Slamwich- Mayhem and Fun

Let's look to some more reliable Gamewright games. Today's buy-twelve-for-upcoming-birthday-parties entry is Slamwich. My testing crew says it's a lot of fun but sometimes ends with fists being thrown. Could this be true?

In the game of Slamwich each player is dealt a hand of cards. The cards start out face down so no one knows what's in their hand. The players take turns flipping cards from their hand onto the center of a table. The cards generally have illustrations of sandwich items on them. The players look out for various patterns to appear. If two of the same item are flipped in a row this is a "double decker." For example, the player to your right flips a tomato card and in your turn you do the same. Likewise if two cards of the same type are flipped with one card between them this is a "slamwich." An example might be if one player flips lettuce, the next flips a tomato card, and then the next flips another lettuce card. If a double decker or a slamwich appears then the players must slap the center pile, the first person to slap winning all the cards. Parents with some imagination may already visualize how this game can spiral if the slaps start to wander or get too energetic.

Recognizing patterns and slapping with a vengeance are the basic rules of Slamwich. There are a few special cards and they vary the play a bit but it's still basically a reflex game. As in the case with most Gamewright games, Slamwich is pretty simple and is likely to entertain a gang of children for a decent amount of time. I think Gamewright has noted that traditional games like "Simon Says" or Freeze Tag are noteworthy for giving kids simple guidelines to do things they like to do anyway. Kids likes the concept of games, they like surprises, shouting, and slapping things. Slamwich offers all of that.

I don't have the love for Slamwich that I do for Sleeping Queens, and the design isn't as clever as Tiki Topple. It's simply fun, fast and cheap. There's a lot to be said for a fun fast and cheap game. Slamwich is available in most toy and game stores.

Pros: Simple, fun

Cons: physical game, slapping involved, slaps could spread onto sister or brothers

Beyond the Basics: Looking for these patterns reminds me of playing the slots. I'm sure there's no connection though.