Younger children may not plan far enough ahead so if an adult plays optimally they will likely always win the game. In order to play the game well you need to think through your moves and plan a couple steps ahead. While children shouldn’t have trouble playing the game, parents may have to give younger children a break by not always playing optimally. I probably wouldn’t recommend the game for children under the age of eight though since they might have some trouble remember the various rules in the game. The recommended age of 8+ seems accurate. The gameplay is easy enough that Crab Stack can be played by children. Once you understand those two concepts you should have no trouble playing the game. I would expect it to take just a couple minutes to explain the game to a new player and it may take a couple turns to fully grasp how many spaces a crab can move and what crabs they can stack on. They are well explained and can be read in just a couple minutes. The instructions are printed on the front and back of one sheet of paper. Not surprisingly Crab Stack is easy to learn and play. The problem with a lot of family/kids games is that while they are easy to pick up and play, they usually don’t have enough strategy in them to keep adults interested unless they are playing the game with younger children. Since the game is recommended for ages 8+ I knew that the game couldn’t be that complicated. My biggest concern going into Crab Stack was how well it would work for adults. While the game is not perfect, I have to say that I was far from disappointed. I was excited to play the game since it looked like an interesting game that could appeal to both adults and families with younger children. This past week we at Geeky Hobbies received a review copy of the game Crab Stack from Blue Orange Games. If they move their crab onto the medium green crab, the green player will no longer be able to make a legal move which would eliminate them from the game. If the blue player has already been eliminated, the yellow player can end the game on this turn. If the game reaches a point where the remaining players keep repeating the same moves, the game ends in a draw and another game will need to be played in order to determine the winner. The game continues until only one player is able to move at the beginning of their turn.

Any of the player’s crabs still on the game board stay in position until the end of the game or until they are washed off the game board. Once a player is eliminated they no longer take their turn. If a player is no longer able to legally move any of their crabs at the beginning of their turn, they are eliminated from the game. If the tie has still not been decided, the current player gets to decide which group of crabs will get eliminated. If the green crab moves to the right side both sides will have the same number of crabs so the green player will get to decide which side is removed from the game. If the crab moves left, the right side will be removed since there will be thirteen crabs on the left versus eleven crabs on the right side. In this situation both large groups will cover the same number of spaces on the game board once the small green crab moves. Large crabs can be stacked on top of any other crab including other large crabs.Stacking crabs must follow certain rules so any movement that would break the following rules is not allowed. If a top crab moves, the new top crab on the stack is allowed to move once again. When crabs are part of a stack, only the top crab on any stack is allowed to move. Crabs must always end their turn on top of another crab. A crab may not move back onto a space they were already on during this turn. Crabs can only move across other crabs and cannot move across vacant rocks or through the water. For example a small crab will have to move all three spaces and can’t stop after moving one or two spaces. Each type of crab will move a different number of spaces based on their size.Ĭrabs must move all of the spaces associated with their size. Moving Crabsĭuring their turn each player moves one of their crabs. This picture shows the setup for the game board for a four player game.

Crab game player count