Sweet Victory! Is a hands on dexterity puzzle game where you want to move fast and be the first one to get your numbers in the orientation shown on the score card before any other player. The game is designed Theora Design and published by ThinkFun. The game is for 2-4 players and plays in 15-30 minutes.
What’s in the Box?
- 4 Stands
- 36 Colored Pieces (12 of each number and color)
- 1 Victory Trophy
- 20 Double-sided challenge cards
- 1 Tournament set card
How’s it Play?
This is a one handed race game, where you will be moving your blocks one at a time to place them in the order of the score card.
Each player starts the game with their base and each numbered cube in the same positions. The cards are shuffled and one side is picked to use for play. One side is not harder than the other side. The trophy is placed out so that when you flip the top card over you can place the trophy in the middle of the card.
Players choose one hand to hold their base down and the other hand is used to move your numbered cubes. You can only move 1 cube at a time, no grabbing multiple pieces at once. Players cannot switch hands mid-round. Pieces can only be moved between “Free” spaces on one of the four pillars on your stand. Pieces cannot be placed on the table, not your lap, or kept and held in your hand. There cannot be a stack of more than 3 pieces on any pillar at any time. When you solve the puzzle, you cannot have an empty pillar in the middle, it needs to be on either end.
When you think you solved the puzzle, you grab the trophy and place it on top of your pillars. The numbers are checked and if you got it right, you gain that card, if not, all players continue to play until someone wins the card.
After someone wins a round, a new card is flipped over, though the pieces are kept where they were at from the previous round. Play continues round after round until a player gains 5 cards, who then wins the game.
The Verdict
Sweet Victory! is a fun race game where you will be using one hand to manipulate your number cubes to place them in the order shown on the score card. But things aren’t as they may seem. You will be moving the cubes around and realizing how hard it is to move a cube from its current location to a location you want to have it in. You will have to move that cube multiple times on different pillars to eventually get it where you want it. And even then, you might find yourself having to move it again to help other cubes to to where they need to be.
While doing the puzzle, you might find yourself even more confused, or arrange half or one pillar correctly to realize that the others can’t be done unless you mess up the correct pillar you have already arranged correctly. You are limited to the space you have to move the cubes, and really there are only 3 spots available at a time, and usually those spots aren’t ones that work well.
Sweet Victory! is a brain game that requires you to focus and pivot on what goes where. You can’t be fixed on one pillar at a time, but rather the entire picture. At the beginning of learning the game I tried to place cubes so the number and color that should be on top is now on the bottom so that when I switch pillars they would all line up correctly. But again this only worked for some of the problems, because you will eventually get stuck on moving other number cubes where you want them to go.
The game is really easy for other players to cheat because everyone is focused on their own stack and puzzle. So if you play with others who like to cheat, this one is easy for someone to do that with. Still, it’s a fast, fun, surprisingly mental game that feels rewarding when you win a card.
Images via ThinkFun
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