Kamba Review

• Designer: Andrew Bryceson
• Publisher: GoForItGames
• Players: 4-10
• Age: 8+
• Time to play: 20-30 Minutes

Hey folks! I’m back with another review. This time we’re being loud, unruly, hitting things, and all while chanting. We’re looking at Kamba. This is a party game full of tongue twisters and hilarity.

Components

• 50 Letter/Tongue Twister Cards
• 10 Mallet Cards
• 10 Splat Cards.

The Letter Cards spell out K-A-M-B-A. On the other side is the tongue twisters with advanced instructions for a more difficult game.

Mallet and Splat Cards are double sided.

Set Up

Give each player a Mallet card, a Splat Card, and the letter cards to spell out KAMBA. The KAMBA cards should be face down and players don’t look at them.

Left side place your mallet card.

Right side place your splat card within hand range of you and your neighbor on the right.

Game Play

Kamba is played simultaneously.

Each Player picks up their mallet card.

Players chant the following while playing and moving their mallet from their splat card to their left neighbor’s splat card.

Chant Pattern

1. Kamba ba
2. Kamba ba
3. Kamba kamba kamba ba.

When you start play, make sure your mallet card is touching your splat card. Your mallet will hit your own splat card on the following in the chant.

1. KAmba ba
2. KAmba ba
3. KAmba kamba KAmba ba

You’re touching your neighbor’s splat card on the following in the chant.

1. kamba BA
2. kamba BA
3. kamba KAmba kamba BA

When you hit the last BA in the chant, you drop your mallet card on your neighbors splat card. They should be touching your neighbors card.

If all is good, and every mallet is touching a splat you keep playing.

Grab the mallet card on your splat card, this should have came from your neighbor to your right, and start the chant over. This time going faster. Repeat this until the following happens.

If anyone notices a mallet card is not touching their splat card, shout “KAMBA!” Everyone stops playing to see what went wrong. The player in the wrong, either the player that didn’t drop the mallet on the splat or the player that incorrectly called KAMBA has to flip over their first letter card.

That player reads the tongue twister on the card. This is the new chant everyone is saying out loud now.

Example tongue twister.

1. Cheese trees please
2. Cheese trees please
3. Cheese trees cheese trees cheese trees please

Here’s when your mallet should be touching your splat card using the new tongue twister.

1. CHeese trees please
2. CHeese trees please
3. CHeese trees cheese trees CHeese trees please

Here’s when your mallet should be touching your neighbor’s splat card.

1. Cheese trees PLease
2. Cheese trees PLease
3. Cheese trees CHeese trees cheese trees PLease

If you’re playing the advanced version of the game. When the player reveals the tongue twister, they will also read the “Pro” at the bottom of the card. Some of these will be just the player that revealed it, some will be all players.

“Pro: Use your spare hand to wave vigorously at the other players.”

Keep playing and turning new tongue twisters over each round. The game ends when one player has turned over all of their letter cards. The winner, or winners, is the players with the least amount of letter cards turned over.

Final Thoughts

The cards are nice quality. The mallet and splat cards are cartoony. This fits the game and makes it inviting. The tongue twisters all fit the same pattern of chant. When I first played this, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was easy see how the tongue twister is chanted. It’s another thing to actually chant the tongue twister, hit the mallet to the splat card, and increase speed. Each card has art that ties to the tongue twister. The art is also cartoony. It’s hard for me to place where I’ve seen this kind of art before, but the closest I can think of is MAD Magazine mixed with satirical caricature. I’m a fan of the art style, and think they did really well with picking art for each card.

This is a small box game. The game comes with 70 cards to use in the game, and 3 other cards used to direct you to set up and game play. I had to go to the website to learn how to play the game. Some people might find this troubling to have to do, but I found the videos very helpful with game play. Sometimes seeing it in action works better than reading the rule book. This is one of those times. You get the cadence of the chant.

With the number of players being 10, that means the tongue twister cards will have the following amount. 10 for K, 10 for M, 10 for B, but 20 for A. A has the most variety when flipping that card over. After a couple of games, you should get though all the K tongue twisters. A little con, and something that is easily remedied, but the beginning of the game can get repetitive due to this. Easy solution is a player can flip any of their cards over instead of the first one.

Game play is just as the box claims. The loudest, most unruly game in the world. I play with a lot of loud and unruly people already. This game was a good match for my group. Laughter was heard throughout the game. One player couldn’t even get the chants out, and instead was making the motions and laughing while playing. The combination of motor planning and tongue twisters is a great. I like that the chant didn’t matter as much as the mallet card getting to that splat card. What matters is your accuracy to that final splat destination.

The pro actions add even more motor planning and throws even more wrenches into your flow. It’s good, as it means more of a chance for other to slip up with their mallet placement. It goes to old “Rub your stomach and pat your head” at the same time. It’s hard to motor plan both of those while concentrating on which one is which.

This game brings out the loud and unruly in the quietest of people, but in an uproariously good way. The actions and tongue twisters make fools out of the calm and suave. This is THE party game to play if you like seeing people being loud and making fools of themselves. Don’t worry. It’s not just one person, it’s everyone making a fool of themselves at the same time. All while laughing. Quick word of advice, I’d keep food and drinks off the table while playing this game. It can amp up pretty quickly.

Kamba Website – Check it out. Great fun to be had.