO Trix offers a cut-down version with fewer blocks but still plenty of play value. KUGO successfully funded earlier this year on Kickstarter and backers should be getting their copies in December 2024/January 2025. If you missed the Kickstarter, you can click here to pre-order direct from the publisher.