BARBECUBES (2025)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	ARTIST	PUBLISHER
2-6	10 mins	Brett J. Gilbert Rob Sparks	Rory Muldoon	Alley Cat Games

METHOD

Nothing ruins BBQ food more than dropping it on the floor, or worse, between the grill and onto the burning coals.

And that, in a nutshell, is the premise to this small tin game from Alley Cat Games. It takes the dexterity mechanic from previous release TINDERBLOX, removes the verticality, and has players cramming a lot of tasty looking wooden pieces into a very precarious place.

When placing a food item on the grill, if you knock another piece off, or your piece goes through the grill, you keep the card you were playing. Gain two cards and you’re out.

Last person grilling is the winner.

POINTS OF INTEREST

First and foremost, BARBECUBES is one of those fantastic games that suits several key situations on the gaming menu. Need something silly to start the evening? Check. Perhaps a palette cleanser between larger heavy games? Check. Or do you have family round that are easily startled by phrases like ‘Worker Placement’ and ‘Resource Managment’?

While Alley Cat Games do publish heavier games, they also have this really nice range of small tins that offer something a little refreshing. TINDERBLOX is an easy grab for certain situations and has been great fun when put in front of new or casual gamers. Stacking wooden pieces to create a gravity defying camp fire is an easy concept to grasp. It’s mini Jenga with tweezers.

With two variants (‘Night’ and ‘Sunset’), an expansion (‘Marshmallows’), and a waterproof version (‘Storm’ – great for the pub!) it looked like the series was wrapped up. What else can you do with vertical stacking?

Well apparently you can completely flatten it out. BARBECUBES ignores verticality and provides players with four balance beams to lay their food upon.

Other than that change, the game plays exactly the same. You’ll flip a card to show you which piece to place, which hand to use, and how many grill bars to touch (one or two).

What I really love about this entry into the tin series is the use of the tin itself. The two wooden grill pieces could easily sit on the table and the game would barely be affected by it. But instead they are sat within the tin, resting on the edge of the open container leaving a small void beneath. A void that hungers for the food pieces you drop. It’s a nice touch having this mini BBQ set up on the table. Whoever suggested that during the design phase deserves a pat on the back. Absolute Chef’s kiss.

Something else this game has over TINDERBLOX is the art design. The cards and wooden food pieces are much more colourful. Each food item is a tasty looking 8-bit version of it’s real world counterpart. When you lift the lid and tip everything out, it immedietly pops on the table.

But what of the balancing act itself? Is it far easier than TINDERBLOX because the pieces don’t have to be concerned about vertigo?

No. What the game loses in wobbling pieces and weak construction is made up by the precision length of the food you’ll be placing. Apart from the burgers, the other five meats are sized to be barely long enough to cross two bars on your BBQ. We’re talking micrometers here. You’d think a slice of wooden bacon would be safe when supported by two points of contact, but you’d be so wrong.

It can often feel that the breeze from a butterflies wings in the next county over will be enough to shift a piece and see it fall into the waiting chasm below your grill. It’s beyond perfect and means that it’s not just your piece you’re worrying about as you vie for what little ‘safe’ space remains after just a few turns. After all, what good is a dexterity game without stress?

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

A game so basic and so short doesn’t really come with many drawbacks.

The tweezers can feel a little frail (I’ve had one pair go already) but this is more about the way the players hold and squeeze them. Players will get annoyed with the tweezers during gameplay, mostly because they can feel like they are fighting you for control. But this is how it’s supposed to be. It’s an extra layer of complication.

There is of course the dreaded Player Elimination, an almost forbidden term in modern gaming these days. However, BARBECUBES isn’t a two hour complex Euro. Games are fast and downtime for a player will be mere minutes.

EXTRA CONTENT?

No expansions currently.

FOR 2-PLAYERS?

The player count makes little difference here other than making the games quicker.

– – CONCLUSION – – An evolution of TINDERBLOX, BARBECUBES finds a new way to do things and succeeds on every level. It comes with a great theme, some novel integration of the tin, and has the best looking wooden pieces in the line of games so far. Easy to teach and silly fun to play, this is one of the best mini dexterity games out there.

Review #0211