Tattoo Stories - Bicycle - $19.99
Game title: Tattoo Stories
Game description: A party game of drawing fun tattoos and telling the best stories. Everyone takes a turn to be the customer by select cards to inspire their tattoo. The other players (tattoo artists) make up a story and draw a tattoo they feel Best represents the cards selected, then pitch their idea to the customer. So easy to learn, you will be having fun in less than 3 minutes.
Overall
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Play (Mechanics)
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Presentation (Art/Quality)
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Plan (Rules)
Summary
Bicycle is typically known for its playing cards but recently has started to branch out into the hobby board game market. Tattoo Stories is their foray into party games, using the tried-and-true “draw something then judge” party mechanic. The game has rotated 1 person as a Client while all the other players are Tattoo Artists. 10-word cards are drawn by the Client and they pick 5 words that describe the tattoo they’re looking for. Each Artist then has 3 minutes to draw something using all 5 words, asking the Client questions along the way to get a better idea of what they’d like. The tricky part is that nothing can be erased until the round is over.
Pros
- Easy, familiar rules
- Quick play time
- Hilarious
Cons
- Minimum of 3 players
- Requires a bit of artistic talent
- Not much different from other games of similar style
Bicycle is typically known for its playing cards but recently has started to branch out into the hobby board game market. Tattoo Stories is their foray into party games, using the tried-and-true “draw something then judge” party mechanic. The game has rotated 1 person as a Client while all the other players are Tattoo Artists. 10-word cards are drawn by the Client and they pick 5 words that describe the tattoo they’re looking for. Each Artist then has 3 minutes to draw something using all 5 words, asking the Client questions along the way to get a better idea of what they’d like. The tricky part is that nothing can be erased until the round is over.
Once time is up each Artist must pitch their design to the Client. The Client then awards word cards to the players who best used that word in their design. The role of Client then switches to another player. The player with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner. Its a very familiar formula which many players of party games will pick right up.
Tattoo Stories is fairly light on visual design other than the cover art and card backs, though most party games seem to follow this trend. It requires at least 3 players and, other than a few minor quirks, isn’t much different from other drawing-style party games out there. Still, the theme carries the game and allows for some hilarious situations during play.
Bicycle seems to be playing it safe with this game and that’s understandable while it tries to break into a new market. At $20, its certainly going to stand out on store shelves with its flash cover and theme. So far the game has certainly been enjoyable. Hopefully, it doesn’t get drowned out by the juggernauts in its category.
A copy of Tattoo Stories was provided free for review by Bicycle
Media personality Rob “Devar-TTY” Kalajian has been a staple in the board game world for many years. As a former writer for Purple Pawn and the owner of Devar-TTY’s Pawns Perspective, Dev now focuses mostly on video games and TTRPGs. A self-proclaimed geek, Rob loves all things toys and games and even helps raise his four kids in his spare time.
