Month: September 2025

Probably My Favorite Game of 2025! DC Super Heroes United: Batman Hush

While we wait for the full delivery of DC Super Heroes United (which has run into multiple issues; CMON money issues, tariff issues, and staffing issues), CMON did manage to release DC Super Heroes United: Batman Hush (which we’ll just call Hush from now on, thank you). See above!

This was a “surprise” release that was available from Amazon sometime in August 2025; I ordered it instantly as soon as a I found out about it.  No one really expected this?  EDIT: Well, I missed a some memos … I didn’t expect it.  I mean, we expected DC United (it was #1 on our Top 10 Anticipated Cooperative Games of 2025 list), but Hush was not part of the original Kickstarter!

This game arrived at my house September 10th, 2025.

What is this?

Hush

This game Hush is a standalone game in the Marvel/DC United series of games.  Yes, it is standalone; you don’t need any other sets to play this.  This is a cooperative superhero game where players take the role of your favorite DC Superheroes (Batman, Robin, Superman*, etc) and work together to defeat the villain!

Hush is loosely based on the Jeph Loeb/Jim Lee/Scott Williams/Alex Sinclar Batman series called Hush: see the 20th Anniversary Edition hardback above.

Surprisingly, I had never read Hush, which is weird because I love Batman and I love Jim Lee.  How have I never read this???  I texted my friends Bryan and Diana, who are huge Batman and Jim Lee fans about this!

They think Jim Lee’s Batman is the best Batman (see above).  I went ahead and devoured the story over about 3 hours (below).

Hush is a great story; I’d recommend reading it if you’ve never read it.  It gives much more depth to the Hush villain(s) in the box.

Strictly speaking, you do NOT to read the Hush graphic novel/series to play the game; it just helps flesh out the game.  So, if you are intimidated by the giant Hush graphic novel, don’t despair!  The game works fine without knowing the series, but be aware that there can be spoilers.  (Still, Hush was pretty cool; you should read it!)

Unboxing/Gameplay

See box above with can of Coke for scale.

Each player chooses a hero to operate: Batman (classic), Robin (Tim Drake), Catwoman, or Huntress.

There must be a villain to fight: Hush, Harley Quinn, The Joker, or Superman (controlled).  Superman (controlled) can also be played as a Hero.

I recommend taking a picture of how the minis fit into the insert (or use mine above).  If they all get out out-of-whack, you can’t put the plastic cover over the minis (see below).

Each Hero gets their own deck, and each Villain gets their own (Master Plan) deck and Threats deck.

There are 8 locations that come with the box; you will set 6 of them out in a circle representing the city.

Most of the characters have equipment; the equipment cards are “newish” to Marvel United: they were introduced in Spidergeddon, but we were found we loved them in Marvel United: Multiverse (see review here).   The equipment cards augment the heroes, and basically give them more choices on their turn; however, they will either be discarded or need a recharge to reuse them.  See above.

For heroes who don’t have equipment, there are also “generic” equipment cards any hero can use (see above).

The game also comes with Battle Plan cards; they are for the built-in solo mode called Commander Mode.

There is another way to play where one player can take control of the Villain and plays against all the heroes: this is a 1 vs. many mode using the Super-Hero and Super-Villain cards above.  We won’t be discussing this mode any more in this review; this is strictly a solo and cooperative mode review.

There are a tons of tokens for health, KOs, etc. See above.

Overall, this game looks consistent and great.  The artwork and minis in the game are consistent with the look-and-feel of all the previous Marvel United games (except this is DC instead of Marvel).  For previous looks at Marvel United games, see here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Rulebook

The rulebook is good (it had better be after so many iterations), except for the form factor.

This gets a C+ or B- on the Chair Test; it does stay open on the chair next to me, it has a good-sized and readable font, it has lots of pictures, and it’s easy to read.  Unfortunately, it hangs down just enough to be annoying.  It does work with only one chair, if you sorta fudge it diagonally.

The Components page is great: see above.

The Set-Up is across two pages, but they are in the same span, and the picture and labels work well.

Some, not all, icons are on the back.

In general, this is a good rulebook: good components, good set-up, good font, good pictures, good back. The only complaint is the form factor.

What’s New?

