Claim the Right Mutants in Speed Game Cudaki

An elephant with the head of a crocodile? A gorilla with a blue fish? What criteria will be thrown at you next? Race against your opponents to lay claim to mutant and regular animal tiles alike.

Cudaki is a simple little speed game from MindWare, with nice components and straightforward gameplay.

Gameplay

The game is composed of a stack of tiles. Each tile shows an animal that is either a complete, normal animal such as an elephant or lion, or a mutated animal that is a combination of two (such as a crocodile body with a giraffe’s head or lion’s body with a gorilla’s head). Each tile also shows a yellow or a blue fish in the corner of the tile.

At the start of the game, you shuffle the tiles and deal fifteen face-up around the play area. The criteria cards are then shuffled. At the start of each round, one player flips over the top criteria card. Most criteria cards will either ask for one or two animal types that must be either on a tile or must not be on a tile, depending on the card. If a card shows two animals, both animals are included; it is not either/or. Some cards will also refer to the colored fish on the tiles. All players then race to place their player token on a tile that meets the requirements of the criteria card. There can only be one player token on a single tile.

Once everyone has either placed their token or there are no more legal tiles to choose, any player who correctly chose a tile that meets the criteria gets to place that tile in his score pile. If a player put his token on a tile that does not meet the criteria, that tile is instead discarded. Then a new criteria card is drawn for a new round.

There are two bonus types of criteria cards that can be added to the game. These, when drawn, ask players to race to count which animal type appears either the least or the most often on the tiles currently on the table (mutant animals count as both types of animals shown). The player who gives the correct answer first then takes a tile showing that animal.

After there is only one tile left (or none) on the table, you deal out a new set of fifteen. Once all of these have been claimed or there is only one left, the game is over. The player who collected the most tiles wins the game.

Review

Cudaki is a fun speed game that is primarily targeted at families. It’s simple to learn, fast to set up, and is uncomplicated. The mutated animals are creatively done and offer a fun way to make the game challenging as you look for different combinations.

As more and more tiles get claimed, players are going to be competing over an offering that gradually becomes more limited, making the need for speed more and more important as the game progresses, and building in a nice sense of escalation.

However, once there are only two or three tiles left on the table, the bonus criteria cards don’t really feel like they work as well anymore. If there are only two tiles, and you need to shout out which animal appears the least often, for example, there are likely to be ties. It’s also no longer as challenging to count up the animal types, and harder to tell who shouted the correct answer first. Overall, these cards don’t feel like they work as well as the regular criteria cards, but they are only an optional addition to the game.

The components are nicely made, with the artwork clear, the tiles thick, and plenty of criteria cards included. The player tokens are also nice and sturdy. The artwork itself is quite creative and it’s fun to see the different combinations of animals.

This is a very straightforward game. If you enjoy speed games, the challenge hits the right note, with the escalation building — but if you’re not a fan of the genre, Cudaki won’t change your mind.

Pros: Nice artwork, fast to teach and set up, escalation as tiles are claimed

Cons: Special criteria cards don’t always work well, may be too simple for some players

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