Boomerang: A Complete Guide

Do you enjoy card drafting games? If yes, you must try the Boomerang card game. This card game has a unique travel theme which will give you a fun experience whether you play with your friends or family. 

You can enjoy this card game online as well as in physical mode. In this post, we have gathered some information on this game which will help you decide if it’s a fit for you. Let’s start reading!

What is Boomerang Card Game?

What is Boomerang Card Game

Scott Almes, best known for creating the Tiny Epic series of games, created the Boomerang game. This card game is simple and light to play. 

Even if there are some similarities between the other games, Boomerang is the subject of my review. It is a card-drafting game where you go to tourist destinations all across various countries, take part in activities, discover the local wildlife, and gather souvenirs.

Boomerang Gameplay 

Boomerang Gameplay

The game has a simple concept, but the gameplay has a quirk that makes it a fascinating pick. A regular round consists of each player receiving a hand of seven cards. The trick is that each player chooses and places a “throw” card from their original deal face down. 

This card earns bonus points based on your “catch” card, which is the final card in your hand in a round. Points will be awarded to players depending on the numeric gap between their throw and catch.

The remaining points are generated by the various set collection symbols on the cards, as shown below. Boomerang’s multiple versions mix them up, but each version works the same as the others, simply with different symbols and set names.

The scoring opportunities of this game are as follows:

Tourist Sites  Points are awarded for visiting nations and being the first to visit all countries in a specific group.
Cuisine All cards add up to their point values, however, going above 7 penalizes the player.
Transport  Each matching pair of shuttle icons earns the points indicated on the card.
National Treasures A player who has drafted a specific icon can score points for the same symbol that all other players have acquired during the round.

After four rounds, players total their points on their cards, and the traveler with the most points wins.

Game Experience

It’s an easy-to-play game, but, in comparisons to games like Sushi Go and No Thanks, it’s the simplicity mixed with difficult decisions that makes it memorable to players. 

Boomerang is a terrific game, particularly as a travel card game. It’s the repeating of simple decisions with slightly deeper consequences that make it such, and it’s something that players frequently want when traveling. It’s just enough of a distraction to steal gamers’ focus away from the scenery.

Boomerang Gameplay 2

The unique throw-catch mechanism is the one big letdown in the mechanics. Certainly, it feels metaphorical when combined with the game’s original Australian premise, but the publisher might have included some other semi-thematic technique in other geographies. Furthermore, the randomness of the selection appears to make it more of a collection of random spots than something that can be managed.

We believe that lighter, shorter games receive better critical review impressions from customers and other reviewers. Instead of expecting a lot from filler games, we believe that the game’s ability to fulfill its aim of “gaming” the time is more vital than the weight of its systems. 

Boomerang deserves big honors for this. Instead of seeking originality, Boomerang seeks to provide a fun, family filler to complement non-gaming contexts. Whether it’s an evening of escaping doom scrolling or a train journey across Europe, both seem appropriate occasions to pull up this game.

Boomerang is an excellent purchase to make right before a journey. It consists of only a small deck of cards and a scorepad. Keeping score between rounds using the box lid is almost required as a keepsake of a journey for even more delight. Even though many individuals aren’t traveling right now, we believe that adding a version of this game to your collection in the hopes of making that journey is worth it.

Conclusion

Boomerang is a fantastic small box card game. It takes up very little table space, making it ideal for a coffee shop or pub. You can play it anywhere with your friends and family.

The art style is art deco-inspired, with bold letters and contrasting colors. Clear iconography and clever color harmonisation of regions make scoring a breeze.

However, the country theme’s beauty isn’t on the table. The images are in black and white and are quite small. The maps may have been deemphasized to better highlight the tourist attractions.