Send It

• Designer: Macky Franklin and Syd Schulz
• Publisher: Send It Board Games
• Players: 2-6 Players
• Ages: 14+
• Time to play: 45 to 75 Minutes

Hey folks! I’m back again with a preview of a game. This is Send It! It was successful on Kickstarter,  backed by over 700 people and making twice what they were seeking.  This is a mountain biking racing game. You’re spending your time in the game riding, training, preparing, and then finally sending it on progressively harder features. Just be careful, if you crash some bad things can happen.

 

Components

• 75 Prepare Cards
• 60 Crash Cards
• 24 Trail Tokens
• 11 Feature Tiles
• 6 Rider Cards and markers
• 6 Rider Tokens
• 2 Training Dice
• 1 Riding Die
• 1 Sending Die
• 1 Game Board

 

Rider Cards – All the riders have 4 stats along the edge of the cards. Balance, Tech, Fitness, and Air. The color coded markers go on each of the the matching shaded spot.  Each rider starts the game with different stats.

Training Dice – These dice have a side that matches each stat, a crash symbol, and a wild symbol.

Riding Die – This 6 sided die has the numbers 1-3 on it.

Sending Die – A 20 sided die with 1-20 on it.

Prepare Cards – These have either numbers on the top corner and can help you send it or have a special ability that can be played. Some of them have both that you can choose which one to use.

Crash Cards – These have either negative numbers or a special ability. When you crash, you have to do what the card says. If it’s a negative number, you have to discard prepare cards from your hand equal to that number. If it has text, you have to do what the text says.

Trail Tokens – These tokens have either a crash symbol, increase a stat symbol, or draw 2 prepare cards on them.

Feature Tile – These tiles have what stats are required to be able to send it. Each feature is a different shape, and when you send it you get or lose rewards based on how difficult the feature.

Set Up

1. Place the board in the center of the table.
2. Randomly assign each player a rider and rider token.
3. Place the skill markers on the shaded spots.
4. Shuffle the prepare deck and place it near the board.
5. Shuffle the crash deck and place it near the board.
6. Place rider tokens on the trail head to start.
7. Randomly place the trail tokens face down on the board in the designated spots.
8. Randomly place the feature tiles on the board face up.

Game Play

The player who bought a new bike goes first.

On a players turn, they choose 2 of the 4 actions to do.

Ride – Roll the Ride die and move that many space. You stop on any feature tiles. If you end your turn on a trail token that hasn’t been revealed, you flip it over and that that reward.

Prepare – Draw 1 prepare card. You can only have 10 cards in your hand at a time.

Train – Roll both the training dice.

• If one is a crash and the other is a wild, nothing happens.
• If either is a crash symbol, draw a crash card.
• If either die is wild, increase any skill point on your rider card.
• If both dice are different skill symbols, increase one skill shown on your rider card.
• If both dice are matching kill symbols, increase that skill two points.

Send It! – You try to conquer the feature.

• First you must have the appropriate skills to even attempt the feature.
• You play any prepare cards from your hand and add the numbers together.
• Roll the sending it die.
• Add the prepare cards and what you rolled together.
  • If you get equal or above the feature points needed, you made it!
  • If you got under the feature points. Ouch, you crashed.

Points needed to Send It! for each group of features.

• Circle Features – 10 Points. 1 Card.
• Square Feature – 12 Points. 2 Cards.
• Diamond Feature – 14 Points. 3 Cards.
• End Feature – 18 Points. 5 Cards.

If you succeed the feature, you get to draw prepare cards equal to the feature difficulty and move ahead one space.

If you failed the feature, you get to draw crash cards equal to the feature difficulty and do not leave that feature. You’ve got that built determination to beat it, and maybe some scrapes and bruises to match.

Once a player has completed their two actions, it’s then the next players turn.  This goes on until one player has reached the end and earned the golden burrito.  You know, that delicious, fulfilling snack that everyone craves after mountain biking.

Final Thoughts

Ok, this is a preview of the game and a prototype was provided to me to play and review. Art is subject to change, and component quality will be better.  The prototype I received was well played.  Some of the tokens and feature tiles were well thumbed through.  So the pictures I have might show some of that.  I don’t think this will be an issue when the production is complete.

I really enjoyed the different rider names. They each have a funny nod to an aspect of biking. I do think that in this case, the markers along side the rider cards work.  If you’re handling the rider cards a lot, or shifting things under the card then the side markers seem to be a pain, but not in this case.

The board is neat with being dual layered to fit the trail tokens and feature tiles. This is a good choice, as otherwise everything shifts easy. I like that the feature tiles are easily identified as to where the be placed. Then I like that each feature has different skills needed.

That brings me to the next part of the game that I liked the concept of and that’s training. I like that you can train and increase your skills throughout the game. And that each rider starts with different skills already, and this will gear you towards what feature to to send first. I said I liked the concept, the game has you rolling two dice to determine the what skills to improve. It’s random, and it would have been nice to have a way to attempt to increase the skills you want.  There can be multiple turns of trying to roll the training dice to get what you want, and not getting anything close to what you need. While other players are moving along the and sending on features showing off their skills.

I felt that the riding die seemed a little underwhelming.  In a game where you’re racing to the finish line, moving a maximum of 3 on a roll just seems a little slow.   Now, you can use the ride action twice or some prepare cards can help with that. Just off the bat, the start of the race felt a little slow.

 
Send It! is a game for biking enthusiasts. Boiled down, it’s a roll and move with cards used to mitigate some of the rolls. If you’re a fan of mountain biking, there’s a lot in this that I think would click with you. I don’t think this is a game for everyone. I think where this game will be most enjoyed is by friends casually playing a game on the weekend, talking about their biking adventures and just hanging out. This will make a good gift for those who enjoy biking and games.

If this game sounds like it’s for you, the pre-order page can be found here.