Most everything in Hush  we’ve seen in one of the previous Marvel Uniteds.  I have played a lot of Marvel United, but it’s hard to say you’ve played EVERYTHING across the massive amount of content in Seasons 1,2, and 3!  Here’s what was new to me:

Charged Effects: The little yellow area/flip card allows to flip a card in the Storyline once it’s up.  In the example above, you can flip Batman’s card (only if it’s in the Storyline) above to stop Robin from being KO’d!  This is kinda neat; it’s like a one-time only effect that can only be activated AFTER the card has been put into play.

Constant Effects: These cards keep an ability active always once they are in play in the storyline! See above as Superman’s Invulnerability keeps damage off him!

Mandatory Effects: These are mandatory things you MUST do on the card.  This Superman is controlled, and occasionally reverts to his controlled self … doing damage to Heroes around him.  See above.

To be fair, we did see Mandatory Effects on the Nightcrawler’s cards back when we did the Dark Phoenix Saga: see here.

Hush Deck: if you are playing Hush, the Hush Plan deck replaces the Clear Threats on the dashboard.

Generally, the DC Superheroes United: Hush Batman or Hush feels very much like  the newer Marvel Uniteds with equipment, Charged Effects, Constant Effects, and Mandatory Effects being the newer things.  Otherwise, it feels like Marvel United, but DC instead!

Solo Mode Discussion

There is a solo mode called Commander Solo Mode (thanks for following Saunders’ Law and giving us a solo mode) that spans two pages.  And it’s pretty complicated.  But it is a true solo mode; you only operate one hero.

I think we saw the Commander Solo Mode first back in Spidergeddon, and we kinda liked it better than the solo mode in the original Marvel United … but frankly it still just feels too complicated.  It’s almost two pages of exceptions, new rules, changes, and special rules!  Look closely at those two pages above!  There’s SO MANY RULES FOR COMMAND SOLO MODE!

Frankly, it’s so easy to just pull out two heroes and alternate between them and just play solo (operating two heroes); it’s the way the game was meant to be played.  This is the way we play solo, partly because it’s significantly easier, partly because it’s easier to jump in (so we concentrate on the new rules of the Villain), partly because it’s the way Marvel United was meant to be played: 2-4 Players, and partly because we have to teach the cooperative game to our friends (so it’s better to play without all the solo rules exceptions for a better learning to teaching game).

You can disagree with me if you like, but I feel very strongly about this! Every time someone tries to put a solo mode in, I find it’s usually better and easier to just play two-handed solo instead (Leviathan Wilds, Leviathan Wilds: Deepvale Expansion, Lord of the Rings Pandemic to name just a few).  Frankly, the built-in solo mode for Lord of the Rings Pandemic almost caused me to hate the game … it wasn’t until I played 2-Handed solo that I found joy in Lord of the Rings Pandemic.

Play solo operating two heroes.  You’ll thank me.

Game 1: Batman and Robin vs. The Joker and Harley Quinn

Solo game: two-handed solo (one player operating Batman and Robin independently)

Our first game was Batman and Robin vs. The Joker and Harley Quinn.  Note that Harley Quinn and The Joker are a “team” you are playing against!  You can’t win until they are BOTH down!

See Batman and Robin get ready to go!

The storyline for Joker/Harley Quinn got convoluted as many times we’d have to put Master Plans into the storyline … they can come up at a later time, or when a character gets KO’d!

In the end, Batman  and Robin prevailed.  Batman took out Harley Quinn …

… and Robin (Tim Drake) took out the Joker.

There are some neat ideas here, as the Joker kidnaps civilians (something he would SO DO in the comics),  Harley causes the Master Deck to dwindle, and “Jokes” appear in the Storyline!  This is a game about keeping the Master Plan deck under control by indirection!  Sometimes you do stuff to STOP the Master Deck from getting too small! If the Master Deck ever becomes empty … you lose!

The Joker and Harley Quinn scenario felt incredibly thematic: Joker kidnapping, Harley causing chaos, and Joker’s “jokes” in the storyline occasionally springing on the Heroes! (It also had roots back in the Hush series: see snapshot above).

Batman and Robin’s decks were also on point: they both had the ability to “be a detective” and look at the next Master Plan card coming!  This was both incredibly useful and very thematic.

