For fans of the most (in)famous Italian plumber, Super Mario, the excitement is building and fans are getting ready for Mario Day (and if you don’t know the date, it’s 10 March – Mar10). Mar10 is a day to celebrate that special video game character that some of us grew up with and one that children still play with today. Celebrated every year, it is generally celebrated by dressing up as Mario, having a Mario-themed party, playing Mario video games or simply levelling up your family game nights by playing Super Mario board games / tabletop games. To join in with the spirit of things, we have been playing some Super Mario themed tabletop games. We have already been playing Super Mario Rally Tennis and Super Mario Air Hockey and this time we left the sports arena and gone in a different direction to the arcades and have been playing the Super Mario Lucky Coin Game.
Super Mario Lucky Coin Game is a game for 1 to 2 players, aged 4+. It is a tabletop game that recreates the classic ‘coin drop’ arcade game. It features all your favourite Mario characters (these can also be used on other Super Mario games with the Link System) and has 2 fun game rules so that you can play in different ways.
In the box:
- Battery-operated Slider (batteries not included)
- Coin Dropper
- 6x Stands with Matching Super Mario Character Stickers
- 2x Dice (with stickers for all sides)
- 56 Coins (28x Red, x28 Yellow)
- Instructions
Before you can play Super Mario Lucky Coin, please note that it does require batteries. Unfortunately, it requires batteries that you won’t necessarily have in the house or that you can ‘borrow’ from a remote or other device. It requires 2x C type (LR14) batteries, the larger fatter batteries. They are not supplied with the game. The batteries are installed under the slider unit, and you will need a small screwdriver to open the battery cover.
Batteries installed, there is some assembly required. The Coin Dropper needs to be slotted into the slider base. Stickers then need to be applied to the dice, the six character stands and the coin dropper (this obviously is a one-time only requirement). With the unit assembled and decals adorning the coin dropper, players can now get to the all-important part, playing and having fun!
There are two ways to play the Super Mario Lucky Coin Game:
- Win as many coins as you can – a 2 player game where players must compete to win as many coins as they can. Each player chooses their coin colour (red or yellow) and places 7 coins each in the dropper in the Lucky Coin channel. The remaining 21 coins are placed in the coin rack on each side of the coin slider (base unit). The question mark (?) blocks are then placed on top of the slider. Pick the starting player and turn on the switch. Players then take turns inserting 3 coins at a time, targeting them to push any coins and the ? dice block back into the coin tray. If the ? block falls in to coin tray you can place it on the Lucky Coin Chance to release your 7 coins in the dropper. Once each player has used up all of their 21 coins, count the coins in each player’s coin tray and the player with most coins is the winner.
If you want to play this as a 1 player game, it is played the same way but just using your 21 coins to win as many coins as you can.
- Win all your team characters – a 2 player game, is to race to complete your team of 3 characters. Players choose Team Mario (yellow coins) or Team Bowser (red coins). Pick the starting player. Place the characters and ? blocks on the slider. Turn on the switch, take turns inserting 3 coins at a time targeting them to push your team characters into either side of the coin tray. If you push your opponents’ character into the coin tray it goes to them. If the ? block falls in to coin tray you can place it on the Lucky Coin Chance to release your 7 coins in the dropper. The first player to complete their team is the winner.
If you want to play this as a 1 player game – try getting all the characters with minimal number of coins.
Overall, Super Mario Lucky Coin Game is a very simple game to play but lots of fun. Young players and their families will just love playing. It is just like coin dropper games you would play at the arcades at the seaside.
It is easy to assemble the game and it all stores neatly back in the box when you have finished playing it. The game components feel very good quality and durable and the slider works well pushing coins and characters down and doesn’t get jammed.
This is a game that will suit younger players better and would be good for families to play together. It is quick, fun and easy to play. We have enjoyed playing this Super Mario themed coin dropper, it is competitive and requires a bit of thinking about to work out the best way to get the coins, blocks and characters to drop into the coin tray (whilst trying to scupper your opponent). The coins are a good size for little hands to hold easily and drop in easily.
The only downside with this game is the batteries, as they are the larger C size, they can be expensive, and you won’t necessarily have spares in the house you can borrow. With decent quality batteries you should get up to 8 hours of continuous use out of them – just make sure to switch it off when not in use to save the batteries. For a £30 game it would be improved by having a built-in USB rechargeable battery or at the very least using more common AA or AAA batteries.
Super Mario Lucky Coin is good fun to play for young children and families, especially when having a Super Mario themed game night. For older children, they probably won’t find it that exciting after a game or two.
Rating: 4/5
RRP: £29.99
For more information, visit supermario.epochtoys.com. Available to buy from Amazon here.
