What is Throw Throw Burrito?
Throw Throw Burrito is a silly, high-energy party game created by Exploding Kittens that describes itself as a “Dodgeball Card Game”. Players collect sets of cards to earn points and allow them to throw cute foam burritos at their opponents. It gets even more vicious and competitive than you’re currently imagining it would.
The game is for two to six players ages seven and above.
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Throw Throw Burrito Components
- 120 Cards
- 2 Foam Burritos
- 6 Burrito Bruises
- 1 “Fear Me” Badge
- Instructions
The components of Throw Throw Burrito are a mixed bag of quality. The foam burritos themselves aren’t of the greatest caliber, but then, do you want them to be in a game where the object is to literally throw them around the room? One of ours developed a crack within the first few hours of play, but with a pair of hyperactive ten-year-olds playing together and the game turning into full-on burrito-based warfare, I’m genuinely surprised it lasted that long.
The cards are printed on nice textured stock and have the kind of funny yet bizarre artwork we’ve come to expect from Exploding Kittens games, as do the Burrito Bruises and the “Fear Me” badge which are made from shiny, thick cardboard.
The box is far deeper than necessary with a molded plastic insert and the lid also contains plastic due to a viewing window to allow buyers to see the foam burritos. It would be great to see future editions packaged in a shallower box with a cardboard insert to minimize the game’s environmental impact.
Throw Throw Burrito Gameplay
Both setup and gameplay differ slightly in the two-player variant but here I’ll be focusing on the main game.
Setup
Shuffle the cards and deal out approximately 15 to each player, although that does not need to be exact. These piles form the players’ Personal Draw Piles and are placed to the right.
Split the remaining cards into two approximately even piles and place these face down in the middle of the playing area to form two Community Piles. Place the two foam burritos and the Burrito Bruises nearby.
Each player takes the top five cards from their Personal Draw Pile and looks at them, leaving the rest of the pile face down. The game is now ready to begin.
Gameplay
The aim of Throw Throw Burrito is to collect matching sets of three cards in your hand. When you get a set of three matching cards, you place them face up in a single Score Pile. You can never have more than five cards in your hand at once, so you must always discard cards or put them in your Score Pile before picking up more. The game is played over two rounds.
There are no turns in Throw Throw Burrito and everybody plays at once, drawing cards from their Person Draw Piles and discarding cards to the Personal Draw Pile of the player to their left. This means that you will usually have a flow of cards arriving from the player on your right but when you run out, you can draw cards from the Community Piles until your Personal Draw Pile has cards again. Because everyone is playing simultaneously (and rapidly) the “piles” will quickly become a mess. Just keep playing!
When you collect three matching cards in your hand, you can earn points.
Animal Cards
A set of three matching animal cards is worth one point. These sets are added straight to a player’s Score Pile when collected.
A set of three Burrito Cards (either Brawl, War, or Duel) is worth two points and also starts a battle. After the player has added the three cards to their Score Pile, they shout out the name of the battle they have just triggered: Brawl, War, or Duel.
Brawl
When a player collects three Brawl Cards, the players to their left and right are immediately in a Brawl. Each of them grabs a foam burrito as quickly as possible and throws it at the other. The first to get hit loses the Brawl and is awarded a Burrito Bruise.
War
When a player collects three War Cards, all players are immediately in a War, except for the player who triggered it. Everyone tries to grab a foam burrito and throw it at any other player (except the triggering player). The first to get hit loses the Brawl and is awarded a Burrito Bruise.
Duel
When a player collects three Duel Cards, they choose any two players (including themselves if they choose) to play a Duel. Those two players each take a foam burrito and stand back-to-back. They then simultaneously say “3, 2, 1, Burrito!” and take one step forward in a straight line with each number. As they say “Burrito!” they turn and throw at their opponent. The first to get hit loses the Brawl and is awarded a Burrito Bruise.
Should a player announce a battle without having the correct set of cards, or should they mistakenly grab a foam burrito without actually being in a battle, the battle is immediately over and they are awarded a Burrito Bruise.
After any battle, the foam burritos are placed back in the middle of the play area and the player who triggered the battle says “3, 2, 1, Burrito!” to resume play
Ending the First Round
When the final Burrito Bruise is awarded, this ends the round. Players count up their points from the cards in their Score Piles and give themselves one negative point for any Burrito Bruises they have acquired.
The player with the most points is given the Fear Me Badge and places it in front of them on the table. If two players draw, resolve the tie with Duel, if three or more players tie, reshuffle the deck and have one player draw cards until a War card appears to trigger a War between all tied players. Continue until only one player is left.
Once a winner for the round is determined, the game is then reset entirely and a new round begins.
Ending the Second Round and the Game
Again, when the final Burrito Bruise is awarded, this ends the second and final round. Players count up their points from the cards in their Score Piles and give themselves one negative point for any Burrito Bruises they have acquired. Should there be a tie, settle this as at the end of round one.
If the same player who already has the Fear Me Badge wins this round, they have won the game. If a different player wins round two, this player Duels the winner of the previous round to determine the overall winner of the game.
Throw Throw Burrito Verdict
Throw Throw Burrito has some of the silliest gameplay I have ever witnessed. It’s high octane and not a game you’ll probably want to play with nanna and grandpa, but for the young and fit, it’s truly hysterical.
First, I’d suggest you throw away all the concept of “rules” before playing your first game. Yes, you might start out with rules, but they’ll have been discarded entirely before the first Burrito Bruise is awarded with cards practically flying at you as you hurl them to the next player equally fast. This is not a game for those who like neat turn-taking and following the rules carefully.
Also, let’s be honest, much like Dough Nab that I reviewed last year, this game will probably get violent. But in a good-natured way… hopefully! Diving to grab burritos alone runs the risk of minor injuries and I can assure you that when these burritos are thrown, they are never thrown gently! Getting smacked in the face by a foam burrito packs far more of a punch than you might expect!
Honestly, this game wasn’t to my taste, but my ten-year-old son and his friends loved it – as you can probably see above. I had to quickly add in some house rules (not running to the bathroom and locking the door to avoid getting hit is one that had to be brought in by the end of the first Burrito War) but the kids had hours of fun chasing each other around with the burritos, even if I suspect the actual game had fallen apart quite rapidly.
This is a silly game with even sillier artwork that young families will love, as will groups of young people – I can see it being hugely popular at colleges. If you’re looking for a nice, gentle board game for the whole family to play around the table then this is absolutely not the game for you, but if you want one that will have the whole family up on their feet, yelling, laughing, and leaping about then I’d highly recommend picking up a copy of Throw Throw Burrito.
GeekMom received a copy of this item for review purposes.
