Coloro

• Designer: Ralf zur Linde 
• Publisher: Steffen Spiele
• Players: 2
• Age: 8+
• Time: 15 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4oPgM3i
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Coloro is a simple yet captivating collecting game. Your task? Gather the most origami of a single design. The arrow shows you from which row or column you may take an origami. Choose wisely, as your decision affects your opponent’s next move. Did you give them an advantage? Or did you snatch the best pieces right from under their nose? Who will keep their cool and become the Origami Collecting Master?

To set up, mix up the 36 wooden tokens (6 of each color) and place them randomly in a 6×6 grid.  The youngest player starts and places the Direction token on any token.  Now, the start player chooses which player receives the token which is underneath the Direction token.  The player which did not get the initial token gets to take the first full turn.

On  a turn, move the direction token anywhere along the row or column where it is – following the direction of the arrows on the token.  You can jump over any spaces (occupied or empty) as you move it.  Collect the token under the stopping point of the Direction token and place it in your area.  As you collect tokens, stack them by color.  Your stacks may not move, so as you collect a new color, the stack for that color must be placed to the left or right of your existing stacks.  

Turn the direction marker 90 degrees and then the other player takes their turn.

The game continues until the Direction token cannot be moved.  The game ends at that point.  The player with the highest stack (regardless of color) is the winner.  If there is a tie for the tallest stack, then the player with the highest leftmost stack wins. If tied, then tallest 2nd leftmost stack, etc.

My thoughts on the game

Coloro is unsurprisingly a very colorful abstract game that pits players against each other.  Essentially, your goal is to have the most tiles collected of any color – with the restriction that one of you will always be collecting tiles in rows while the other is collecting in columns.

The board is randomly laid out and there is a non-inconsequential decision on whether to take the first tile or get the first move.  Once that is set, play simply alternates until a player is not able to take a tile on their turn.

I’d love to go in depth into the strategies and complexities of the game, but honestly, you’re pretty much able to see it all from the description above.  Move the direction marker, take a tile.  Try to get tile that works for you while not allowing your opponent to collect a tile in his favorite color.   If you think you have an insurmountable lead, then work on getting the game to end.

My guess is that the amount of time that it took you to read this review is about the same amount of time that it will take me to play a game of Coloro,  It’s obviously easy to learn, and while there aren’t deep strategies (at least not that I’ve found), it is a pleasingly simple abstract game that looks quite nice on the table. 

Until your next appointment,

The Gaming Doctor

• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4oPgM3i