New York Slice is a board game about pizza, and I had the opportunity to try it out while walking the show floor of the first ever PAX Unplugged. While I only got one full game in, it’s easy to see that New York Slice is easy to learn and quick to play. Just don’t play on an empty stomach.
The core concept of New York Slice is based around the idea of “I cut, you choose.” Each round consists of the active player laying out slices of pizza into a circle, then breaking them up into a number of chunks equal to the number of players. For example, we had five players at our table, so the pizza’s 11 slices were unequally divided up into five groups. The player to the left of the active player picks a group of pizza tiles first, and selection goes around the table until the active player takes the remaining slices that haven’t been picked up yet.
Each slice of pizza has a number on it, ranging from 3 to 11. After the final round of play, the person who has the most slices of any given number scores that many points. However, if there’s a tie, nobody scores the points. That means if I have four of the eight-point slices, and that is more than anyone else has, I’ll score eight points. If someone else also had four eight-point slices, nobody would get those points.
This leads to scenarios where the active player must divide each full pizza up into the most even chunks possible, or risk getting the worst selections at the end of the round. It also means strategies for which numbered slices you’re collecting will change each round, based on what choices are available.
There are other ways to score points with things like pepperonis and sardines, but the most dramatic way the standings change are with “Today’s Special” cards. Each round, a Today’s Special card is added to one of the pizza slice chunks as an added bonus or major deterrent. These cards can add some big points, or take away from your total at the end of the game. In our demo, the game was won thanks to the bonuses granted by one of these cards (and also because the players competing to get the “11” slices tied, negating those points completely).
While we did have an experienced rep walking us through the opening round or two of gameplay, we finished our demo of New York Slice in around 30 minutes. That’s a good thing, because I was really hungry at the time, and each pizza slice features some realistic looking artwork. Had I played another game, I might have tried to nibble on my triangular hunks of cardboard. That said, New York Slice works great as a quick filler game between bigger experiences at a game night, or a fun few rounds by itself.
New York Slice is available now, typically retailing for around $30.
So what do you think? Have you played a round or two of New York Slice? What other food-based games get your stomach rumbling? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
