Game Overview: Get Bit!, or Chomping Your Way Through the Years

With U.S. publisher Greater Than Games Kickstarting a new edition of Get Bit! for release in Q3 2022 (KS link), I dug through the Boardgame News archives to find my July 5, 2007 preview of the original edition of the game, which features notes on the game's creation from designer Dave Chalker.

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Publisher: Robot Martini
Designer: Dave Chalker
Players: 4-6
Playing Time: 10-20 minutes
Release Date: July 2007

Robot Martini's first titles have all been inexpensive card games in baggies, but Get Bit! marks the company's transition into full-color, full-price publications. Get Bit! includes 42 color cards (numbered 1-7 in six colors), 1 shark card, and 6 Dismembermen, who carry that quaint name because their limbs will be forcibly removed over the course of the game.

Yes, the goal in Get Bit! is to be the last one eaten by a shark, presumably because he'll be too full after snacking on your friends to do more than nibble off a couple of your toes. "Normally, I try to start a game with an idea of how a game is played, like 'this is a bluffing game' or 'this is a bidding up game with push-your-luck elements or whatever," says designer Dave Chalker. "In this case, I had a shark piece from Hawaii, some numbered cards, and some colored pawns. I put the pawns in a line in front of the shark, gave players the numbered cards, and voila, I had a game. Well, of course, I didn't have a PLAYABLE game, but many of the elements were there from the very first play."

To start the game, the players' Dismembermen are randomly lined up in front of a shark. Each player simultaneously reveals a card from 1-7 (or 1-6 or 1-5, depending on the number of players). Starting from low number to high, players hop to the front of the line: a 1 moves first, then a 2, and so on. However, if you play the same number as someone else, you don't move. After movement, whichever player is at the back of the line loses a limb, but as compensation that player picks up all of their cards and jets to the front of the line. (Fear is a great motivator!)

Original cards from the Robot Martini edition

"We tried all sorts of permutations on the basic concept, and it was really Pow-Wow [a conference for game designers] that made me re-examine the whole concept," says Chalker. "Earlier on, there were different ways of showing that the shark had taken a bite out of you. Then everyone who played it started to make the suggestion of having some sort of hit points, which in retrospect was the obvious thing. So, after I got home, I dug out my box of LEGOs, sat on the floor, and sifted through to find six differently colored LEGO guys to replace the pawns. From there, the game worked, and the LEGOs were swapped out for plastic guys with easier limb removal, very similar to what comes in the final game."

"I have to give a big word of thanks to Kory Heath," adds Chalker. "He was helping me to show the game to publishers last year, and I had this really clunky set-up rule that stood out. He pulled me aside and said, 'In my games, if there's a rule that makes me cringe when teaching it, I know it's a bad rule.' So we worked on the set-up, and it's much, much easier to play and teach now."

If you lose all four limbs, you're out of the game, and the last player swimming wins the game. "With four players, you're a little more concerned with trying to figure out what everyone is going to play, but tying the person behind you is a bit more risky," says Chalker. "I don't know if there's a best number of players — my favorite is six, just to get as many people playing as possible."

Image: Peter Brichs

I've played the game once, and Get Bit! was ridiculously fun. Anyone who dislikes blind-bidding might dislike this game as well, but watching everyone disappear into the shark's maw was great late night fun, especially when you match the card of someone behind you in line, thereby keeping you out of harm's way and pushing them closer to doom.

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P.S.: I've since played Get Bit! another handful of times, and this game seems like one that you should find on the shelves of a mainstream retailer like Target today. The rules are simple, and gameplay is intuitive. Chalker's initial method of introducing the game — place the swimmer in a row, give everyone cards, and say "Play one!" — is still how I'd introduce it to players today. Jump into the water and get going!

Sure, you're probably going to lose a limb or two to careless play, but the entire game wraps up in 20 minutes, so you can play again immediately and possibly do better, especially if you start paying attention to what everyone else has played so that you have a better idea of who might be playing what.

I'm iffy on the new look of the GTG edition with robot swimmers and a "great white-tanium shark", but perhaps that's because I'm old and want to stick with what I know. Kids these days don't respect the Dismembermen of the past!

Promotional image from Greater Than Games