BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER BOARD GAME

Product Information

Quarterbacking aside, the fact that Buffy shares a lot of DNA with other co-ops means that if you’re a fan of Buffy and you like co-operative games, this should be a slam dunk for you. First Baddies activate, then the Monster of the Week, and then finally the Big Bad if he has been revealed.

All the Bad Guys move by a logic system looking for Townie characters not in the same location as the Heroes and trying to get rid of them. This is where the most experienced/annoying player ends up telling the group what to do and thwarts the natural conversation and planning between players that should go on in a co-op game. If one of those two symbols match the monster of the week’s symbol, the monster dies replaced by a clue token. Unfortunately, threaded into this are some of the most frustrating interlinking game systems that I have seen for a long time.One bad mechanism doesn’t necessarily destroy a game though – there are plenty of games I enjoy despite some problematic elements in their design. I was playing as Buffy and Adam's minions had me pinned in the University Library, with Adam and each of his cronies blocking a doorway out.

The Moon Phase tracker is a neat concept, as a pewter Buffy symbol traces the phase of the moon with the following effects: On a New Moon, villains get to draw two Evil cards instead of just one when they land on the appropriate spaces.

Then the next round starts again with the action phase; this makes for a fast-paced game, where it could easily have been bogged down in itself.

Once enough clues have been gathered, the Big Bad is revealed on the board and can be confronted (and hopefully, defeated). It threatens to carve out a chunk of your free-time with no guarantees it’ll make it worth your while. Certain effects, as well as Minions and MotW, will deal damage to the Hero and these are added to a track.

Buffy is good at fighting, Willow can do more with magic than anyone else, Xander can help others and so on and each of these special abilities makes choosing the characters that you play interesting and something to consider if not everyone is in the game.