Stak Bots: Review

Our latest guest blogger is Taz, who has written us a review of the card game Stak Bots

Darren

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Stak Bots:

If you're stuck in Sheffield near Castlegate, I'd recommend popping into Patriot Games, a nice gaming shop that's often open in the evenings. I recently did just that, and couldn't resist buying something. I'll admit there weren't any specifics with that intention. I stumbled upon Stak Bots, a little deck of battling robots. The week before last the deck saw its first glimpse of conflict at Worlds Away.

Initial perusal left me distinctly unimpressed with how skill or fun could enter into the game, but I was pleasantly surprised when the bots were wielded. Stak Bots consists of 60 Bot cards, some that are dealt out so all the players have a "stak" face down, a small hand and the rest in a draw deck. The top card on the stak always has to be turned face up and shows a cute little robot, a strength, and any special conditions or entry effects. There are a selection of robots, with different strengths, abilities and graphics.

The first key point is the simplicity. One bot fights another bot, the one with the highest number wins, the other is consigned to the scrap heap. If the discarded robot leaves a face down card on the top of the stack, then it's flipped over, and any entry effects takes place. This is where it can get complex, although not difficult. One entry effect may effect another stak, causing another entry effect, which may cause another, and another, each having to be resolved before play continues with whoever started the chain of events for the rest of their turn.

A turn is very flexible, and can include scrapping your own bots, laying bots from your hand, or attacking. The only limitation is that only one specific bot can attack each round, although it can attack multiple times. Damage does accumulate, but only during that persons turn, meaning combos are useful, but keeping track of health isn't an issue.

The game is built for flexibility which is great for a club like Worlds Away where people can pick it up and adapt it to the crowd. We had a group of 6 and managed to get several interesting games with all sorts of combos and effects happening, with winners and losers changing place too often to keep track. It's also great for quick games, so with an hour left, there's still plenty of gameplay to be had and minimal setup unlike many of the standard games.

All in all it's a great quick, flexible game that anyone can join in with, and as it's just a pack of cards can easily be brought along without prior planning. It has one of the best fun to size ratios!

Hopefully this will make many more appearances in the coming weeks.

Taz