Eyecatcher Game

My family loves this game. I play it with my 24 year old ( BA in Audio Technology) and 30 year old (AA, Accounting, BA, Philosophy). The young one crushes us every time. I am 58. This is really a very good mental exerciser.

This was a Christmas present for my son. He loves the puzzle genre and this was a great gift. Combines shapes and use of logic to solve. Can be played alone or with others. He really enjoyed it.

This game is fun at first. Then, you get the idea, and it wears off. This is definitely NOT a party game, as each turn takes one minute to complete. If you have six or eight people playing, it can take six or eight minutes until your turn comes around. In the meantime, you, and the other players are just sitting around waiting. My 8 year old daughter likes to play it with me. It is educational for her. Otherwise, leave it.

I gave this game 5 stars for fun, mostly because anything that is addictive should certainly get five stars. The game is a brain (or should I say Eye) teaser. It looks simple, but it is deceptively difficult. I have not yet been able to place more than 5 tiles (out of 16 tiles) on the board during my 1 minute turn. (I'm 24 years-old and obviously must need training in color identification). No, but seriously, since there is a timing element you do not have all day to decide. My opponents are constantly tormenting me with "wrong, wrong, wrong" - which makes me even more nervous and they foil my turn. I, of course, do the same thing to them. Your opponents do need to pay attention during your turn, as it is normal for people to think they got a match, only for an opponent to point out it is "wrong, wrong, wrong". Addictive, Addictive, Addictive...they are going to have to take me or the game away. Good simple - but difficult! - fun. The problem is that you can also play the game solitaire, which makes you into a 'closet player'.

Someone said this game has elements of Rubik's Cube to it, and they were right. But I think it has two distinguishing features - a timer component to add suspense, and the option of playing against others. And this latter point is key, not least because it doesn¹t matter how big your gathering might be (just take turns). When no one else is around, it is enjoyable just to play on your own and test yourself against the scoring chart on the sheet (I'm getting better all the time, though still far from reaching the top of the scale). The game is more complex than it might look, and it really is impossible to memorize the squares on the board (my family and I have adopted a policy of twisting the board around after each person¹s turn to make it even more challenging). You can also forget about trying to develop a pattern or 'system' with the game tiles because you pull each one randomly anyway! There's no way around it: you have to stay focused each and every time. Basically, it's a smart and versatile little game in a compact box.

The cover of the box says that Eyecatcher can't be mastered - which is completely true, as I have found out. It is fun trying to frantically place the game tiles on the board, while taking a peek every once in a while at the timer to see to see how much time is left. The game is very addictive, not least because you are always comparing your scores against the standard Ratings Scales. I have only rarely managed to produce an `Excellent' ratings score - which isn't to say that I haven't been trying almost daily! I have also played Eyecatcher against friends (the Party game version for multiple players) and it works just as well - though your friends will invariably try to disturb your concentration when it's your turn! The nice twist to this version is the special die which keeps changing the bonus points for each round. Very unique.

Eyecatcher is one of those challenges that seem simple enough (e.g. rubiks cube), but you can not quite master it. In this game you need to place as many multi-colored tiles on the board as you can to beat your opponents. I bought this game for the adults in the house, but the kids also love challenging themselves. When we play adults against kids, we provide the adults with half the time allotted to the kids (turn the timer over once for adults and twice for kids). The colored tiles always seem to change before your eyes and you cannot place them. Many times someone thinks they have a match, but when time is up the opponent catches the mis-match. If you like constantly testing your ability against others, this game is for you.