Drop It is a simple dexterity/strategy game for 2-4 players from Kosmos Games. It is fast-paced, easy to learn, and easy to teach. Drop It is great for friends and families, kids and adults. It is one of those games we think that every family should have in their game collection.
What’s in the box?
The box contains:
- 1 Stand Up Plastic Game Board
- 36 Game Pieces
- 4 Scoring Markers
- 1 Scoring Track
- Points Tokens
- Variant Edge Pieces
- Variant Jokers
(The photo above shows the drop area as blue. It’s actually clear, and players on both sides of the board can easily see the pieces. See the photos below.)
How do you play Drop It?
Drop it is played with 2 to 4 players. There are 9 Blue shapes, 9 Green shapes, 9 Red shapes and 9 Yellow shapes. There are 3 circles, 2 squares, 2 diamonds and 2 triangles for each color.
With 4 players, each player will start with all 9 pieces of one color. Players take turns dropping one of their shapes into the drop zone. Players will score points based on the highest level their shape landed in. Players will also score bonus points if their shapes are touching bonus circles … but there are Landing Rules!
Landing Rules:
- Shape: Your piece shape is not allowed to touch any shapes that are the same shape.
- Color: Your shape is not allowed to be touching any shapes of the same color.
- Edge: Your shape is not allowed to be touching any edges of the drop zone that are of the same shape or color. This applies to the bottom and both sides.
- Height: Your shape is not allowed to be sticking out of top of the drop zone (only possible near the very end of the game)
Players continue to take turns until every piece has been dropped and scored.
Likes and Dislikes on Drop It:
Likes:
- High Quality Components – The Drop Zone is made of high quality plastic. It doesn’t feel cheesy to us whatsoever. The “shape” pieces are also well made. The shapes seem to be made of solid wood and then painted. Ours haven’t chipped or been damaged from game play.
- Looks Great on the Table – This is one of those games that is simply eye-catching. It looks like an updated form of the old “Connect 4” drop-checkers game. This was one of the more popular games at Gen Con in 2018. Many passersby wanted a chance to test it at the Kosmos Booth.
- Easy to Teach / Easy to Learn – This is a very easy game to teach people. The box says ages 8 and up, and this feels about right to us.
- Great Box Design – All the components fit nicely back into the box. Although you have to remove the drop zone from the base in order to store it. You don’t even need to put it back in the box, as it looks pretty cool just sitting on your game shelf.
- Good Rulebook – The rulebook is large, in full color, and only 4 pages. The rulebook explains the game quite well and has plenty of explanatory photos.
- Dexterity and Strategy – The game looks simple, but is deceptively deep. It requires good strategy and rudimentary knowledge of physics and geometry. You need to plan your drops. The circles will roll off angled surfaces. The squares have a lot of mass and may break through lighter support structures. The diamonds can form teeter-totters. Some pieces will bounce, while others might crash through. If you just drop pieces willy-nilly, you will lose.
Vertical Board and Horizontal Bases are changeable – Games can get a different feel by changing the Vertical boards and Horizontal Base boards – from colors to shapes and vice versa. - Fast Paced – The box says 30 minutes to play a game, but you can play this game in 10 to 15 minutes if everyone wants to “pick up the pace”. The only thing that slows this game down is if players are studying each move in detail.
Dislikes:
- Luck – The only con in this game really is “Bad Luck”. Luck can impact this game in several ways. Your pieces will sometimes bounce in a completely different direction from where you dropped them. Also, you will inevitably come across times where you won’t have any good moves. You might only have squares left, and the only places to drop your square are filled with other people’s squares along with other shapes in your color. You just have to settle on a zero and move on. There is a variant rule in which a player can spend a Joker Token to allow them to score points anyway. The variant rule will help reduce the bad luck factor.
Final Thoughts
This is an excellent game. It’s great for families, and it’s also great as a “filler” game for game nights with your friends. The game is sneakily more challenging than it appears. It’s also the type of game that people will want to replay right away if they lose. I have only played this game with adults during our game nights, and everyone has loved this game.
This is an easy recommendation, and is essentially a must-own for all gaming families out there.
