Beasts of Balance

A FAMILY BOARD GAME FOR THE TABLET AGE.

LIKE A CROSS between Tower Bloxx and Skylanders, Beasts of Balance is a essentially a building blocks board game with a digital component that plays out on your tablet, smartphone or Apple TV.

The object of the game is simple: players take on the role of Divine Creator, a job which involves stacking up unusually-shaped plastic blocks into towers, with blocks representing a variety of artefacts and animals. As their towers grow, so does each player’s score. All of this stacking action takes place on a plinth that has a digital scanner built into it, allowing players to log their pieces in the app before placing them.

The fun comes in the crazy hybrid creatures that players are able to concoct on their smart devices by matching certain animal and artefact pieces. Depending on the pieces you place, your animals will evolve into higher, stranger lifeforms, which will in turn add to your overall score. By laying down a cross piece to create a levelled out platform, you will also have the opportunity to cross-breed new types of beasts — cross a Toucan with an Octopus and now you have an Octoucan!

There’s a real joy in seeing a new species brought to digital life on your smart device, and a genuine feeling of remorse when one of your moves causes one of your creations to become endangered or die. Miracle artefacts add an additional level of strategy to the game, and can add a huge number or bonus points if placed at an opportune moment.

Easy to get into but deceptively deep, Beasts of Balance takes the board game to the next evolutionary level.

[ STEPHEN LAMBRECHTS ]

BEASTS OF BALANCE $149.95 beastsofbalance.com CRITICAL SPECS Players: 1-5; Ages: 7+; Playtime: 15-30 minutes per game; Device compatibility: iOS 10.0 or later/ Android 5.1 or later