Games 2, 3, and 4: Catwoman and Huntress vs. Superman (controlled)

Solo game: two-handed solo (one player operating Catwoman and Huntress independently)

So, Superman (controlled) is hard.  I guess he should be; he’s Superman!

Superman is bad guy here because Poison Ivy is controlling him! See a still from the comic above!

Superman is controlled by Poison Ivy (see above).   If Poison Ivy makes it around the board back to Kane Chemicals, the bad guys win!

Over 3 games, Huntress and Catwoman struggled! They lost three games in a row!  In this particular scenario, heroism is very important!  Unfortunately, Huntress and Catwoman seem to have more punch than heroism!

Huntress felt very thematic, as she could look at the top of the Master Plan deck (with espionage) and was very mobile and punchy.  Similarly with Catwoman, she had some disguise cards and was very punchy and mobile.  Unfortunately, they were a bad team against Superman (controlled). Honestly, this makes sense thematically: neither Catwoman or Huntress are known for their Heroism in the comic books … they tend to be more “self-interested” heroes!

Still, I thought the Superman (controlled) villain was pretty cool! It felt thematic … and you even had to have a Kryptonite ring to hurt him!

I have played SO MANY games of Sentinels of the Multiverse where you lose because you just have the wrong heroes.  And that feels very much like the comic book universes!  (Sometimes, Spidey has to go visit Doctor Strange to handle a mystic bad guy!)  In this case, Huntress and Catwoman are the wrong Heroes for Superman … or at least, it’s a LOT harder to play them.

Game 5: Batman and Robin vs Superman (controlled)

Batman and Robin did much better against Superman (controlled): they defeated him in one game.

Batman and Robin control the Master Control deck much better and have a lot more Heroism to deal with Threats and civilians.

This win felt very thematic: Batman and Robin use their detective skills and heroism to keep the bad guy (a Superman controlled by Poison Ivy) at bay.

Game 6: Batman and Robin vs Hush

Solo game: two-handed solo (one player operating Batman and Robin independently)

The Hush Villain is probably the most complicated to play.  You must complete all three Missions, but instead of Clear Threats, you have to clear six “Hush” threats (see below).

Like the comic book (very minor spoiler), the Hush Plan cards makes you “focus” on a particular Henchman on the board: you can only defeat them in a certain order.  This constrains how you have to defeat them!

The Hush villain is much more about taking down Henchmen a little at a time, while “defeating” them in a particular order.  Batman and Robin have to “balance” how they spend their resources.

Of course, lots of things (like KO’s, see above) get rid of Master Plan cards.  Do you defeat a Henchman this turn at the cost of losing a Master Plan card?  Or do you wait a turn?  Defeating Hush is all about balance for the Heroes.  Hush himself is sewing Chaos into the world and dwindling the Master Plan deck!

In the end, Robin had a good run and was able to move to Hush and take him down.

Even though it wasn’t a full saga like the comic, Hush felt like the story that unraveled in the comic.  Batman and Robin get “distracted” by Henchmen along the way as they try to uncover who Hush is … and that’s the last card of the Hush Plan deck!

Although you can play the Hush Villain without reading the story, I strongly recommend you do read it before playing!  There is a major spoiler at the end of the Hush Deck that will spoil the entire Hush comic book.  The other two Villains (Superman and Joker/Harley Quinn) you can play without reading, but I suggest you probably read Hush before playing he Hush villain.

Game 7: Superman (controlled) and Huntress vs. Joker and Harley Quinn

Don’t forget; you can play Superman (controlled) as a hero as well!

Supes deck is pretty strong.  And Huntress is great at punchy and movement.

Superman’s deck has a minor flaw that he might have to punch other Heroes (since he still has some residual control): see above.   That card kind of “balances” a very strong deck by giving him a “forced” card. Don’t you hate it when Poison Ivy asserts her control at exactly the wrong time?  That feels so comic booky!  I kind of enjoyed this!  Supes is great … except for the one time he isn’t!

And Huntress redeemed herself by helping out Superman.

Game 8: Catwoman and Huntress vs. Joker and Harley Quinn

Just to make sure Catwoman and Huntress are good decks, I took them for a run against Joker and Harley Quinn.

After losing to Superman three times, they acquitted themselves and beat Joker and Harley Quinn.

