Win in one turn at any time. You’re never out of it. Features a novel scoring system.
Air Master is a unique Push Your Luck game, where you fly your way to victory by navigating favourable winds.
But catch the bad ones, and make no progress, or even be blown backwards!
Note the ones that work and find the easy routes to lift the SAVVY crown.
Occasionally during the game, strong headwinds occur, and any gains are lost.
In the final rounds, tropical storms can wreak havoc, and force you further back from where you started.
You have options though, of sitting out potential storms by backtracking, and waiting for it to pass. Or to backtrack at certain stages, and check out alternative flight paths.
You can see the wind strengths you face at each moment of your turn, represented by numbered playing cards.
Taken into consideration with the accompanying wind chart, which shows which cards have already been played, you can see before you call, the success of any choice you make.
The combination of chart and numbered cards make it a very exceptional, and accurate weather forecasting mechanic. Outcomes are based on known probability before you make a call and not random luck.
After each successful forecast, you can call again, and your plane can keep moving forward. However, you must judge when it’s time to bring that part of the journey to an end, as a subsequent wrong weather call will blow you off-course, and lose the progress you have just made.
Misjudging the weather for first calls on turns in the closing stages, equivalent to heavy storms will force your plane back, up to five rows from original starting positions.
There are also random squall areas where you must backtrack a row if wanting to shelter.
Being in the lead is not a given for success. Your progress is never certain, planes can go forwards, and backwards too. Any player can go on a run at anytime and win the game in one turn.
Due to the high average call success rate, (over 75%), it’s very easy to rack up quick points, but you have to put your main focus on when to stop and bank those gains.
Air Master is a non-confrontational game, apart from tactically leaving difficult weather cards for the next player to deal with. However, you are still competing against each other to hit the winning line first. Risks have to be taken, but when?
This is a simple game with odds judgement that will tax even the brightest minds, and levels of addiction that compel you to get involved with other player decisions.
You may find yourself encouraging players to go for it, when really you want them to blow out and drop points. Oh there’s humour alright.
But when the same players then go on long winning runs, you actually want them to succeed. There’s a natural impulse to take interest in other players turns.
Then there’s your playing style. Are you an odds calculator who plays the percentages?
(If you’re into maths and probability, this is right up your street, and you will find good methods of play).
Or are you an instinct player who gets the feel of the cards and plays accordingly?
(Sometimes you’ll see a lopsided number chart, and know a change is coming).
Or never mind all that, you feel lucky and call whatever comes into your head; it's your day right?
( Only when all the luck is with you!)
Or should you play a mix of all three?
Air Master is a game where you sometimes have to step outside your comfort zone, no matter what your base impulses are.
Have you got the nerve to go against your natural instincts if it may win you the game?
So back to the game, do you play, or pass and give the next player something to think about? No thanks there!
Get it wrong and there are penalties. Get it right and you’re on a roll.
Correct calls win points. Fifteen will win it. You can be nearly there, and then start dropping back.
Can you handle the sympathy?
Then there is the fantastic help from your fellow players.
If you want to follow it, dream on – you’re in the wrong game.
Banter has no boundaries here, and some of the advice on offer would make your progress very backward indeed.
Sometimes you will remember a game for the laughs you had, the winner is irrelevant, well nearly. That’s how game sessions go.
Lots of humour and constant dilemmas. ‘’Air Master’’is a one-off rollercoaster.
For 1-6 players, aged 8 and upwards, and a playing time of 30-60 minutes.
The solo mode is limited by the number of plays through the deck. Ten minute playing time.
All age groups can understand the easy game mechanics, and many game plans can be devised, from simple hunch and feel, to varying degrees of mathematical strategies.
Experienced pilots judge the moments well, win more and earn the SAVVY crown.
Components: Game board, number chart, Duo board, 36 playing cards, 6 planes, 6 position markers, 1 squall disc, 1 crown, 35 markers.
1-6 players, 8+, 30-60 mins.
Rules:
Setup: Look through the cards and note the first number from 10 to 14. Place the blue squall disc on this same number on the game board.
Place a plane and position marker on the zero row for each player.
Place the SAVVY crown on the Win row.
Shuffle the cards and put one card aside face down. Lay the deck face down and turn over the top card and place beside it. Cover this number on the chart using the green marker.
(When the deck is depleted during the game, shuffle all the cards, including the card put aside, except the last turned up card, which becomes the new starting point).
How to Play: Choose a player to make first call as to whether the next card is higher or lower. There is a smoother game flow experience if one player manages the cards.
Choose a player to manage the number chart.
After each successful call, move the marker one row forward. If you then make an incorrect call, the marker is returned to the plane, and no progress has been made.
After successful consecutive calls, you may choose to stop, and move the plane forward to join the marker.
After unsuccessful calls, the turn is ended, and play moves clockwise.
Rows 0-3:
You may call again after an incorrect first call, one Free Go per turn.
You may pass your turn on rows 1-3 without penalty.
Rows 4-9:
At the start of your turn, before calling, you may choose to change the top card. However, move your plane and marker back a row.
You mass your turn without penalty.
(If you change the top card and then pass, you will have moved back one row).
Rows 10-14:
If you make an incorrect first call, move your plane and marker back to row 9.
You may choose to change the top card but move your plane and marker back a row.
You may pass on your turn but move your plane and marker back a row.
(If you change the top card and then pass, you will have moved back two rows).
If you change the top card and then make an incorrect first call, you move back to row 9.
Blue disc: This represent a squall. If you elect to stop when on one of these rows, you move back a row.
If you want to pass or change the top card, and that action puts your plane back to a blue row, you move back another row.
The first player to reach the Win area claims the SAVVY crown.
—description from the designer
Aviation / Flight · Push Your Luck
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