Velonimo Review

boardgamequest.com:

W review Velonimo, a ladder-climbing game where players are trying to shed all of their cards. Published by 25th Century Games, Velonimo is easy to learn and can be played with just about anyone. 197

Velonimo is a cycling-themed, ladder climbing and card shredding game by Bruno Cathala. Bruno must love the letters o-n-i-m-o, as he also the man behind both Kingdomino and Queendomino. Bruno has designed many award-winning games, my favorite of which is Mr. Jack.

Back to this game, “In Velonimo, animals of all stripes compete in a wacky cycling race” with the goal to score as many points as possible over the 5 stages of the race and claim the Leader of the Pack Jersey.

Gameplay is simple, even if counting your score initially is weird. For each stage, players start with 11 cards with the goal of ridding themselves of all of them. On a player’s turn, they play one or a combination of cards, in an “attack”. Then, the player to the left has an opportunity to play (“counter-attack”) or pass. To counter-attack, a player must play one card or a combination of cards with a value that exceeds the previous player’s value.

Combinations of cards need to be the same color or the same number. Here is the only confusing portion of the game, the total score of the combination is determined as follows:

Add 10 points for each card in the combination plus the lowest card number. i.e. 3 Blue cards = 30 points plus lowest blue card was a 2 = score of 32 or four 6’s score = 46.

Play continues clockwise with each player having an opportunity to play or pass. Even if you have previously passed, once it is your turn you can again choose to play or pass. Once all players have passed, the attack ends and the player who played the highest total is