Cooperative Game

There weren’t any real surprises from the cooperative play; we’ve played this before as a team!

People discussed!  At one point, Andrew HAD to play a Controlled Superman card and he said “I suggest you all NOT be adjacent to me! I will punch you!”  So, Sara and Teresa made sure there was movement on previous cards.  Most of the discussion is “Oh! If you give me this … Oh!  What do you need?” and stuff like that.

My group had a fun time playing this cooperatively.  The new abilities and equipment made them enjoy it that much more.

Judging by my group’s responses, I think this is the best version of the Marvel/DC United system so far.

Core Game?

I am somewhat surprised that Hush is a core box!  That means this is a completely standalone game!  I loved what I saw, but this doesn’t feel like it should be a “core set”?  The heroes in this set are great for new players, but the villains are really complicated!  Superman (controlled) is probably the easiest Villain to operate, but maybe the hardest to defeat?!  And both Hush and Joker/Harley Quinn are very different than most base Marvel United villains! They are much more complicated than (say) Red Skull from Marvel United, or even Ghost Rider from the Multiverse set!

If I were to recommend someone start with a core set, I’d recommend the base Marvel United, Marvel United: X-Men, or Marvel United: Multiverse over DC SuperHeroes: Batman Hush… I think Hush is too much for a starting player.  Which is too bad, if you LOVE DC, this is the only set you can currently get! I am afraid Hush might accidentally turn off some intro players because of its extra complexity.

Plays Well With Marvel United?

Of course, I had to make sure this played well with Marvel United, so I had Batman and Robin take on Taskmaster (from the base Marvel United set)!

For funzies, I also used half of the Locations from Marvel United and half of the Locations from Hush!  See above.

I got SUCH a kick out of mixing universes! I started giggling to myself when I had Batman and Robin start the game on SHIELD Headquarters!

Then later in the game, Batman solved the Threat at Stark Labs!  I giggled even more thinking of Batman disassembling a Trap in Tony Stark’s lab!

For the record, Taskmaster posed little threat to Batman and Robin.  More like “Lamemaster”.

I will say that I think later Heroes and Villains are stronger than earlier Heroes and Villains in the Marvel United games.  This game demonstrated that a little … but I still had a grand time!

Conclusion

Currently, Hush is my game of the year for 2025!  I have played about 10 games of Hush and want to keep trying more and more!  I want to try Batman and Robin vs the Sentinels!  Will Superman do a great job against Galactus?  Can Batman and Spiderman team up?  How would Superman and Gladiator pair up as compatriots?  What about Superman vs. Gladiator?  There are SOOOO many cross universe games I want to try!

Even with all the fun things I can try combining Marvel United and DC Superheroes United, I still loved the Hush box by itself.  Each Villain presented a different puzzle to solve!  Each Hero has their own flavor and personality: Catwoman is more punchy than Robin, but Robin is more heroic!  And these differences are very flavorful!

This box also introduced me to the wonderful world of Jim Lee Batman (who is the best Batman according to Diana)! I am grateful that I got to experience Jim Lee’s Hush for the first time!

My only complaint is that the Villains in this box are all pretty complicated; I wish there had been a “simple” Villain (for newer players).  If you are an experienced Marvel United player, then this box is a no-brainer.  If you are a more introductory Marvel United player, I might recommend a different core box.

After all is said and done, Hush is a full up 10/10 for me.  I played so many games over a 2 week period and each one was a blast!  Even when I lost, it was fun to try to figure out “why I lost” and come back and revisit the game!

Even though Hush is an unexpected DC Superheroes United (this wasn’t part of the original announcements for DC United), there’s a reason DC Superheroes United  was #1 on my list of Top 10 Anticipated Cooperative Games For 2025!

What Eggactly Is In This Eggspansion? A Review of Birds of a Feather Eggspansion for Flock Together

Birds of a Feather is an expansion … pardon me … eggspansion for the cooperative boss-battler game Flock Together.  This eggspansion (be prepared for a lot more chicken puns) was on Kickstarter back in Novemeber 2024 and promised delivery in August 2025.  You know what?  They even delivered a little early!  I want to say  I got my copy in June 2025, so nice job!

