Thirteen Monsters: B.U.Z.Z. Review
Information:
Mechanics: Memory, Head to Head, Take That
Player Age: 6+ Player Count: 2 - 8 Players Time to Play: 30 - 75 Minutes
Game Designer: Rens Willemsen
Game Artist: Rens WillemsenPublisher: Twisted Stranger B.V.Year Published: 2020Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Player Age: 6+
Game Designer: Rens Willemsen
Game Artist: Rens Willemsen
Kickstarter for numerous years has had constant buzz around their tabletop games. Most games hit Kickstarter before they ever hit retail, to that end I am trying a new type of review to give readers a quick glimpse on what some games on Kickstarter have to offer. It's not the first time I have done Kickstarter reviews. They are often released too late as my current review format requires a bigger review window. Going forward Kickstarter buzz will be here to fix that issue.
Basics:
On every turn you are trying to build up your arsenal of monsters by trading, using special powers, attacking and searching for monster sets. The main action you will perform will be to search for monsters parts. This is done by revealing two face-down cards and trying to find a matching set. A match will be the left and right side of a body section, similar to the game memory.
The sections are top of head, eyes and underside. Each player will gain points at the end of the game based on the type of monsters they have built. A basic monster that is a mix and match of different monster sections will be worth 10 points (Grunt),
a monster that has two body sections of the same monster will be worth 20 points (Abomination)
and a complete monster with all the correct parts will be worth 40 points (O.G Monster). If you gain the coveted completed ghost monster it will be worth a whopping 80 points.
Uniqueness:
'Thirteen Monsters' is a gateway game for families as it is a step up from memory but with the added complexity of unique powers and fighting for body parts. The unique powers will activate on your turn based on the completed monsters you have. Grunts will let you reassemble your monster with parts from another monster you control or leftover parts you have available. Abominations will let you freeze certain tiles so only you can reveal that tile when searching for monsters and O.G Monsters will let you reveal three tiles when searching for monsters instead of two.
To add to the complexity of the game, an expansion can be included to add weapons and armour. This armour and weaponry can be equipped to monsters to prevent your opponent from attacking and allows you to modify the value of your attack/defence. The expansion also adds ways to craft metal monsters. Both the metal monsters and armour have unique abilities that are gained by compiling a monster with multiples of these parts. This is a family game that grows with your family. It starts off easy and casual but when your family is ready for more decisions the expansions add more agency and modifiers for attacking. This has been done very well, however, I would not add all the expansion parts into every game until you are familiar with all of them separately. It can be very confusing to understand everything if it has been added straight away.
Zig-Zag (Player Interaction):
Once you have a completed monster of any mixed or similar parts, you can attack. This is done by rolling the five dice and totalling the value of the pips with the same value. For example you roll two 2's and three 5's, you could have your attack value equal 4 or 15, respectively. Each monster will have a different level of re-rolling allowed. If there is no matching elements on your monster you can only re-roll twice and if you have two parts of the same element you can re-roll three times. Lastly, if the monster is the same element for all parts the player is able to re-roll a massive five times.
The defending player will get to roll as well and will have the same amount of re-rolls as the attacker of they are defending for unconnected monster parts. If they are defending for a completed monster then their re-rolls will depend on their monster type. This back and forth will happen frequently so players can complete their own monsters. Once you have four O.G Monsters of different elements you have won the game.
These attacks do occur frequently before searching cards, however, if you have remembered a match then you will often find yourself skipping straight to the search step to not lose track of the pairs. Losing track of the cards will happen more frequently when adding in the expansion. This is because there are more things you can do on a turn such as crafting or stealing items, and the combat becomes more calculated.
Zone:
For the final thoughts, as it is a kickstarter, I am going to split the game into one of the three zones; avoid, watch and instant back. ‘Thirteen Monsters' is a game you should keep your eye on if you are looking for a family game that can grow with you. The base game is great as it low complexity and aids memory formation, while the expansion takes it to a whole new difficulty. I believe the expansion needs more work to match the streamlined base game but the copy I received was a prototype so there is plenty of time for growth.
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