Problem Picnic Game Review & Giveaway


Problem Picnic board game
In Problem Picnic, you get to be the ants!

Summertime is a wonderful time to have lots of picnics.

And what would a picnic be without ants?

Well, in Problem Picnic: Attack of the Ants by Kids Table Board Gaming you get to play the part of the ants!

In the game, players are ant colonies trying to steal the best plates of food from a picnic.

The player that best organizes their collected food to meet the scoring objectives will be the best ant colony around!

With plenty of dice rolling and good collecting, Problem Picnic includes a mix of luck and strategy that’s just right for family play.

Plus, Kids Table Board Gaming is giving away a copy of Problem Picnic to a lucky reader of our review!

Problem Picnic board game
Let’s get this picnic started!

 

How to play Problem Picnic

Problem Picnic: Attack of the Ants is an easy game to learn and fun to play.

During the game players will send out their ants (dice) to collect food cards and then organize them in their personal play area to score points that are different each game. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

 

Set Up

To begin, players set out a number of random picnic cards to form the picnic area. The number of cards and layout depends on the number of players. For example, a 4-player game will have 9 cards in a 3×3 grid.

Then the scoring for the game is established. First, the Majority card is placed near the game area and other scoring cards are randomly drawn and placed face up next to it. The number of scoring cards each game is one more than the number of players.

Then the Reward tokens are mixed up face down and randomly set on each of the scoring cards and in the indicated spaces of the Majority card. Then they are flipped over to see how much each scoring card and majority will we worth at the end of the game.

The Round cards are shuffled and 5 are placed face down in a draw pile. And the Puddle card is also placed next to the play area.

Finally, each player chooses a color and takes the anthill card and 6 dice of that color.

Problem Picnic board game
Nice and brightly colored ant dice.

 

Playing Turns and Rounds

A game of Problem Picnic lasts 6 rounds and each round follows 3 stages: Send out ants, Bring back food, Prepare for next round.

Sending out the ants is where all the dice rolling happens.

Beginning with the start player for that round players take turns rolling one of their ant dice. The player chooses one of the die on their ant hill and rolls it toward the picnic cards.

Problem Picnic board game
The ants are on their way to collect food.

If players have no dice left when it comes to their turn, they’re skipped and other players continue sending out their ants until all players have rolled all their available dice.

The ant dice come in 3 different types:

Soldier – the large Soldier die does not go to the Puddle when used to win a picnic card.

Workers – no special ability but have higher ant probabilities.

Scouts – these small dice may be rolled again if they don’t touch any dice during the roll and don’t come to rest on a picnic card.

Now players get to Bring back the food.

First, any dice on the Puddle card as well as dice not on a picnic card are returned to their player’s ant hill. Each picnic card with dice on it are then collected by the player with the majority of ants on it.

Problem Picnic board game
See who has the majority of ants on each card.

Any of the dice used to collect a picnic card are then sent to the Puddle. (They’ve been working hard and need a drink to refresh.) Any dice on a card that weren’t in the majority (and thus didn’t collect the card) are returned to those players’ ant hills.

Problem Picnic board game
Dice used to collect food go to the Puddle for a turn.

Once a player has collected picnic cards, they must add them to their colony. To add a card, players flip over the plate of food collected to the side that shows a small plate in the corner and two ants next to it. Players must place newly collected cards so that the plate icon on the new card covers a visible ant icon on a card in their colony. New cards cannot cover an existing plate in their colony. Also, once placed, cards in a colony cannot be moved.

Problem Picnic board game
Where should I place this watermelon?

 

Then it’s time to Prepare for the next round.

First, players refill any missing picnic cards in the picnic area from the draw pile.

Next, the starting player for the next round is determined by whoever has the least amount of plates in their colony. This player draws the top card from the Round deck and places it face up in front of them. They can use this special power in future rounds.

Then a new round begins with players sending out their ants.

Problem Picnic board game
The Round cards give the player in the back a special action to use.

 

Game end

Once the sixth round is complete, players total their scores.

Scoring each game depends on which Scoring cards are in play and the value of the Reward tokens on them.

The Reward tokens on the Majority card go to the player who has the most of that item in their colony. The Reward tokens on the Scoring cards are distributed based on what the stated goal is.

For each Reward token, the single player who achieves that goal earns that token. If there is a tie, the Reward token is discarded and the tied players each take a Tied token worth 3 points.

Players then tally up their points and the player with the most points wins!

Problem Picnic board game
Let’s see how well I did with these objectives.

 

Can the whole family enjoy Problem Picnic?

Problem Picnic is a fun dice game the whole family can enjoy.

Even though the recommended age on the box says 8+, younger kids can enjoy playing as well. When playing with younger kids it’s recommended to just play with the Majority card and leave the other Scoring cards out.

Obviously, a big part of the fun of Problem Picnic is all the dice rolling with differently sized dice. Not only is it fun to try to get the dice to end up on the food you want, it’s also a lot of fun to try to knock the other players’ dice around.

Problem Picnic board game
Lots of dice = lots of luck.

That also means the game has a lot of luck involved. First, there’s the random draw and placement of the picnic cards. Then there’s the lucky roll of the dice – both on which cards they land and how many ants come up. On top of all that are the other players’ dice.

So which picnic cards players get is driven mostly by luck.