Flock Together was pretty popular in my groups; it made the #8 spot on our Top 10 Cooperative Games of 2024!  Usually, extra kickstarters are like this a way to keep the flow going … if you hadn’t ordered the original Flock Together game, you could get that AND this new eggspansion!

So, what’s inside?  Let’s take a look!

Unboxing

This is a smaller box than the original, and pretty thin too: see the Coke can above for perspective.

There’s not that much new here.  There’s 6 new Predators!

With lots of new puns!  Chew Bawka?  Sheriff of Rottingham?  Oi!

But this game is built on the bedrock of Chicken Puns!  There are 6 new Chickens you can play: J.R.R Yolkien, Broods Lee, Princess Layer, Chickira, Aracorn (Heir of Condor), Cluck Norris, … so … many … chicken … puns!

There’s only 3 new Weather cards …

And basically another player board so you can have up to 6 players.  This eggspansion also expands the game to 6 players!  (The original only played 1-5).

There’s a few new options for chicken color (see wooden … cheeples … above … yes, that’s right: cheeples are chicken meeples).

The game looks very consistent with the original, both of which have great art from Andrew Bosley!

How Is It?

I played a solo game with J.R.R. Yolkien (oi), and it’s pretty much the same game!

I used new Chickens and new Predators, and everything else (Bonus cards, board, counters, etc) comes from the original box!  See above!

The game plays the same; it’s still fun and silly.  (I did add the 3 new Weather cards in as well).  I just had a new Chicken and all new predators!

More Stuff

This expansion is pretty simple: more stuff.  6 new Predators, 6 new Chickens, more tokens so you can play 6-Players, and 3 new Weather cards.  That’s pretty much it!

The rulebook discusses how you can just mix this in with the original game and never see the expansion box ever again!

This eggspansion  just adds a little more. There’s no real game changers here.

Missed Opportunity

One of my complaints about the original game (see review of Flock Together here) was that the eggs and food were all different looking (see above and below) …

… for no reason.  I always thought that there should be some rules to take advantage of these differences!  Maybe different colored eggs have different bonuses/minuses for different seasons?  Maybe you can’t get certain food until you go to certain parts of the board?   I always thought it was weird that we have these very distinct food and eggs … and these differences means nothing in the game.

I was kind of hoping this expansion would expand the universe and give a reason these eggs and food were so different!!!  Make them mean something!!

Nope.

Conclusion

This is a fine expansion; it gives us more chicken puns and a little more life to the game.  But I think the publishers missed an opportunity to do something cool with the distinct eggs and food.

If you see the eggspansion Birds of a Feather in a store, and you like the original game Flock Together the base game, you can’t go wrong with this eggspansion; it doesn’t change the game AT ALL! It just adds a little life with new Predators, new Chickens, and a 6th player.

I am glad I got this; it’s an excuse to play Flock Together again!  But I think they could have done a little more, especially with the distinct eggs and food.

Forbidden Pandemic Island: The Card Game! A Review of The Four Doors

What do you get when you cross Pandemic with Forbidden Island and make a card game?  You get a cooperative card game named The Four Doors!

This cooperative card is designed by Matt Leacock (of Pandemic fame) and Matt Riddle and Ben Pinchback (of many games, but the one I know best is Legends of Sleepy Hollow: See our review here).  The Four Doors is a light little cooperative card game for 1-4 players and takes about 30 minutes to play.  If you have played Forbidden Island (a light little cooperative tile-laying game) or Pandemic (a heavier cooperative game), you might be saying … “Heeeeeeey, this kinda feels like those games a little…” … and you’d be right!

Let’s take a look!

Unboxing and Gameplay

I ordered this directly from the Happy Camper website (the publisher) about 2 weeks ago?  It arrived fairly quickly (late August).  See above!  It looks kinda neat, but it’s relatively small!  See Can of Coke for scale.

The object of the game is, as a a group, to retrieve the sacred relics above!  Yes, they looks shiny because they are foil covered cards.  They are pretty neat! And yes, this “gather 4 items” kinda feels like Forbidden Island or Forbidden Desert … you gotta collect some exactly 4 things and it’s an action point game!  (You only get 3 actions per turn!)

To win, you have to bring the 4 relics to the light house and turn it on to win!  (sarcasm mode on) This is COMPLETELY unlike Forbidden Island or Forbidden Desert where you have to return to the launch pad to win (sarcasm mode off).

