The Robot That Totally Saved Cleveland GENCON 2016 REVIEW

Two-Gun Pixie Presents:

LEGENDARY

GAMING

007 – Junkyard Soldiers

vs

Lab Monsters

Salutations survivors of the Nerd Wasteland!

Welcome back to our tabletop game review page.

This installment of Two-Gun Pixie Presents: Legendary Gaming is part of our special GEN CON 2016 Board Game Reviews & Previews series!

Join us in creating homemade robots to throw at laboratory-made monsters as we find out who really is…

The Robot That Totally Saved Cleveland

Designer: Christopher Severn

Artists: Andy Lenig

Publisher: The Pickaxe Group, LLC.

Publication Date: 2016

Suggested Player Age: 8+

Number of Players: 2 – 8

Average Play Time: 15 – 60 Minutes

Game Mechanics: Trick-Taking, Hand Managment

Category: Card Game, Monsters, Robots, Science Fiction, Superhero

The Box

I’ll be up front with you my fellow nerd herders, I don’t have the box.

No, this is OK. Really. It’s on me. While in contact with Chris Severn, the game’s designer, discussing the possibility of Two-Gun Pixie reviewing this game Mr. Severn told me he did not have a box on hand to send me, just the cards. We assured him that it was OK. Although the box for a game can be important because all the boxes on your shelf are about showing off the awesome games you have in your collection, the true heart of a review lies in the game play and final thoughts. We know this. You know this.

As a side note, the photos we have seen of the actual game box does looks nice. Andy Lenig’s art fits for the atmosphere and theme of the game and the box’s style seems to show this off.

The game box is definitely perfect for traveling with as it all but practically fits in your pocket!

The Components

Components? We don’t need no stinking components.

Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.

This game is ALL about the cards. No, really... That’s it. No tokens or beads. No minis or scoring pads. No player mats or dice. (This is one reason the game box is so small and travel-sized).

All you get are cards and a rule pamphlet. Easy-peasy for set-up time.

So what are these cards you get?

- 64 Robot Part Cards

(32 Robot Parts which are divided into Head Cards, Body Cards, and Feet Cards, 16 Add-Ons,

16 Tool Shed Cards, 4 Junk Yard Cards, and 6 Bargain Center Cards).

- 9 Monster Cards

- 1 First Entry Card

The high-end beta version of cards we received for game review were very good quality, easily as good as many final-print versions. I would invest in sleeves for these cards if you're famil plans on playing this game often.

Game Play

The objective of the game is quite simple. You want to build a stronger/better robot than the other players and have that robot defeat the incoming monster each round. You just don’t know what your opponents’ hand is - and if you don’t have more robot points then another player you won’t be the one to defeat the monster and win the round. When all the Monsters are defeated the player with the highest total point value of monster cards that he or she collected wins the game.

A ROBOT vs. A MONSTER!!! Mwhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Separate the First Entry Card, Monster Cards, Black ‘Bargain Center’ Cards, and the Robot Cards place them on your playing area.

Shuffle the Robot Cards and deal 5 cards face down to each player. Players may look at their own cards but should not show their hand to the other players, this is not a co-operative game. The rest of the Robot Cards are placed in a face down pile in the center of the play area. This becomes the Draw Pile. Then take the top 4 cards off the Draw Pile and place them next to it to start a discard pile.

Place the 6 Black ‘Bargain Center’ Cards face up near the Draw Pile leaving a space for a Junkyard Discard pile to form when needed. Shuffle the Monster Cards and place them on the other side of the Draw Pile. Turn over the top Monster card; this is your monster for the first round. In order to defeat Monsters you need to construct Robots that have a point value no less than the value listed on the upper left corner of the Monster Card. (You may notice that several of the Monsters have what is called an Instant Play on the mid-to-lower section of the right side of the card – I’ll get to this in a moment).

Actual game play follows as such...

Each player, in turn order, may take one of five actions;

- Take a card from the top of the Draw Pile and place it in their hand.

- Take one card from the Top of the Discard Pile and place it in their hand.

- Take ANY one of the cards from the Bargain Center and place it in their hand.

- Play OR Discard any cards to get back to the legal hand-size limit of five cards.

- Try to defeat the current Monster (IF YOU HAVE ONE OF EACH COMPONENT; Head, Body, Legs) by taking the First Entry Card OR Instant Play your Robot.

You May Only Have One Add-On Card Along With Your Robot At The End Of Your Turn.

REMEMBER: At the end of your turn you MUST have five cards in your hand. If you have more you MUST discard from your hand until you only have a hand of five cards. IF you end your turn with less than five cards draw up to five cards ON YOUR NEXT TURN.

NOTE: There is a discrepancy in the rules concerning hand size. At the start of the ‘Taking Your Turn’ it states, “Each player may only have 5 cards in their hands at the end of their turn. No more, no less.” However, the fourth paragraph in it says, “If somehow you end up with 4 cards draw up to 5 on your next turn.” We disregarded the former ‘No more, no less’ rule for the latter rule to draw back up at the beginning of your next turn.

In order to defeat the Monster you need to sort of piece-meal together a robot from the separate robot pieces; head, body, and feet (and Add-Ons if you have any but you Don’t Need one) each component has a point value. The total of these scores give you the overall score of your robot. These score points are in different colored shapes; Red Circle, Blue Pentagon, Green Square, and Orange Triangle. For each matching colored shape icon your robot has you receive an extra point when you are scoring.

Now we get to those Instant Play icons I mentioned earlier that can be found on some of the villain cards. IF you have the required color scheme you may attempt to instantly destroy the monster regardless of the point value in your hand!

You may not play a robot unless it has a head card, body card, and feet card UNLESS you have a card that states otherwise. Add-Ons are Not needed.

Bargain Center Cards do not count for Instant Play and are best used as filler until you have the needed parts that you need to raise the point value of your robot to a score high enough to defeat the monster.

Final Thoughts

This is a great family-friendly game. The robot parts and monster cards are all children-funny and safely enjoyable. The game play is somewhat similar to a very basic version of poker in the sense that each round the players take turns drawing to and discarding from their hand until they think they have a better hand than everyone else. Like poker, some of the strategy of this game is not only managing your own hand but also keeping track of what cards your opponents are collecting.

Although not mentioned in the rules it is very easy to shorten game play time by playing with fewer monsters in the monster draw deck.

I think this game may not be quite for everyone, mainly the more seasoned tabletop players. It is a fun game and the rules are clear and simple but I am not convinced this will necessarily end up as a permanent fixture on your gaming shelf unless you don’t keep games on hand for your kids, nieces, nephews, grandkids, etc.

With that said, I still think this game should be played if you get the chance, you may have more fun in the long run than we think and even up buying it and keeping this game for many years to come.