However, once players have claimed cards it’s up to them to choose the best place for them in their colony. Players will want to pay close attention to the Scoring cards while placing their picnic cards because that’s how they’ll claim the Reward tokens in the end.

Problem Picnic board game
Building your colony well takes some thought.

The Round cards are also a good addition to the game to help mitigate the luck in the game. Those that are unlucky in claiming cards will end up with more of the Round cards – which may help them stay competitive in the game. For example, some of the powers on the Round cards let players negate the results of other players’ dice rolls.

The Puddle is also another way the game stays balanced with the number of cards players claim. Since the dice used to gain a picnic card are sent to the Puddle, those players will have less dice to roll in the next round. This in turn will give the other players more chances to gain cards and “catch up”.

So with each of these parts of the game in the mix, there typically won’t be a runaway leader.

Plus, we’ve also found that the Reward tokens seem to get evenly distributed because players can’t do everything. There’s no way one player can dominate in all scoring categories. Which means that end game scoring will be close and keep everyone engaged the whole game.

Problem Picnic board game
We love the random selection of objectives and Reward tokens.

We’re also big fans of the variable scoring in each game of Problem Picnic as it adds a lot to the replay value of the game.

Games where the goals change slightly from game to game are more engaging. The method of play doesn’t change, but the way players organize their colonies will change based on the Score cards that are randomly set for the game as well as the randomized value of each.

All those elements added together make Problem Picnic a fun game for family play.

Problem Picnic board game
No one has claimed this watermelon yet.

 

How does Problem Picnic score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Problem Picnic board gameAs you might guess, Problem Picnic gets a good score on our “let’s play again” game meter.

Not only do all the variable elements of the game make it tempting to play again, the game also plays really fast.

Since each player only rolls one die on their turn, there’s essentially no downtime during the game. The only time it slows down is when players are placing their claimed cards in their colony. And that’s still pretty quick because players typically only claim one or two cards a round.

And since there are only 6 rounds in a game, it’s easy to play a couple games back to back.

If you like rolling dice, variable scoring, and a bit of strategic choices in your family games, then we’d recommend you give Problem Picnic: Attack of the Ants a go.

 

Problem Picnic Game Giveaway

Now, what you’ve all been looking for — a way to win a copy of Problem Picnic for your family!

Kids Table Board Gaming is happy to give away a brand new, in-shrink copy of the game for one lucky winner.

And that could be you!

To enter, or get multiple entries, simply complete the options in the Giveaway Contest box below.

Final day for entries is July 28!

a Rafflecopter giveaway




We’d like to thank Kids Table Board Gaming for a review copy of Problem Picnic: Attack of the Ants.

 

43 thoughts on “Problem Picnic Game Review & Giveaway

  • Last time?… A week ago.
    BTW, what a smell is this? Hmmm..

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  • We take out the trash every Friday! 😀 Thanks for the chance to win a great family game.

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  • ha, yesterday i threw away a TON of garbage!

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  • Our trash goes out every Friday.

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  • Three days ago, but I waited till the last minute lol ;P

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  • My son will take out the rubbish, as its called here in Australia tonight as the truck will come in the morning. Oh and this was a great review.

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  • Looks a very funny game!

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  • BTW last time I took the garbage out was yesterday

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  • Last time was a few minutes ago eh

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  • I like the added element of dexterity to the die rolling.

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  • I LOVE your board game reviews. Your website is my first stop when kids birthdays roll around and I need new ideas to mix up our board game nights.

    Thanks for taking the time to keep reviewing new games.

    And for the record- We take out trash on Monday Nights!

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  • Yesterday actually… gotta get everything ready to go out tonight to the curb though!

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  • I actually took it out this morning. Thanks for the giveaway and the review of another family friendly game.

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  • I love them dice!

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  • Took it out on Thursday which was our last garbage day!

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  • Unfortunately I have to take it every 2 days… 🙂

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  • I took out the garbage every Monday. Really like the theme and twist of being the ants instead of the picnicers.

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  • Thanks The Board Game Family for the amazing review! You guys did a great job. We’re so happy you enjoy playing Problem Picnic!

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  • I just took out the garbage about an hour ago.

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  • Every Sunday and Thursday!

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  • Few days ago. I made not much garbage. 🙂

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  • It’s the kids’ chore, so I haven’t taken the trash out in weeks.

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  • I actually already own this game, but if I win, I’ll be glad to give it to someone that I know will enjoy it!

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  • Its been A WHOLE YEAR since I last had a picnic. Maybe if I win this I could have my next picnic sooner 😉

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  • Last picnic was in the spring.

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  • I can’t remember the last time we had a picnic, but we’re having one tomorrow night for my birthday!

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  • Good luck to everyone!

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  • I don’t remember the last time. Sorry.

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  • I last had a picnic…20 years ago.

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  • About a decade ago

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  • It’s been a while, maybe last summer!

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  • I last had a picnic about a month ago, must really have another one soon!

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  • We had a picnic on our trampoline 2 weeks ago. It has been raining here a lot so we are just waiting for it to dry up before we have a picnic at the park.

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  • well, i went camping a week ago..so that was like a picnic

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  • It’t interesting to be the ants from time to time:)

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  • The last “picnic” I had was with the family on the living room floor while watching The Sandlot.

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  • We had a picnic on the 4th of July

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