What Makes Twinkle Twinkle Shine?

Review by Lincoln Hoppe: The Game Bard

Have you ever wanted to make the night sky into your canvas? To control the cosmos. To sprinkle stars, constellations, and planets across the vast reaches of space. And then maybe, just maybe, pepper your own stellar creation with a spicy black hole or two.

Well now you can with Twinkle Twinkle by Ammon Anderson and Published by Allplay. 

There’s something about space that captures the imagination. Something that begs to be explored, discovered and charted. Something that feeds the aliens waiting to devour us. Kidding. There’s no aliens waiting to devour us. But that’s what the aliens waiting to devour us would want you to think. But there’s no aliens in this game… so either way we’re safe.

Twinkle Twinkle is a beautiful, peaceful, cosy tile-placment game  that lets you build your own starry night. This is a sky of your own creation that is made more heavenly by your well earned victory points and the friends you made along the way. 

In Twinkle Twinkle, you’re Charting the Stars by choosing and then laying tiles on your very own Player board.

Here’s how it works.

Each turn, you pick a tile from the Observation Board and place your adorable standee above your choice.  Then you place your chosen tile anywhere on you Star Chart. It does not need to be adjacent to any of your other tiles. Because space is full of… space.

So each round, everyone makes their selection from the Observation Board in turn order until all players have chosen and placed their tile. That ends the round, and all players slide their adorable standees up,… which is now the player order for the next round.

End of round cleanup has you slide the sad leftover tile to the leftmost position, move all the tiles  from the ‘next round’ row up, and replenish that row with fresh tiles from the bag, so all players can cleverly see what’s coming next. Then repeat  until everyone’s Star Chart is completely filled.

That’s right. No unfinished star charts here. Everyone gets to finish. Like in space. That doesn’t even work.

Now if you think this simple gamelplay sounds too easy… well, it’s not.

Here’s part of what I love so much about this game. Here’s where it really shines.  While you could enjoyably play Twinkle Twinkle by simply choosing and placing your galactic elements in a visually pleasing manner… the puzzle-lover will find great depth in grouping together asteroids, spacing out the planets, placing black holes strategically, chaining together constellations, launching  satelites , or mapping more planets than the others at the table, depending on the chosen scoring conditions. Choosing and placing the tiles is creative and enjoyable, but strategizing and  meeting the scoring conditions greatly  deepen the puzzle.

You can’t do it all. You have a limited space and a limited amount of tiles. So the strategic puzzle of how to score, what to score, which tiles to grab, and what tiles other people are looking for deepen everything… across the galaxy.

Turns are fast and packed with interesting and shifting choices.

Which tile should you take?  Where should you place it? What’s the best choice to build your scoring engine? Do you see a tile coming up that makes you want to settle on  this turn to score bigger on your next turn? And maybe you even consider stealing a tile that you know somebody else at the table needs so that your galaxy can reign  supreme. I’m looking at you Page. She’s my wife. She often takes the tiles I want.

These are all choices that Can be made surprisingly fast. Meaning, that itch to fast forward time past everyone else’s turn, never quite  gets a chance io settle in. Because while everyone else is choosing and placing their tiles, you’re strategizing and looking ahead to maximize your next turn. So that you feel engaged in every moment of the game.

Let’s look at the variable turn order. The turn order for the next round depends on which tile you choose by its position on the Observation board. You can see what tiles are coming up next round, so you might want to pick a tile this round that isn’t ideal for you so you can get that perfect tile on the next turn by being able to choose first. This mechanism adds a simple but  spicy layer of decision to each and every turn.

Planets, stars, asteroids, constellations, satellites and black holes all score differently from each other… and the way they each score is changeable from game to game, thanks to the double-sided modular scoring boards… which each player gets to place along their Star Chart for easy reference. Did they think of everything? I think they did.

Twinkle Twinkle was designed by Ammon Anderson, And I’ve got to admit, after playing 2 of his games, I’m a big fan. Ammon also designed the massively popular and delightfully whimsical, Gnome Hollow. And since gnome Hollow is also a Fantastic tile laying game I can safely say that Ammon knows his way around tile laying genre quite well. And in my opinion, he’s nailed it each time.

But Lincoln, you ask, how is the replay-ability?  Thank you, my friend, I’m glad you asked.

The easy answer is:

Because of the draw bag (I love draw bags)  the tiles always come out in different combinations. But… you need to keep on your toes in case you want to change your goals and paths to victory depending on what you’ve already played, the tiles currently available… and tiles that are coming up. Not only can you not exactly plan your strategy right off the bat, but new and tempting opportunities will unfold as you play.
Like when that black hole pops up on the observation board, revealing a whole other path to victory you hadn’t yet considered. But then you see it. And that feels great.

Also, the modular scoring conditions make it easy to Further customize each game. These double-sided scoring modules have both a simpler and a more difficult scoring mode for each of the different astral elements, making it easy to customize both difficulty and variety from game to game. .

And remember, the scoring condition modules slot into each player board, so you’ve always got it on hand for reference.

So is Twinkle Twinkle replayable? You bet your asteroids it is.

Because turns are fast, Twinkle Twinkle embodies something that I love: a quick game. Playing at around 15 minutes a game, you can play two or three times in a row and not even bat an eye.

This production by Allplay is fantastic. Stellar… even. I’m so sorry. And although this is a prototype, i’m told the final production will be just as beautiful. The Clear acrylic tiles are amazing. Joyous even. Maybe that’s just me.  They are absolutely wonderful to handle,,  and move from the Observation board onto your player board.  and the feel and sound of reaching into the bag and pulling out more is just incredible. but maybe that’s just me… but I love it. I freaking love it. I keep volunteering to slide them up at the end of each round.

The clear tiles aren’t just beautiful. They’re also perfectly functional. The color of nebula on your board  mixed with the clear tiles, make the white stars, planets, asteroids, and satellites just pop off the table. Or out of the night sky. If you will.

The draw bag is beautiful and high-quality. And the whiteboard for scoring is a beautiful touch. No Consuming paper on a big score pad.

And Allplay’s plan for a scoring app that automatically calculates your score using your phones camera, sounds not only brilliant, but like a beautiful magic trick that I can’t wait to try out. 

I love a game that anyone can just pick up and play, but that also offers a smart  puzzle allowing players to dig deeper and deeper. And that’s where twinkle twinkle shines. Like a star. Shining brightly.

Do I think Twinkle Twinkle is a great game. Yes. Do I love it? Yes. Do I want to play it again right now? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Twinkle twinkle is a bright star of a  game, with engaging mechanisms and variable scoring modules that will keep you engaged from start to finish. The production is top notch, the game plays fast. And most importantly the puzzle is satisfying, creative, and lots of fun.

Twinkle Twinkle by Ammon Anderson puts you delightfully  in control of your own little galaxy. And at the end of the day, you can sit back in wonder,  and gaze into a sky that you created all by yourself.

Video Review Link

by Lincoln Hoppe

Original Music by Lincoln Hoppe: The Game Bard

Review based on Prototype proviced by Allplay Games.

Publisher: Allplay

Designed by: Ammon Anderson

Board Game Geek Page: Twinkle Twinkle

My Board Game Geek Page: Lincoln Hoppe