The chair creaks as you settle onto it. The candlelight flickers. All around you the ravenous faces of your so-called friends twist in delight as you slowly open the box laid out on the table. Welcome to Dangerous Games! Each week, we'll feature a horror/thriller/monster tabletop game you should be playing. Don't be scared… roll the dice… what's the worst that could happen?
'Rampage' - Piero (2013)
Do you feel that rumbling? Step by step, the city trembles around you. You hear a crash down by the park, sirens wail in the center of town, and plumes of smoke rise from the stadium. With a sudden shock you realize… you're late to the party. With a glass-shattering screech you emerge from the depths of the sea. You're a giant blue lizard monster, and your green, red, and pink lizard monster friends have already begun destroying the city. "No fair," you howl, "wait for me!"
In 'Rampage' two to four players take on the roles of city-destroying monsters attempting to eat the most buildings and people. The game is physical in nature and requires players to actively interact with the game pieces in order to win. In the end players score points for eating certain types of people, in certain arrays, and the highest score wins.
Game Mechanics
The board is set up with thick cardboard tiles as the "floors" and "ceilings" of three story buildings. In between each story four little wooden people (known affectionately as "meeples" in the gaming world) act is pillars to the building. These meeples are the way to score points, and monsters will smash into each other and the city itself to loose them from their hiding places and plop them into their monster bellies.
Each player can do two actions a turn. There is the "move" action, where a small disc representing where the monster is standing is flicked on the table. Wherever it lands, the monster is placed on top of the disk. When near a building players can use the "demolish" action to physically drop their monsters on top of the precariously placed buildings. Players can use the "toss a vehicle" action to flick a vehicle at a building. And finally, players can use the "breath" action, by placing their chin against the top of a monster and blowing, to knock down buildings and blow around their meeples. Once the puny humans have landed in a "neighborhood" you're in, you can gobble them up!
Replay Value
I played this game a few times over the past few weeks and I am dying to play it again. This game begs to be replayed. With lots of different roles for your characters, different goals for your characters, and different ways to win the game this will keep people coming back to the table. But we're not really interested in the strategy of this game… let's be real. We just want to smash buildings and use our fire breath to ruin this city!
Overall Impressions
This game made it into my best of 2013 list for a reason. This is one of the most innovative, exciting, silly games I've played in a long time. Great for families, giant monster movie lovers, and pretty much anyone else, 'Rampage' is a serious crowd pleaser. The feel of actually smashing buildings is addicting and you and your friends will find yourself coming back to 'Rampage' over and over. Go find this game right away, you won't be disappointed.