One of our very favorite family games to play with our kids is My Little Scythe.
For nearly two years, My Little Scythe has delighted and challenged our older kids and is still their most requested game to play. So you can imagine our excitement to incorporate the new expansion, Pie in the Sky!
But is it worth adding to your game? Let’s find out!
This review will focus solely on the Pie in the Sky expansion for My Little Scythe.
Read our full review of My Little Scythe here.
What Does The Pie in the Sky Expansion Add to the Game?
With Pie in the Sky, the most notable additions to the game come in the form of two new Seeker pairs (owls and arctic foxes,) the airship that is able to be shared by all players during the game, a 5th trophy for all players to complete to win, and the asymmetrical abilities all characters in the game can now enjoy.
The goal of the game remains the same, you must complete all of your trophies to win. Except now, rather than 4 you must complete 5.
Every player gets an airship mat that sits next to your player mat from the original game. The airship is moved during your seek action so you place a new seek action card over the seek action space on your player mat.
The airship mats have the asymmetrical powers on them. You can choose to pair the airship mat with your creature on it, or you can randomize it and choose one that doesn’t match. Either will work for the game. This is a good option for players (especially younger) who may understand the abilities of one faction better than another. Overall though, we found these powers to all be straight forward and easily understandable.
When you choose to take the Seek action, you’ll now roll the airship die along with the resource dice. This give you the ability to move the airship around the board so that it lands on a space with at least 1 gem or apple.
Once you’ve moved the airship, you then decide whether to collect one resource from its space or use your airship ability. If you choose to collect a resource, it goes into your personal cargo hold on your airship mat. These resources can be spent like any other resource you control with the added benefit of players being unable to steal them from you should you engage in a pie fight.
As mentioned, each animal has its own unique airship ability. Some of these abilities allow you to place tokens on the board that give you special effects if you choose to take actions in that region, other allow you to add or pull resources to and from the board.
Outside of a few new upgrade tiles and some new quest cards, everything else plays the same as the base game.
What do we think?
As I said in my original review, My Little Scythe raises the bar for what you should expect in a game targeted towards kids. It has a wonderful way of taking a complex game (Scythe) and distilling the essential elements of it into a game that families can enjoy together and that kids can grasp without feeling overwhelmed.
Pie in the Sky does a great job of adding new elements for fans of the base game to enjoy without making that game too complex.
It does, however, increase the difficulty level just enough that it becomes a stretch for younger players (under 7 or 8) who for the base game of My Little Scythe was a stretch.
Let’s quickly talk about component quality.
Stonemaier Games is known for their top notch components and Pie in the Sky does not disappoint.
The new animal sculpts are very detailed and quite adorable if I might say. And the airship looks exciting on the board and moving around during play. It is such a unique element that you do not typically see in family games, and certainly not when targeted towards a younger audience.
That being said, the airship does sit on a thin plastic stand which I would worry could break easily, thus grounding the airship. This is definitely an element you will need to encourage caution and gentle handling.
The new sculpts, airship, player boards, and cards all fit perfectly in the insert of the original game so there is no need to keep the expansion box!
How it impacts the length of the game
In the base game, after playing many many times, I feel that we encountered one of two scenarios. Either someone got out ahead quickly and in a flash ended the game, or the game took about 45 minutes with everyone finishing nearly at the same time.
With the 5th trophy in the expansion, the game is lengthened slightly which does give everyone more time to enjoy the game and work towards their trophies. All of our games have taken at or above 60 and 70 minutes at the 4 and 5 player counts. If you thought the initial game played out too quickly too often, you might enjoy this change.
However, if your kids are younger, this may begin to push their attention span limits. It certainly did our daughter and son (8, and 6 respectively.) They still had a great time, but after about 40 minutes we could tell they were losing interest. Honestly, our son is too young at 6 for this length of a game (he just likes to be included) and we recommend 8 and up as the best age to play My Little Scythe, especially with the Pie in the Sky expansion. If you find that the game is too long but you enjoy the expansion, you can easily just remove the 5th trophy.
We greatly enjoyed the abilities the airship gave to each player. Especially using it to store resources in our cargo hold. This really helped everyone work successfully towards their delivery trophies. Often it was difficult to get enough resources to deliver to the castle without being attacked by an opponent (our kids love the pie fights) knowing that you could work towards a trophy without the fear of a fight losing it all for you was a relief and helps keep the game friendly.
Summary
Pie in the Sky adds a new layer of complexity without tipping the game too far out the of realm of what kids in that 6-8 age range are able to handle. Because the game fits perfectly in the original game box and because it is easy to learn, we think that this is a great addition for families who really enjoy My Little Scythe.
While many players will undoubtably enjoy the addition of the 5th trophy needed to win, others may find that this lengthens the game just a bit too much for younger players with shorter attention spans, especially at higher player counts.
That being said, it is very easy to adjust your difficulty by adding elements of the expansion and eliminating others to suit your needs. If you or your kids just want to play with the new animals or the airship and aren’t interested in using any of the special abilities, that’s okay too!
To purchase a copy of the Pie in the Sky expansion, you can order a copy today on Amazon.
Reminder: This is an expansion that MUST be played with the base game which you can order here.
Visit the Stonemaier Games website for more information on this or other Stonemaier Games.
Game Info:
Title: My Little Scythe: Pie in the Sky
1-6 players, ages 8+
Designer: Hoby Chou
Artist: Katie Khau
Publisher: Stonemaier Games
A special thank you to the good folks at Stonemaier Games for partnering with us on this review. As always, our thoughts and opinions are our own.
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