Bunny Bunny Moose Moose Review

“Serious” gamers often look down their gamer-ly noses at party games. Light on rules, party games tend to substitute intellectual engagement or mechanical sophistication with silliness and social elements. If players are forced to be wacky, then fun will happen, right? Right? No. The notion that injecting artificially proscribed zany behavior (Quelf, anyone?) makes for an enjoyable evening is obnoxious and ridiculous. But, some party games do achieve greatness despite silly aspects. And one of them is Bunny Bunny Moose Moose. Despite the silly moniker, this is one party game that gamers should have in their repertoire.

The game features a scoring path made up of cards and each player has a bunny and moose. The winner at the end will be the player who’s trailing animal is the furthest ahead of the other trailing. In other words, if my moose and bunny were on spaces three and four, and your moose was on space 15. I would still win if your bunny was on space two.

Despite my earlier anti-silliness rant, this game does include silly aspects. Each round, player must choose to be either a bunny or a moose. To make sure there is no doubt as to who picked which animal, everyone has to hold their hands up to their heads as either bunny ears or moose antlers. And bunny ears can be floppy or straight, at the side or on the top. Moose antlers can be open or closed, facing upwards or down.

Silly, sure. But then the real game starts and there is real engagement beyond the goofy pantomime. In fact, the silly actions are a fun ancillary aspect – not the obnoxious focus of the title. Players will find a real-time game that requires adaptation, strategic thinking and quick action.

Players take turns being the reader. The reader reads a little poem out loud that provides a pace and flips over six cards as they read. Each card shows a bunny or a moose with ears and antlers in various configurations. Each also has a point value for successfully matching it. At some point, a hunter card is drawn and players must freeze. They get points based on whichever cards they match. If they were a bunny, they move their bunny on the path. A moose moves a moose. And anything else moves nothing.

Doesn’t sound so hard. Well, there aren’t just positive points but also obviously undesirable negative points. And, once the first six cards are laid down, the poem starts over. And a new six are laid out, one at a time, with each covering one of the previous cards. So, the first six might have been easy to match and gave huge moose points. But, halfway through the second pass, maybe it covers up some moose cards or, worse, puts out some negative value cards. Only the top cards count for scoring and if you fail to keep up, you might go negative and have to move pieces backward.

But there is actual strategy beyond just quickly adapting to the cards. For instance, if you are a bunny, but you want to move your moose, you can stick your tongue out. In that way, a good bunny board can still let you move the piece you want. And there are even cards that give bonuses for sticking your tongue out. Of course, there are also cards that provide penalties as well. And some cards provide multipliers – which can be a great boon or a terrible penalty depending on your positive and negative points.

Despite the deck having a ton of cards, there are three to be feared above all others. The +/- cards switch all the negatives to positives and vice versa. Suddenly, you need to rethink your whole system in case the round ends! At least until that card is covered up as the poem continues.

So what makes this a gamer’s party game? Quick thinking, quick math, multiple variables and completely legitimate strategic choices. Now, it’s important to remember that it’s a gamer’s party game. It’s not a gamer’s strategy game. So you shouldn’t be looking for deep, brain-burning action. That’s not what it’s for.

But Bunny Bunny Moose Moose provides an experience unlike any other party game that I have played. The game comes first and the party follows. I love moving quickly, sticking my tongue out, immediately retracting it back as the next card makes me change my mind. And at any time, a hunter card could be drawn and BLAM! The round ends and points are distributed. Every round feels tense and exciting.

BBMM has become my absolute go-to party game. When we need a fun and frivolous palette cleanser or when I’m playing in a larger group (it accommodates six players), then it’s hard to go wrong with this one. Of course, it’s still a party game. And that means, I would generally choose a solid strategy game over it most of the time. There isn’t much meat beyond individual frantic rounds. But, with that caveat, when you’re looking for a party game this is the one to reach for.