Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
One of my favorite things about reviewing games is finding titles where I begin to form opinions, only to pivot as I do additional plays of the same game.
That’s especially true when I hate a game after the first play.
All Aboard! (2025, Devir) is one such title. It’s a family-weight card game that accommodates 2-5 players. The rulebook is a bit too long, which I initially thought would be trouble for a game aimed at an eight-year-old and their family. I got a little worried when I got to the back of the rulebook, and found such a wide variety of card powers incorporated into the game. I knew, immediately, that the game needed but was missing one thing: a player aid. (Remember: EVERY GAME NEEDS A PLAYER AID.)
All Aboard! has many elements of a programming game. Using a hand of cards, players must place one of their animal cards onto a boat in the middle of the table. Each boat (one per player is laid out on the table) can hold three cards, with a weight limit that will be checked later. On the player’s first and third turn each round, they must play a card face-up to a boat if there is space. On their second turn, they play one of their cards face down to a boat instead.
During the resolution phase, funny things happen. If there are exactly two matching animal species on a boat, the animal owners each get a “Cupid” card, worth end-game points. If there are three of a kind on the same boat, they fight over each other, sinking the boat. Half the animal cards have special powers, and those are resolved in ascending weight order. Some cards score if the boat sinks. Some cards eat other cards. Some cards lower the boat’s overall weight. And elephants are totally fine…unless there is also a mouse on that same boat.
If the total weight of all animals exceeds the boat’s weight limit, the boat sinks. Cards that survive this nonsense score, while every other card is tossed into the permanent discard pile. At the end of each round, a new start player takes over for the next round, and after four rounds, the game ends.
Chaos, Inc.
You are probably thinking what I’m thinking: there’s a LOT going on for such a simple card game.
And during that first game of All Aboard!—featuring five players, three of whom were under the age of 12—that was absolutely the case. During each resolution phase, we were constantly going back to the rulebook to figure out what each card did, and in what order. Players didn’t always remember to start their turn with a three-card hand, to ensure they had a full suite of choices. At five players, one person doesn’t get the chance to go first…and going last in a round of All Aboard! is terrible, from a strategy perspective, because that means you only have one boat to choose from with your card play.
But additional plays got me to higher ground. All Aboard! works best as a four-player game with the family BECAUSE OF the chaos. Knowing when to drop a lion is important, and knowing what the lion card can do only comes from playing a few rounds. Slipping a peacock into the mix might be the perfect move. Timing the movement of a fox card—which can jump to another sinking boat—is crucial. Hiding specific cards during the facedown placement round can be a blast. Adding a matching species to a boat might ensure the boat sinks…and it ensures a way to guarantee two points when you are looking for an edge at the end of the game.
All Aboard! grew on my family with successive plays. Even my wife, who initially trashed the game the same way I did, was open to more plays after seeing it a few times. And it never hurts when a game plays in less than 30 minutes; with four players, you can probably squeeze a game of All Aboard! into a 15-minute window.
All Aboard! is not perfect. The iconography on the cards is not great, bad news in a game where the rules aren’t great, either. I still think you should cap your plays at four players, or play a fifth round with five players, to ensure everyone has to go both first and last during the game. (All Aboard! can play at two players, but I was never interested in trying it at that player count.) The game badly needs a player aid to remind everyone what their cards are capable of doing. Some players will not like the “mystery meat” idea of face-down cardplay, but without that, I think All Aboard! has not much going for it in terms of tension.
But I’m going to keep All Aboard! around for now. Parents looking for ways to spice up family game night might find All Aboard! to be a solid fit.
