Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
Let’s call it a disconnect. Mechanically, Loco Momo is occasionally interesting. Thematically, Loco Momo makes no sense whatsoever. Animals find a camera in the woods. Knowing immediately what it is for, they devise a contest whereby the best photographer keeps the camera. They then proceed to—stay with me now—stack themselves in a grid where each animal somehow has a different colored background, adhering to specific and abstractly devised patterns, cooperating perfectly for each opponent’s desires to keep it a fair contest?
I guess that’s one possible story.
Occasionally
The central board features four groups of four tiles. The tiles show one of five possible animals with one of three hued backgrounds. Players select any one animal tile, move it according to its rule, and take all the animals in the landing group with a matching color background. After filling the gap with tiles from the bag, play continues.
Meanwhile, the player manages a 5×5 grid, filling tiles from left to right in the row of their choice as they go. Each row has a rule: all the same, all different, paired with the tile above, etc. The goal for each column is matching the background hue.
Because of the move & match mechanic, players acquire tiles at different rates, collecting anywhere from one to five in a swipe. The game ends after six rounds, regardless of the total number of tiles. For the more adventurous “photographer,” the advanced side of the player board offers additional rules to bump up the challenge in future plays, without adding any of that feasibility to the thematic narrative. .
Interesting
The move & match mechanic is interesting: move once clockwise, once counter-clockwise, once diagonally, clockwise until meeting a matching animal, or stay put. These make for interesting decisions. Sometimes you want animal types, sometimes colors, sometimes feast, and sometimes famine. Making the best of the situation, pinpointing an acceptable sacrifice—these are the game’s highlights. The choices are simple enough for a child to ponder. Children play Logo Momo without asking any of those pesky “have we masked the abstract with a viable story” questions.
The advanced aspects are minimal additions. One requires an Herculean effort that would likely cost a player the game if it didn’t happen by some naturally unnatural occurrence. The other is plausible for those who like a good puzzle.
Nonsense
The absurd narrative arc aside, Loco Momo suffers from feeling like a misappropriation of physical materials. Almost none of the boards are necessary. A few cards could hold the tile groups with an explanatory card in the middle. The player board could be replaced by a little sideboard starter for the rows. I say this because even in its currently small state, Loco Momo is wastefully large. The core game mechanics could fit in an Oink Games box and be more charming for the effort. The whole endeavor feels like a game trying to be larger than it ought, which is not all that large, and still the personality can’t carry the load.
Though less important, from a branding standpoint, the English title of the game looks remarkably like Logo Momo. I had to look up the title online to see it with a legible font. Yes, this is a nitpick, but I get frustrated when games aren’t identifiable from the box.
Disconnect
At the end of the day, I think a decent puzzle is ultimately lost in this small (but not small enough) box. The animals are cute enough that my son and daughter (eleven and seven) were willing to give it a shot, but the disconnect was clear in their lack of enthusiasm. We played a few times and pulled a couple others in along the way, but they’ve not said much about it since. I’m OK with that.
The genius of Oink titles, and some from Button Shy, Helvetiq, and other undersized juggernauts, is seeing the minimalist production as an asset in developing the game’s character. I recently played Moving Wild from Oink, a game about collecting animals into habitats. I opened that game ready to explore how they were going to deliver on the promised experience with small cards and a dearth of tokens. It’s not the best game ever, but folks left the table calling it clever in part because of the undersized, high-efficiency materials that took us for the ride.
Loco Momo suffers from a lack of pop. I wonder if a different tack in development—pasted narrative or physical presence—might have had me saying more. As it is I’ll call it an occasionally interesting puzzle that is unfortunately detached from something to make it stand out for the better.
Loco Momo details
- Designer: Lenny Liu, Leon Liu
- Artists: Aisha Lee
- Publishers: BLAM !, Lacerta, Maldito Games, Wonderful World Board Games
- Release Date: 2020
- Player count : 1 - 4
- Age range : 8+
- Time range : 20 - 30 minutes
- Mechanism(s): Pattern Building, Set Collection, Square Grid, Tile Placement
- BGG Geek Rating: 6.40565 - converted to Meeple Mountain scale: 3.0.
- More articles about Loco Momo.
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