Raising Robots – Unboxing and Components Review

Raising Robots just recently fulfilled from Nauvoo Games and players are excitedly unboxing their copies and checking out all the great components inside. In this review, we are unboxing the deluxe version of the game which includes wooden tokens instead of cardboard, the Animals expansion and card sleeves. Is the production worth the price? Let’s take a look!

GamesReviews paid the production cost of the game plus shipping the game to Canada to do this review? Big thanks to Nauvoo Games for making that possible as we missed the Kickstarter campaign.

The big disappointment for me when opening Raising Robots is actually pretty unfair. I would have loved to see a nice insert inside the box to hold everything once it was all opened. However, when you see the sheer number of things included in the box, you quickly realize why an insert is unrealistic for this game.

Included in the box are all the pieces for 6 players, including player boards, card decks and wooden pieces. There are also a large assortment of cards, broken down into robot cards, school cards, and inventors. There is an epic amount of stuff here, and it all fits snuggly in the box, with the lid laying flat.

I think the first thing I want to talk about with this review isn’t any of the wooden components, which is what I generally talk about first. Instead, I want to talk about this game’s art style – it is phenomenal! Every single robot in the game is unique, which means you won’t find two of the same robot, or two robots with the same actions (at least I don’t think so)! Some robots are themed after real life individuals or professions, while others are just cool and interesting to look at. A game that looks this good is just more enjoyable to play – it’s science, folks!

The rest of the box is equally as impressive. All of the inventor cards are also unique, and based on real world counterparts. But let’s move past art and talk about the wooden components in the deluxe version. Again, if I can replace cardboard bits with wooden bits, I’m almost always willing to pay that extra price. Wood is so much more enjoyable, and makes the entire game feel more premium, and again, more enjoyable to play. Again, it’s science, folks!

I think cardboard is probably more than adequate, but the pieces themselves are pretty small, so folks with chubby hands like myself might have more issues maneuvering thin cardboard as opposed to better, wooden components. 

I also enjoyed that this game came with sleeves, but the need for sleeves highlighted another issue for myself which was echoed by many reviewers and consumers – the card quality isn’t as good as you would like in a card heavy game like this. Sure, you aren’t really shuffling cards mid game, and anything you play just sits on your board for the remainder of the game.

Still, a slightly more premium card could make the need for sleeves obsolete. Mind you, I do understand that card improvements are some of the more expensive add-ons for a board game, so to keep the price a bit lower, I can see why the company opted for this specific quality.

Overall, I’m VERY impressed with the quality of Raising Robots. The Deluxe gold foil box is also a nice touch, and this is a game that draws a lot of attention when on my shelf, or displayed above my shelf for all to see. We will have a full review of the game soon, but spoilers – it pretty much rocks!