Tomfoolery Picnic: A review of As You ‘Wich

The Kickstarter for As You ‘Wich is about to close, it’s funded, and I think you should check it out. First, here’s the pitch video.

[Back this Campaign]

I have a copy (minus the box) of As You ‘Wich because Studio71 sent one to me for review. These are the people behind The Umbrella Academy game, with the logistics in place and why As You ‘Wich can ship from local facilities across the world. That’ll help avoid duties and no doubt one of the main reasons why As You ‘Wich funded in just a day.

The main reason why the Kickstarter has done so well is that Sanji and Janelle’s sandwich-making game is as fun as it looks.

There’s not a huge amount of strategic skill in As You ‘Wich, but there’s absolutely a knack to closing shops and I’ll get back to that later. Suffice to say, if you’re not in the mood for a fun, friendly and fastpaced game that involves a lot of talking, then this might not be the game for you.

The fun in As You ‘Wich and the skill is the ability to persuade friends that your sandwich creation is the one they want to buy. Real-life charisma, fast thinking and imagination come into play here.

The rules you to ignore much of and time and space as well as food allergies so if you think the best way to persuade your friends to go for your sandwich is to describe how Jacobite rebels serve the combination of meat and bread skewered on their swords, then so be it.

The hardest part of As You ‘Wich is shuffling all 300 cards, most of which are ingredients and some just evil actions – like punching sandwiches.

Players each get a hand of five cards. At the start of their turn, players draw a card. The card can either come from the blind deck or from an open shop.

There are three shops at the start of the game, each with three cards in them.

At the end of a player’s turn, they must discard a card, and they do this by putting it either face up in a shop, so another player might pick it, or by putting it face down which closes the shop.

If you close the last shop, then everyone else gets one more free blind draw, and then you have to display your sandwich. Your sandwich has to use all your cards. Then everyone else follows.

If you don’t have any bread, then neither does your sandwich.

The catch? Not all ingredients in the deck are tasty. If you’re not careful, you might have to make a sandwich out of something yucky and nasty like sand, fingernails or mushroom.

Lastly, as you might have guessed, my favourite aspect of As You ‘Wich is the scoring. People name their sandwiches, describe the serving and then, all at once, point to the sandwich they most want. It can’t be their own.

Winner takes the kudos for being the best chef.

Given that scoring system, the more people you add to As You ‘Wich the more fun it becomes. You get a higher chance of someone making a hilariously awful sandwich and much more dramatic voting rounds. This is where the game becomes a tomfoolery picnic of delight.

The game itself says it is suitable for three to eight players. You need at least three, I think four is better.

There’s a tiny catch as you get up to six, seven or eight players because all three sandwich shops may close before those players get their turn. That’ll be a quick game, though, and surely there would be time enough for another.

Overall

As You ‘Wich is not a serious game. It’s a hugely fun game that requires you to be in the mood for shenanigans when you start playing.

This is a card game that’s dramatically improved through the application of a few glasses of alcohol. I think it can also be adapted into a drinking game easily. For example, drink whenever someone plays an action card, or drink when someone tries to make a sandwich without bread, or when you try it, or a combination thereof.

So, for most people, my recommendation is to pounce on the Kickstarter and back As You ‘Wich while you can.

Disclaimer: I was given my prototype copy of As You ‘Wich for free.