Devil Bunny Needs a Ham

Board Game

Put out by Cheapass Games, this is one of those games that has a low price tag, a quirky storyline, and what I feel to be a good replay value. Its storyline is that you are a bunch of sous-chefs trying to climb a large building and the Devil Bunny thinks knocking you down will get him a ham. I know...WOW, right?

Review

Devil Bunny Needs a Ham was the first Cheapass Game (that's a company as well as a description, heh) that I ever played. I was a Resident Advisor at the time, and wanted something I could play that would be cheap and interesting so as to keep my residents intrigued. It worked. We played a dozen times over the next couple of weeks and I went so far as to have a moderately successful tournament for it.

The basic game mechanic is similar to Backgammon. You roll two dice (by which I mean the standard six-sided ones) and you have two tokens. You may move one token one die's value and the other token the other, or you may move one token both values. Each move is only in a diagonal line up, either to the left or the right. You can use all or none of your dice value. If a six is rolled, then you summon the Devil Bunny who will knock off the token furthest up (or furthest up and two the left if there is a tie). That token falls until caught by another token, or it hits the ground. If the token falls too far, it will "die" and be removed from the game. The board represents a building and so is taller, by far, than it is wide. It has "black squares" along the edges alternately which represent common phobias (one of which is Wesley Snipes) which cannot be moved into, adding a little complexity to it.

Playtime is on the order of ten minutes or so.

It is a very simple game and this is a strength and a weakness. If you have a group willing to just enjoy the quirk and are more looking for something to do to occupy their time than looking for something to do which in and of itself takes up a lot of concentration, this is it. You can get for under five dollars, tokens can be wadded up pieces of paper in various colors and you probably already have the dice. It takes almost no time at all to learn.

The problem is that it might get boring moderately quick for you. After a couple of plays, the basic strategies gel into place and there aren't many variations. It is basically hold back on your movements until you get a high enough roll to dash up to the top. Stop your guy with someone, probably your own token, below you.

In other words, don't plan on this being a family night regular, and enjoy it every once in a while when you have a quarter hour to kill.

My score is a 65

Alternate Rules

THE SPITE RULE: This is to add a little more flavor to the game. What you do is you add the rule that if both of the dice that a person rolls equals to six (2+4, 5+1, 3+3, etc), then they can opt NOT to move, but instead summon the Devil Bunny. The advantage of using this rule is that it builds up a little bit more tension and allows for enemies and allies to develop.

Personal Experiences
& Interesting Notes

Sadly enough, my most memorably experience with this game involved a jack ass roommate. Sarah and I were playing him one night and he lost, to Sarah (I ended up coming in second, he in third). For whatever reason, the boy decided to get real snarky about it and attacked me as "taking advantage of him and then beating him in a game". The world's quirkiest but simplest board game. Sometimes fools just can't keep their mouths shut, huh?

The most fun I have ever had with this game was when we did the tournament at UAH. My boss thought I was being stupid with it, but I had a great, great time. Over a dozen people showed up to win the grand prize, a mangled stuffed rabbit that had been quoted in satanic messages and fake blood.