Review: New York Slice (Bezier Games)

If you love pizza and games — and really, who doesn’t love those things — then you need New York Slice from Bezier Games. Period. End of story.

Okay, it’s not really the end of the story because my much-loved editor has this crazy thing about word count and how a three-sentence review misses the mark. So let’s move on and get into more depth on this delightfully different game because you’re gonna love it like a perfect day in Central Park. Fugeddaboutit.

Let’s split a pizza!

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Visually, New York Slice is about splitting pizzas with your friends. At its heart, though, it’s a clever set collection mechanic combined with fun player choices and a “now versus later” scoring system.

The Today’s Special cards add one more strategic layer to the mix. Each time a new pizza gets made, it includes a Today’s Special card. The card might give (or take) victory points, provide an in-game ability, or change how slices get scored.

Your slice or mine?

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One player each round acts as the pizza slicer. He starts by drawing and reading the Today’s Special card.

Next, he takes a stack of 11 random pizza slices and reveals them one at a time to make a pizza. The slices go next to each other as they’re revealed — the slicer can’t change the order.

Finally, the slicer uses the pizza slices and the Today’s Special card to make enough portions for every player in the game. The special card either goes with some pizza slices or becomes a portion on its own.

Collecting and eating for points

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In turn, each player then takes a portion of the pizza. This round’s slicer goes last.

Here’s where things get more strategic. If any of the slices include pieces of pepperoni, she can “eat” (score) those pieces for 1 victory point per pepperoni instead of adding them to her collection. The other slices go into her collection for scoring at the end of the game.

At game end, players count the number of slices they collected (not pieces they ate!) in each topping combination. The player with the most pieces in each combination gets the combo’s points. The more slices of that type available in the game (11 cheese versus 6 pineapple and ham, for example), the more victory points that combination is worth.

New pizza, new challenges

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Because the slices and the Daily Special cards get randomized at the beginning of every game, every pizza presents unique challenges to the players. Will you go for the big points by collecting cheese or munch on your pepperoni on the way to build points slowly? It’s your call.

The slicer gets plenty of strategic decisions, too. Although the slicer can’t reorganize slices in a pizza, she can split it however she wants, playing close attention to how the portions play into each player’s collection of pieces.

If the round’s Daily Special card is particularly nasty, the slicer can use it to “poison” several valuable slices of pizza. On the other hand, if it’s really strong, she could put it with some anchovy slices (ew, anchovies; ew, negative points) or even make the card its own “portion,” forcing the other players into some very hard decisions.

Loving the experience

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Everything about New York Slice builds a strong playing experience. The flat, rectangular box and its artwork evoke thoughts of a typical pizza box. The rules look like a menu and the score pad is styled as a classic restaurant order-taking pad.

The playing pieces themselves add the final touch to the game experience. The art on both sides looks so realistic that you almost forget it’s cardboard.

The Verdict

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New York Slice is one of the best “family and friends” games to cross our table this year. It plays the pizza theme to the hilt, with a combination of great art and perfect packaging. Everybody can relate to splitting up a pizza, so teaching the game goes quickly.

Thanks to the artwork and theme, the game appeals to everyone with an appetite. The only game-related mishap at our house had to do with someone who’s not fond of black olives (in the same sense that fish are “not fond” of being out of water) and didn’t like getting stuck with veggie slices. He won anyway. Such is life.

If you love pizza and games — and really, who doesn’t — then you need New York Slice from Bezier Games. Period. End of story. (And this time, it’s really the end. So there.)