What's in a name? That which we call a board game, by any other name would be as fun.
Or would it? I am guessing I am not the only one who has once or twice pondered, what even counts as a board game? In Swedish we make a distinction between games played with a board, i.e literally board games (brädspel), games played with cards (kortspel) and other type of table top games (sällskapsspel). My brother was annoyed when I called Arboretum a board game, because even though you'd might think it would count as a card game he thought of it as a table top game.
Semantics, one could say. And one would be correct, in a way. In the end all that matters is that it is fun. But maybe not, because when I tell my family I want to play a board game and we end up playing Mouse Trap, I feel cheated. Not because it is bad, and it is quite bad, but because it doesn't feel like a board game to me, but more like a toy.
I realize a lot of the board games I wanted as a kid were actually these semi-toys like Mouse Trap and Ghost Castle. And Grape Escape. For some reason I never really got to play them. They were always out of reach. Some friend might have had them, maybe I saw the ad for them. They seemed to so cool, like so much fun. So when I saw Grape Escape in a Second Hand store I had the opportunity to give in to my inner 10- year old. Of course I had to do it.
I should've known better though, having tried Mouse Trap and knowing what a disaster that is. Mouse Trap is neither fun as a game nor as a toy. While the idea of a Rube Goldberg machine that you can set off to trap your fellow players is an interesting one, the execution is extremely poor. The slightest cough or vibration sets off the trap meaning you spend a lot more time trying to set everything up than actually playing, or having fun. I guess this explains why I never got to play them as a kid, adults around me felt the same way then as I do about it now. When my kids asked to play Mouse Trap I had to work really hard not to let out a huge sigh of boredom. I am glad they did not ask for it often.
Grape Escape, released in 1992 (this Swedish version in 1993) has a simpler machine, for better or worse, and instead you get to cut, saw, crush and mangle little grape figures made out of clay. The game itself is beyond simple - roll a dice and move on 1-4. One side allows you to jump ahead on the board and one side lets you operate the grape crushing machine. Getting through the board takes no time at all and often you just end up trying out the different ways of maiming your grape instead of actually playing the game - forget teaching your kids right from wrong with this game, it's just about having fun destroying things.
Once you've done that though, there isn't much more to it. Yet again it is way more hassle setting up the machine than you'll end up having fun, and I doubt that there is much longevity in the concept even for the most evil little child. One of the main issues is the instability of the structure itself. It's probably not an easy thing to design something that is supposed to work with some few plastic parts and be able to cut through clay grapes without harming any actual fingers. But it's also not easy enough to put together for young kids to play with it on their own, unless they literally just play with the parts. Putting the whole machine together and making sure things don't pop off every three seconds takes some brain power and steady hands. Kids get just as frustrated as adults trying to operate the thing.
The end result is something that is prone to fall apart and not really good at the one thing it is supposed to do - smash grapes. But it does it somewhat well enough, especially if you give it a helping hand here and there and so it provides some 20 minutes of chuckles.
Is it worth keeping around the huge box for though? Definitely not, like Mouse Trap this game is not a keeper.
