Monday , March 18 2024

Game Review: ‘Hello Kitty and Friends Loteria’ from The Op

Hello Kitty and Friends Lotería from The Op Games is truly international as it brings together game-play from Latin America and one of Japan’s greatest cultural contributions into a single entertaining game for all ages. Hello Kitty, the creation of Yuko Shimizu from Sanrio, is one of the most recognized characters worldwide. Sanrio has a slew of other characters, many of whom join in on the game to give a peek into the Hello Kitty world, thrilling fans with appearances by favorites like Little Twin Stars and Chococat.

Game Mechanics

Hello Kitty and Friends Lotería’s game mechanics work much like American bingo. Players each receive a card or tabla featuring images in a grid. Instead of a spinner and numbered balls as in bingo, lotería uses a deck of cards. Players shuffle the deck and reveal the image. Those who have a matching image place a token onto it. The first player with a row of four tokens, whether vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, shouts out “supercute!” to win.

The traditional method of playing lotería adds a new dynamic to the matching in Hello Kitty and Friends Lotería. Rather than revealing the card to all players, one player is named the caller and does not receive a card. This player draws each card and then gives a description. Traditionally, the caller even makes up a rhyme to describe the image. Players then must interpret the caller’s description to place their token. This makes calling out a row especially interesting as the caller then reveals the cards to see whether the player’s guess on which images were described was correct. If not, play resumes with the rest of the players interpreting more descriptions.

The Test of Time

The game-play in Hello Kitty and Friends Lotería stands the test of time, bringing players back again and again for another round. The real draw, however, are the adorable Sanrio characters. Players might even find new favorites among ones not so often seen as Hello Kitty, such as Tuxedosam the penguin or My Melody the rabbit. In addition to the characters themselves, the lotería game includes food items like ice cream, hamburgers, and sodas along with food trucks all in the themes of the different characters. Players will grin when they see what golden retriever Pompompurin looks like as a mobile cafe and the ice cream based on frog Keroppi, all labeled in Spanish and English.

Unpredictability and Luck

Hello Kitty and Friends Lotería is a bingo-style game for two to twelve players aged four and up. Each round is quick, lasting only about ten minutes especially when there are plenty of players working their cards. For shorter games with fewer players, players can work more than one card at a time. Very lucky players may have a line built in the first few draws, while some games might go on and on with no matches for several draws. With its unpredictability and luck, as well as its adorable characters, Hello Kitty and Friends Lotería makes for a great family game for young and old alike.

About Jeff Provine

Jeff Provine is a Composition professor, novelist, cartoonist, and traveler of three continents. His latest book is a collection of local ghost legends, Campus Ghosts of Norman, Oklahoma.

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