Wonka Golden Ticket Board Game Review

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is one of the most beloved family classics of all time. The movie is filled with many memorable performances(especially from Gene Wilder), memorable songs, and some of the most tasty-looking chocolate ever put on screen. For the past 50 years, this movie has delighted fans of all ages. Now there is a board game everyone can enjoy from Buffalo Games.

The Rules

The Wonka Golden Ticket Board Game is 2 to 5 players and takes about 30 minutes to complete. Depending on how many people are playing there are a certain amount of chocolate bars and golden tickets you need to set aside. The game comes with 60 Wonka bars, 60 Wonka wrappers, and 5 golden tickets. Some of these are extra pieces though. For example, for a 2-player game, you only need to use 34 Wonka bars and 1 golden ticket.

Once you have set aside the Wonka bars, mix them all up, choose a character to play as, and deal out Wonka cards to each player. Players will move around the game spaces with the goal of collecting money or collecting Wonka bars. Cards that are dealt to you can also help you achieve these goals or help you sabotage other players.

You have two actions each turn. You can either discard a card from your hand to move your character. Play a card and use its effect. Or refill your hand. As soon as you are done with your 2 actions, roll the Willy Wonka die and move Willy around the board. If he lands in the same space as any character, that character can collect a free Wonka bar.

The goal of the game is to collect as many Wonka bars as you can in order to have a higher chance of finding the golden ticket inside one of them. When all bars have been collected, each player opens up the ones they have collected, and whoever finds the golden ticket wins.

Pros

There are many pros to this game. First off, the artwork is unbelievable. The game board as well as the playable characters are vibrant and truly movie-like. The wrappers and golden tickets also look incredibly authentic.

The game is quick and easy to understand and the replayable factor is definitely there. The cards that you can play with also have a lot of nostalgia. A lot of them have to do with Wonka’s inventions. You will see things such as Fizzy Lifting Drinks and Everlasting Gobstoppers.

Another significant component is each playable character has abilities. These abilities can be used throughout the game and add to the gameplay for sure. There are also multiple game modes for more of a challenge.

Cons

The game and gameplay are pretty great but there are a few problems I did encounter when playing. When setting up the game, depending on how many players there are, you need to put Wonka bars inside Wonka wrappers and hide golden tickets inside. This process can take a while. I tried to leave the bars in the wrappers after playing but they didn’t fit in the box right.

Also, while it is fun to open all the Wonka bars in the end and find out who has the golden ticket, I did play a game where I had the golden ticket and only opened 2 bars to find out. I was happy that I won, but it did make the setup seem even more annoying.

Another complaint is for a 5-player game it says to incorporate all 5 golden tickets into the game. Initially, I thought that in this version the person who wins is whoever has the most golden tickets. Instead, the rules state that any player that finds a golden ticket wins the game. That isn’t very fun. Sounds more like a participation prize and less competitive.

Overall

The Wonka Golden Ticket Board Game is a great game for any fan of the movie. There is a lot of nostalgia here and the replay factor is there.  There is plenty of strategy in this game as well and it really made me want to rewatch the film right away.

The Wonka Golden Ticket Board Game is available now to purchase on Amazon


About Martin Maruri

Martin Maruri is an avid fan of pop culture and movie trivia. In his spare time, Martin loves to watch horror movies, watch baseball and spend time with his lovely girlfriend. P.S...He also loves spending time with his French Bulldog named Tobin.

View all posts by Martin Maruri

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