Sky Team Review
Advert: this game was gifted by Coiledspring Games, this has not affected our opinion.
This board game may sound like a James Bond movie but that is probably where comparisons stop. Landing a plane with no training may sound like something from an action blockbuster, but if Sky Team was a Hollywood movie it would probably feature Charlie Chaplin, because this would have to be a silent movie. You see, in this two player co-operative game there is limited communication and very little adrenaline pumping through the veins. Stop thinking about landing the Millenium Falcon on the Starkiller Base and think about landing a Boeing 747 full of passengers safely and calmy at one of the many airports around the world.
Now you are briefed on what to expect, let’s tell you more about the game!
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Setup
The first time you play there is a bit of folding and sticking to do, but I’m pleased to say it was all beautifully straightforward. The punchboard was also fantastically clear about what to get rid of. This is all one-off labour obviously.
The game recommends sitting side by side, but we generally still sit opposite each other. Either way the board needs to be flanked by the two players. One of you will become the pilot and take the blue dice and sit beside the blue half of the board, the other will be the Co-Pilot, grab the matching dice and screen.
Fill the shared board with switch tokens and the like, then choose an airport to land at. Make the necessary adjustments to the board, including placing airplane tokens on the approach strip. You will be all set up and ready to land the plane in no time!
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Gameplay
The game is played over a series of rounds until either you successfully land the plane or you crash taking an imaginary plane full of innocent bystanders to their death. No pressure!
At the start of each round you can talk about ideas or things you need to be aware of. Then both players roll their dice behind their screen. Silence then descends, and players take it in turns to place their dice, obeying any dice placement rules.
There are two mandatory actions per round, the first is to affect the planes axis, the difference of the dice played tilting the plane accordingly. The other is to control the engines, this affects your approach to the airport. The other two dice per round can be spent playing with flaps, landing gear, brakes or on the radio to clear other planes from the approach. You can also allocate a die to get coffee cups, these thematically improve concentration and allow you to add or subtract one from the pip value of a die later on.
Clear all planes in the approach track, have green lights on your switches, keep the plane horizontal and keep your speed less than your brakes and you have landed the plane successfully!
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What it’s like
Playing in silence is vital. Not being able to talk will be a challenge for some. But it isn’t just the use of vocabulary that should be avoided, grunts, groans and even gesticulations should be avoided, as any of these clues can influence the game and mean it’s not played as intended. The ability to talk between rounds does help, as you can try and formulate a plan. However, dice are dice and you can quite quickly see your plan unravel behind your player screen. The opportunities to reroll dice are very welcome and using these successfully is often the key to success.
I know some people who have found the lack of talking unthematic, why would you not talk to your pilot or co-pilot. I get that, but it hasn’t irked me, perhaps you could argue that this is time slowing down while you do all the things you need to do in between instructions.
I really appreciate how the game has so many different challenges and therefore a decent amount of replayability. I love discovering all the ways the game changes per airport. It’s fun and exciting trying to navigate the different landings.
While you can play with different people, and it is still good. It shines more if you get to know your fellow pilot. Most people will have their player two ready and waiting and so this ultimately is what you want from a two-player only game.
Some of the airports are really tricky, but these are identified and so you can scale up the levels as your adeptness at flying a plane improves. You will be balancing fuel as well as steep banks on the approach to eat up what you can do with each die.
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Table Presence
I know I am a big kid, but give me switches and a rotating plane axis and I am going to be pretty darn happy staring at this board game on the table. Add in some colourful orange and blue dice and wooden airplanes and coffee cup tokens and I will be quite content!
The rulebook is split in two, one to get you up and running, or rather down and landing, and then another with the additional elements that get added to the game with different runways. It’s a good way or processing the information. Overall, it’s a good production.
I have had lots of fun playing this on Board Game Arena too. Like always the setup is easier, but it looks so much better in three dimensions! The lack of communication is obviously easier to stick to digitally.
Final thoughts on Sky Team
Cooperative games aren’t for everyone, sometimes they lack the spice of playing against opponents, I generally prefer something competitive too. Sky Team however, has really drawn me in and got me determined to beat the game. If we fail a landing, we go again almost immediately every time. It has plenty of challenges and with the different airports there is ample to try. While the gameplay is repetitive, there are enough things to mix it up. Certainly with gaps between plays you won’t get bored of working out which dice to place where.
Sky Team is really thematic. I love the little switches and the axis dial. It might be difficult to include younger players as the silent element will be hard for them. Harrison (16) doesn’t struggle with the silence but the inability to move, sigh or wave his hands in the air is a little more unintuitive for him!
The limited communication counterintuitively creates more interaction when between rounds you dissect what you’ve done and how you proceed and prioritise the next round, I think that is really clever.
Overall, Sky Team is a tremendous two-player board game. If you regularly only game with one other person and you don’t mind co-operative games then this is one you must check out when you can!
Key Facts
Number of players: 2
Board Game Review Recommended Age: 10+
Publisher’s Recommended Age: 14+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Setting Up and Take Down Time: 2 minutes
Designers: Luc Rémond
Publisher: Scorpion Masqué
RRP: £29.99
Summary
Sky Team is a fantastic two player only co-operative game with lots of missions and plenty to discover. I’m thoroughly enjoying it and think it is a game that will really take off!
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Artwork and Components
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Complexity
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Instructions
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Interaction
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Value for Money
Overall
Pros
- Very thematic
- Two player co-op
- Lots of different airports to land at
- Great components
Cons
- Limited communication may seem unthematic to some
- Gameplay may become repetitive if played too frequently
- Two player only
Need more games?
If you already own Sky Team and enjoy it, or are looking for other inspiration, you might also like these similar games:
- The Mind
- The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
- Yukon Airways
- Similo
Buy Sky Team
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Reviewer’s Note
For clarity: we don’t get paid for our reviews. However, we were kindly gifted this game by Coiledspring Games We have tried not to let this affect our review in any way.
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