As a child, Tiddly-Winks fascinated me. I was always hor-rible at them, but it was such fun to snap the little plastic discs all over the room, into buckets and over chairs, etc. When I saw that X-Bugs (Steve Jackson, 2001 - Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello) was basically Tiddly-Winks with special powers, I was immediately interested. And how has the game turned out? There is one flaw with the game, in my opinion, but overall, it's a very fun game, and I am starting to think that Italian designers are amongst the world's best. X-bugs currently is sold in four boxes, each box containing two armies. There are only four armies (USartropods, Flyborgs, Sovietopters, and Chitinians), so two of the boxes are identical, with the only difference being the colors. (So if you were dying to play a Flyborgs vs. Flyborgs game, you would be able to.) I'll tell you a little more about the game mechanics. Each player chooses an army and takes all the pieces related to that army. The amount of pieces for each army varies, but every army has the following: Three dice, with different units on each side of the die. One rectangle plastic piece, to be used as a "shooter." Three large circle plastic pieces, with different pictures on each side: one representing the "large" base, and the other the "small" base. Five very small plastic pieces, with no stickers, representing resources. A variety of solider pieces, made up of rectangle plastic pieces, and small and large circles, conclude the composition of each army. (Some armies have special tokens - like rockets or webs, that aren't soldiers, but used when ranged weapons are used.) Many of the soldiers have two sides, with one side having a special ability. A playing area is picked (usually a table's surface with a thin tablecloth) and split into two halves. Each player places their bases (small versions) anywhere in their areas, as long as they are 4" from the table edge and 6" from the center of the table. Soldiers are then placed (on their nor-mal side) anywhere on the board with the same restrictions. Each player takes their resource ships and drops them on the board, letting them scatter around. The special tokens are set aside and only used when needed. One player goes first, and then each player takes a turn. On a turn, the player rolls their dice, one for each base they currently have. The bugs that show on the dice rolled are the bugs that can be moved this turn. The player may "shoot" these bugs towards the enemy. If a bug goes off the table, the player loses their move with that bug. If the solider lands on enemy soldiers, however, it eliminates the soldier(s). If the bug lands under an enemy piece (it happens rarely), the attacking bug is lost. There is no penalty for landing on top of friendly pieces. Since bugs have special abilities (especially when on their special side). The only way to get a bug onto its special side is to flip it thus. Many special abilities may be used instead of moving the bug. Examples of special abilities from all four armies in-clude: the "Tank" bug can shoot a Flame, which eliminates bugs it lands on, and stays in play -the "Centurion" bug can raise a shield, in which it takes two hits to kill it the "Spider" can shoot a web, which can immobilize enemy bugs. the "Carrier" can bring reinforcements to the board from where it is located the "Saboteur" cannot be captured when on its special side if the "Zealot" is captured when on its special side, the attacking bug is also eliminated the "Exterminator" can move again if it captures a bug, but cannot attack bases the "Intruder" can move twice if on its special side. and many, many more! Bugs can also capture resources. If a team captures two resources they can upgrade their bases to a "large" base, which also provides a special ability to that team. When a base is hit by a bug, the base is downgraded from a large base to a small base. If the base was already small, the base is eliminated from the game, and the owner loses one of his dice. Any player that kills one or more bugs on their turn may move one more pieces of their choice. Also, if a player rolls the dice, and the bug showing has been totally eliminated from their team, they may bring in a reinforcement, next to one of their bases. (This may only be done if the team still has at least two bases). Whichever team captures all three of the enemies' bases is the winner! Some comments on the game: 1). Components: I have yet to see a Steve Jackson game that gave me my money's worth, component wise, but this game comes awfully close. The plastic pieces are of utmost quality, and look very sharp and impressive when laid out on the table. Stickers are provided, which must be put on all the pieces and dice, but they have stayed on well, and look pretty good. The box is the same size as most of Steve Jackson small games, and holds the pieces well, but you'll certainly want bags to hold each army. I bought two boxes, to get one of each army, and found that all four armies fit easily in only one box. The box and bugs have some very nice artwork, which provides a humorous but very thematic look to the game. 2). Rules: The rules are printed on four pages of rules in full color and are written with extreme simplicity and clarity. I found that the game is rather simple to teach, with the only holdup being the special abilities of bases and soldiers. However, the rules come with little perforated charts for each army, which can be torn out. This allows each player to look over the rules for their army, and helps speed play up quite a bit. After a bit of playing, players should easily remember the special rules of their pieces. The rules also include some variants for multiplayer games, which include free-for-alls and team play. 3). Flaw: One thing I do not like about the game, and consider a flaw, is that when a player's base is eliminated, they lose one of their dice, with no chance of ever getting it back. I'm sure people will disagree with me on this, but I have seen many games where someone gets a lucky shot on the first or second turn, and eliminates an opponent's base. The opponent then has a huge disadvantage, being able to move only two bugs to his opponent's three. My fix is to only take away a die when you've lost two bases. It seemed to make the game better for us. 4). Not a flaw: I do not complain, however, about the lucky shots. There is a good deal of skill in shooting the bugs. It is one that I certainly do not have, for I have never done well at this game, or Tiddly Winks for that matter. But special abilities of the bugs aside, and strategic layout of your army, the person who shoots the best will probably win. And this is not a bad thing. 5). Army balance: Each of the armies is very different. Yet I have not found that one of the armies is better than the rest. Rather, they seem to remarkably well balanced (although the army that I play seems to lose more often than not). Each army has a unique style of play, and a player should read over their special abilities so that they may uti-lize their army to maximum effectiveness. I suppose it would be interesting to play the same army against itself, but I'm not currently willing to spend the extra money to do so. 6). New armies: The designer of the game has told me that they are currently making new armies of X-bugs, although he wasn't clear as to whether they would be in the Steve Jackson version or not. But this brings new life to the game, and if new armies appear over the years, it will keep the game fresh and new to many players, while providing quite a few options when choosing an army. 7). Fun Factor: The fun in this game is huge. I am awful, terrible, and pretty much rot at playing X-bugs. Yet I still have a lot of fun. Everybody oohs and ahs at the good shots, and laughs hysterically at the amazingly bad shots. This is one game that is enjoyed by both children and adults alike, and where the skill level is basically the same. So I will recommend X-bugs highly. If you are looking for a dexterity game that combines the special abilities often found in CCGs, then this game is perfect for you. If you don't care about the special abilities, however, I'm still convinced that you would enjoy the game. The smartest or most tactical player will often lose to the better shot, which in gaming groups is often a good thing, and helps balance out the win ratio in the group. And, it's a game you can play with your kids where you try your hardest to win, and still will often lose. It's a little steep for what you get, but I think the fun inside the boxes, along with very good components, justifies the price. Try this game, and have a blast killing off your opponents' bugs! 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