Got ‘Em! by Calliope Games – Review

If you love strategy games you’ll love Got ‘Em!! Got ‘Em, created by Calliope Games, is a fun and simple strategy game of who can trap their opponent first by creating a wall around them. Personally these are my favorite types of games! I love strategy games, but not ones that take hours to play and mega-focus to concentrate!

It comes with the plastic gameboard (double-sided for two different games!), four pawns, a bag of “walls”, and a stack of cards along with the instructions. The colored side of the board you see above is for the game “Bright Got ‘Em!”. The ultimate goal? Don’t get trapped! The small plastic rectangles (aka – “walls”) can be placed into grooves on the side of each colored square. It’s a bit difficult to see this in the photo above but you can see how I’ve placed some “walls” behind the pawns. The pieces fit easily into the game board and stay put too.

Each player receives 3 cards which they can view. The color of the card determines the color of the box you place your “wall” against. The white cards offer you the option of any color you wish. In addition to determining what color to place your wall on, you also have the option to move your pawn 1-3 squares. On a rare occasion, your card may also let you remove or “walk” through any wall you desire – those are the best but hard to come by!

Again the pictures make it a bit difficult to see but if you look at the green pawn above it is completely boxed in by the white walls. This means the green pawn is trapped and has lost the game. It took me 3 games to finally trap my husband’s pawn!! It was SO much fun! It is SO much easier than chess but the strategy is similar. Each game took under 30 minutes for my husband and I to play but I can imagine the time would lengthen (and the game would be much more fun!) with more than 2 players.

When I first read about the game it looked like fun but I was a little skeptical on how the walls would stay put. We have yet to have a wall fall down on us! You just push the “wall” down into the groove and it stays put until you pull it out. It definitely has a great design. There is a second game that you can play with this board called “Brainy Got ‘Em!”. If you flip the game board over there is a completely white side. For this side you do not need the cards at all but the strategy is the same. You take turns placing walls in the grooves where you desire to try and trap your opponent(s).

We LOVE this game and recommend it for ages 8 and up! The game board and pawns themselves are virtually indestructable which is nice. This is definitely a fun addition to your family closet and for your classroom. We can’t wait to share our game with our friends and family to play with us! I love the “simple” strategy involved without a lot of rules. I can’t wait to meet Calliope Games at the Toy Fair this year and check out more of their games!! If they are anything like Got ‘Em! I will love it!