Second Look—Crash Cup Karambolage

Take PitchCar, remove the track, and aim it at a younger audience with several game play variations and you’ve got Crash Cup Karambolage. That’s pretty much the best way to describe HABA‘s dexterity game. I recieved the game shortly after taking a quick look at it during Toy Fair this year. The game comes with several wooden discs that are used as the cars, score pegs, a block for “drifting”, several borders and connectors, and a small string with two wooden balls on the end.

I set this one up with my 5-year-old to give it a whirl, and we ended up causing such a ruckus that we woke the baby while he was napping.

Oops.

The basic mechanic of Crash Cup Karambolage is flicking cars around. You don’t do this with your finger, however, but by using the included rope in the game. Place the rope around the car disc and pull it taut to propel the disc across the table. It’s not as easy as it sounds, and I kept flinging the cars several feet off the table. There’s also a “drift block” you can use to bounce your cars around other objects on the play surface.

There are several ways to play, including a straight-up race and a demolition derby. Each are quick to setup and play, and lend themselves to replayability by varying the setup of the borders.

There’s also the fact that it’s just good fun, and you’ll want to play over and over.

Now I’m a big fan of games such as Pitchcar and Bisikle, but sometimes it’s just a bit too much for my little guy to play. Either he’s too rough with the pieces or just gets too frustrated with flicking the pieces with his fingers. Crash Cup Karambolage give him the opportunity to play something similar and more age-appropriate for him. Don’t get me wrong, my older kids like this one too, but he’s the most fond of it because the rope and open setup level the playing field a bit for him. In my book, that’s a big win.

A copy of Crash Cup Karambolage was provided free for review by HABA.