Stay Inside the Lines: A Review of Doodle Quest

How accurately can you draw? Put your drawing skills to the test with Doodle Quest by Blue Orange Games. In this deep sea adventure, players compete against each other to complete a series of drawing challenges and score the most points.

Gameplay

In Doodle Quest, players randomly choose 6 quest cards that offer various drawing challenges. These include tasks like circling schools of fish without touching other objects, drawing a line through a fish's mouth without touching his teeth, and drawing fish from stencils in certain areas of a scene.

Sounds easy, right? The difficulty comes in the fact that players are not drawing directly on the quest card, but rather on their own transparent sheet that is separate from the card. Thus, completing a challenge for maximum points requires carefully studying out the quest card and estimating where everything lies in relation to the player's board. Once the drawing is finished, the player places his transparent sheet over the quest card to compare his drawing with the card and score points.

Each card specifies the amount of points that are scored or lost for correct drawings or mistakes. Players can also earn bonus points on several cards by taking extra risks to try to draw through the starfish displayed on the card.

After completing 6 challenges, players' scores are totaled and the player with the most points wins.

Review

Doodle Quest is a fun dexterity game that is perfect for kids and families. This game can be picked up and learned almost instantly, and parents and kids can certainly enjoy playing it together. My two-year-old daughter requests it almost daily because she loves drawing on the transparent sheets with dry-erase markers. Right now, it's more of an activity for us than a game — however, since the cards come in two different difficulty levels, I'll be able to play the full game with her in just a few years.

If you think you're good at drawing, don't get too confident, because the challenges can be rather difficult to master. You might think your doodle is perfectly placed until you compare it to the quest card and you end up scoring only a few points. The scoring mechanism on each card is effective at rewarding perfect drawings but also providing plenty of room for failure, as well. What's more, the addition of bonus starfish entices players to take more risks, which can end in a loss of points just as easily.

There is quite a bit of variety in the 18 double-sided quest cards, which keeps players wanting to play again. And, just because you've completed a card previously doesn't mean that you'll be better at it the second time. As each game progresses and more challenges are completed, the tension builds because the stakes are higher — if you're in the lead, you'd better not screw up your last drawing or the victory will likely go to someone else.

On the downside, many adult casual gamers will likely pass up this game because it appears to be ultimately marketed to kids. From the cartoony nature of the artwork to the images on the back cover of only kids playing the game, it is clear who the target market is. However, many adults should enjoy this light-hearted dexterity game and it is great for your next family game night.

Pros: Challenging dexterity game, light and easy to learn, great for families

Cons: Clearly marketed to kids, not the best option for your next adult game night

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.