Today we're sitting down to take a look at Killer Bunnies. Killer Bunnies is agame in which you try to keep bunnies for yourself, eliminate your opponents bunnies, and try to have the most carrots so you have the best chance at getting the Magic Carrot. If this sounds interesting to you, check it out here.
The Killer Bunnies rulebook has something interesting, it is separated into two parts. There is the main rulebook (read me first!) and Bunny Bits. So if you want to follow along today you'll have to check out the first book here and Bunny Bits here. Let's get started!
(Quick note: these links go to the first edition of the rules, I was looking at the third edition while doing this review. They are incredibly close however and the links should still be helpful.)
Organization and Layout: Having the two rulebooks this one is going to be seriously important. The first book is supposed to give you the basics so you can start playing, the second part is supposed to help with the extra complexities or card interactions. This in theory is a cool idea as it allows the game to avoid something like a big FAQ online possibly.
Bunny Bits ends up explaining a bunch of things in more detail but even more complex for no reason, especially since the previous book had these explanations but BETTER with lots of nice pictures to go with them. Repeating something with slightly different wording can just end up confusing people.
However I still really enjoyed the idea of keeping the complex sections to the side while keeping the how to play in the other. Players who can figure out the complexities on their own don't need the extra reading then, but the information is still there for those who need it.
The Killer Bunnies rulebook has something interesting, it is separated into two parts. There is the main rulebook (read me first!) and Bunny Bits. So if you want to follow along today you'll have to check out the first book here and Bunny Bits here. Let's get started!
(Quick note: these links go to the first edition of the rules, I was looking at the third edition while doing this review. They are incredibly close however and the links should still be helpful.)
Organization and Layout: Having the two rulebooks this one is going to be seriously important. The first book is supposed to give you the basics so you can start playing, the second part is supposed to help with the extra complexities or card interactions. This in theory is a cool idea as it allows the game to avoid something like a big FAQ online possibly.
Bunny Bits ends up explaining a bunch of things in more detail but even more complex for no reason, especially since the previous book had these explanations but BETTER with lots of nice pictures to go with them. Repeating something with slightly different wording can just end up confusing people.
However I still really enjoyed the idea of keeping the complex sections to the side while keeping the how to play in the other. Players who can figure out the complexities on their own don't need the extra reading then, but the information is still there for those who need it.
Clarity: The fluff and jokes were a bit to wade through but the rules were clear especially after giving Bunny Bits a good look.
Graphics: The first book has EXCELLENT pictures for describing how to play. Definitely this is a good rulebook to look at for learning how to use graphics well. Something particularly cool was the use of a picture for checks and for special occurrences, it reminded me a LOT of "For Dummies" books in the best way. This was definitely a great way to make sure people stopped and were playing the game right from the word go!
Depth: Having an entire book in Bunny Bits to cover the special card interactions and any kind of depth questions was incredibly helpful. I couldn't find a thing that wasn't covered.
Writing: Quick disclaimer: some of this may be a matter of taste, but the jokes really weren't that funny and only detracted from the rulebook for me. I won't hold this against the rulebook too much as it fits the game well and some may laugh. My bigger problem with this was that it added a bunch of fluff and kept me from getting to the game faster.
I have to give a tiny bit of kudos to their disclaimer about using "he" for the examples in their rulebook though, it was a creative way with dealing with that problem.
There were a couple of letters that should have been capitalized, but other then that I didn't see any major grammar errors.
Graphics: The first book has EXCELLENT pictures for describing how to play. Definitely this is a good rulebook to look at for learning how to use graphics well. Something particularly cool was the use of a picture for checks and for special occurrences, it reminded me a LOT of "For Dummies" books in the best way. This was definitely a great way to make sure people stopped and were playing the game right from the word go!
Depth: Having an entire book in Bunny Bits to cover the special card interactions and any kind of depth questions was incredibly helpful. I couldn't find a thing that wasn't covered.
Writing: Quick disclaimer: some of this may be a matter of taste, but the jokes really weren't that funny and only detracted from the rulebook for me. I won't hold this against the rulebook too much as it fits the game well and some may laugh. My bigger problem with this was that it added a bunch of fluff and kept me from getting to the game faster.
I have to give a tiny bit of kudos to their disclaimer about using "he" for the examples in their rulebook though, it was a creative way with dealing with that problem.
There were a couple of letters that should have been capitalized, but other then that I didn't see any major grammar errors.
As you should all well know, Susan knows quite a bit about rabbits, being a rabbit wrangler himself! Fortunately he's also quite the expert on rulebooks. On the Susan Rating Scale this rulebook gets:
Susan's Explanation: This rulebook did a lot of things VERY well and you can definitely sit down to it and learn the game easily. It would get Two Curls Up but the added fluff and the bit of issues with capitalized letters and such keep me from rating it higher.
Susan's Explanation: This rulebook did a lot of things VERY well and you can definitely sit down to it and learn the game easily. It would get Two Curls Up but the added fluff and the bit of issues with capitalized letters and such keep me from rating it higher.
That's it for today's Rulebook Review! If you like rabbits or want to comment on the review let us know below! Until next time: Every Game Deserves A Good Rulebook!
YEEHAW!!!
YEEHAW!!!