28 LOCAL SPORTS
Knight Of The Card Table
CHAUTAUQUA STAR
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2014
SMASH UP: A SHUFFLEBUILDING GAME OF EPIC CONQUEST
Paul Peterson and was
first published in 2012
by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG). It’s
a game for 2-4 players,
though the more players
the better in my opinion.
Suggested ages are 12
and up, but it’s a relatively simple game that could
By Sir Melvin Pistachio definitely be handled by
a 10-year old. Play time
Official Knight of the
is listed at 45 minutes
Card Table
and that’s probably fairly
accurate, though a fourCollectible card games, roleplayer game might be a
playing games, living card
games and board games aren’t shade over that.
Smash Up won the
exactly ‘sports’, but they’re
2013 UK Games Expo
a huge passion of mine and
Award for Best General
many others. In this weekly
Card Game. It was
section I’m going to review
one of the many games in my also nominated for the
2013 Golden Geek Best
menagerie of awesomeness.
Card Game and the
One of the newest ad2013 Origins Best Traditions to my gaming
collection is Smash Up, a ditional Card Game.
game unlike any other Introduction
I’ve ever played. Do
The Smash Up base set
you like ninjas, dinocomes with eight decks,
saurs, zombies, pirates, each representing a difwizards, robots, time
ferent faction. They are
travelers, cyborg apes, ninjas, dinosaurs, zomaliens, ghosts, steam
bies, pirates, wizards, ropunks, bears, spies, lep- bots, aliens and tricksters
rechauns, carnivorous
(goblins, leprechauns,
plants and shapeshifters gnomes, etc). Personally
all rolled into one fan- I added both the Awesome
tastic battle for world
Level 9000 and the Sciconquest? Well, this is
ence Fiction Double Feature
the game for you.
expansions. Between
those two expansions,
Background
eight more factions were
Smash Up is designed by
Smash Up is a game unlike any other. Feel like
pitting the dinosaur wizards against ninja pirates
for world domination? You certainly can in this
always fun game. (Photo by Sir Melvin Pistachio)
The object of the game
is to collect 15 victory
points (VP). Points are
awarded (mostly) by
controlling bases. The
base cards have a few
numbers on them. The
number in the upper
left shows how much
strength needs to be
there to close the location. Each minion, or
Mechanics
character, card has varyThe game is almost so
ing power and can be
simple you wouldn’t
played at any base. More
think it would be fun.
on this later. The base
Here’s how it works:
card also shows how
Each player takes two
many VP are awarded
of the 20-card faction
when the base is closed.
decks (e.g. wizards
For instance, the player
and robots; plants and
with the most minion
zombies; time travelstrength at a closed base
ers and bear cavalry).
might get four points, the
Those two decks are
player with the secondthen shuffled together to
most strength might get
form one 40-card deck
two and the player with
of wizard robots. Or
the third-most points
zombie plants. Or timegets one. Each base has
traveling bear cavalry.
different numbers and
introduced. The time
travelers, cyborg apes,
bear cavalry, ghosts,
steam punks, super spies,
plants, and shapeshifters
make a total of 16 factions and nearly endless
combinations. The fact
that no two games will be
the same is a huge draw
for many game fans.
different special abilities.
In the aforementioned
40-card deck, there are
only two types of cards:
actions and minions. On
a player’s turn they get
to play one action and
one minion. It can be in
any order and they don’t
have to do either if they
don’t want to or can’t.
Minions are played at a
specific base. Once the
total strength of all the
minions at a base reaches
the break point, that base
is scored. The first player
to 15 points wins.
Overview
I bought Smash Up as
more of a filler game.
I expected it to be fast
and light and fun. While
the game is all of that,
there’s also much more
thinking and strategy
than I expected. It really
kept us all on the edge
of our seats each of the
times we’ve played.
The factions each seem to
have their own strengths
and weaknesses. For
instance, the robots are
pretty weak, but have a
lot of abilities that allow
you to play more than
one minion per turn. The
dinosaurs are extremely
powerful, but have very
few action cards so they
don’t have many tricks.
The ghosts have a couple
game-changing action
cards, but it’s sometimes
difficult to reach their
play conditions.
Overall, I really enjoy
Smash Up. Are there
combinations that
seemed far stronger than
others? Sure, but that’s
part of the fun. You
have to work with what
you’ve got. If someone
is running away with a
game, they’re probably
going to get ganged up
on. The game definitely
seems balanced, which
is rare for a game with
factions like this.
To own or not to own?
While I’m not sure
the game is for everyone exactly, I think its
humor combined with
strategy will fit a wide
audience. This is one
the wife and kids could
certainly enjoy, but can
also be played with the
guys. So bottom line is
yes, I would recommend
buying this game. Start
with the base game and
its eight starting factions.
Or better yes, wait until
August when the Big
Geek Box is released.
I believe that this box
includes the base set, the
expansions and an exclusive faction – the Geeks.
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