I first played Slide Quest at Gen Con this year. I had just completed another game and was considering bed, when a couple of my co-workers called me over to their table in our hotel lobby. They twisted my arm to play one round of Slide Quest and twelve rounds later, I was knew I was hooked.

At Gen Con, I was dumb and delayed getting a copy before they ran out. This past weekend at GrandCon, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake. I picked up my copy from Blue Orange, who were a vendor there, and I’ve already played a bunch of times. 

The theme in Slide Quest is very thin, but that’s so not the point of the game. Some evil baddies have invaded your kingdom and you have to guide the brave knight through a series of different challenges. The trick is that our brave hero has a ballbearing in his base, and the way you move him is by pressing down paddles on the side of the board to tilt it in different directions. This tilt forces the knight to ‘slide’ on his ‘quest’ to complete the challenges.

Some levels simply have you follow a path, others add deadly dynamite to the mix, and even more complicated ones will add villains to the mix. Oh, did I mention that each level also have a bunch of holes that the knight might fall into? Cause there’s those too.

Each round, a new board is added to the base which might have a number of different obstacles and enemies. The knight is placed on the starting point and then it’s up to you to navigate him by tilting the board through the various threats. 

Now, this game is rated at 1-4 players, and I have tried some of the easier missions solo. While it is possible to play that way, I highly recommend playing with four if you have the chance. Everyone is responsible for one lever and you’re forced to communicate to get that little guy where you want him to go. It results in fun, intense moments that end in triumph or heartbreak. Either way, they’re really exciting. 

You start with a number of lives depending on the difficulty you want to set the game at. Throughout your quest, you can earn more lives, and you’re going to want to do that whenever possible. It can be surprisingly easy to send the knight headlong into a hole, or knock over a stick of dynamite. It takes a few rounds to get the feel for the tilt of the board and the weight of the knight. That being said, you start to get the hang eventually and before long you’ll be threading the needle through a bunch of levels.

Slide Quest is a game that I can bust out with ANYONE and they’re going to love it. The teach takes about 30 seconds and you’ll be playing for hours. I’ve gone through all 20 missions in the game and I’m always happy to play this with new people. Every time it gets to the table, it’s a new set of adventurers setting off on a quest to save their kingdom. The team is only as skilled as their weakest member. 

I really recommend Slide Quest. It’s a cooperative dexterity game that can be played by gamers of all skill levels. Give it a try if you get the chance.