And you have to turn the lighthouse with a special card! It is pretty cool with that foil.

… just like you need to activate the helicopter/flying machine to fly away in the Forbidden Games…

Players each take the role of one of the characters above, each with a special power (yes, like Pandemic or the Forbidden games). But the powers are pretty cool and a little different.

To retrieve a card, you have to have and discard 4 cards of the same color at a door.  (Yes, more Pandemic and Forbidden analogies).  These are in a deck that you get 2 cards from at the end of each turn.

There’s some special cards you can use (spells) which you can play at any time (not just your turn), but then they are not discarded but put in place (the Hollow) where they (usually) can’t be brought back!

The Four Doors (that’s the name of the game, remember?) are laid out in a column: see above.  Your pawns move up and down the column and you can only retrieve a colored relic at the appropriate door.

So where’s the Bad News?  This is a cooperative game after all!  Every turn, the same cards that help you also come out and hurt you!  The same deck is used for both good cards and bad cards!  It just depends on which phase you draw them!! When drawn and played as Bad News cards, these cards “further open” the rift which may seal the door forever!    If you ever get 4 of these Bad News cards attached on one side of the door, the  doors gets half-shut … then closed forever!  If you haven’t gotten the relic out before the door closes forever, you lose!

The cards attach at the sides, depending on what’s at the bottom of the card: see above and below.

Three cards attaching to the doors should feel reminiscent of Pandemic …

Every time the good news/bad news deck recycles, the difficulty goes up: this chart (above) dictates how many of the colored cards attach to the doors in the bad news part of the turn!

If you retrieve all 4 relics and bring them to the lighthouse before the doors close forever, you win!

Solo Mode

Congratulations to having a solo mode!  (Thanks for following Saunders’ Law!)

The solo game is documented on page 9 of the rulebook.  This is a true solo game; the solo player operates one character (but see below).

The only real difference is that the solo player has another action they can take: Swap Adventurer!   This allows the solo player to invest in another character whose special power may help him accomplish a short turn goal easier!

So, I kinda put the adventurers off the side so I could see all their special powers.

I started my first solo game with The Summoner! See above! She makes it easier to get cards you need to get relics!

And I started at novice, and boy I crushed this game.  I didn’t need to start so easy!  I also never used the Swap Adventurer once because The Summoner was so good!  She just gets the cards I want from the discard, so I never needed another adventurer!!  I started thinking about “optimal ways” to use the Swap Adventurers to best effect, which I think might be fun once the game gets harder!

Luckily, it’s easy to adjust the difficulty level by simply getting more cards attached to doors per turn (see card above).  Instead of starting on Novice, I should start on Standard, or Heroic, or Epic…

I felt like the solo mode worked well.  I felt NO NEED to try this 2-handed solo (although it would be easy to); the solo mode seemed to work well. This is VERY UNLIKE the solo mode from Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship from a few weeks ago (see review here);  I did NOT like the built-in solo mode there! I do like the built-in solo mode here in The Four Doors.

I kind of dig that you can switch adventurers to really try some fascinating in-game power switches.  I am worried this may be overpowered, but hey, if it’s too easy, just adjust the difficulty!  It’s easy to do that!

Cooperative Game

The cooperative game went well.  We played as 4-Players.

The game is open-handed, which means all information is shared!  See rules above.  I love that shared information in cooperative games!  It makes it really easy to coordinate and talk.  “Ah man, I need a red card! Wait! I see you have one!! Maybe we should meet!” I personally think this shared-information type game is much more cooperative and interactive as players can talk strategy much easier if they can see everything!  Full information does have the downside that it can invite the Alpha Player to join you, but Alpha Player Syndrome is not a usual problem for my groups.  I suppose it is something to be wary of here.

The opportunities for sharing and doing clever card combos came up quite a bit!  Between the character’s special powers, the spells on cards, and special powers on relics, we were able to pull off some really cool combos!  And the discussion came from everybody; someone might see a special combo others didn’t see!  “We need to get that relic before the door closes!!! Help!”  “Oh! Use my TELEPORT!!”

There was quite a bit of discussion and cooperation; that was really fun for us. 

I was also pleased to see that everyone got a relic, which meant everyone had an “extra” special power.  These relics have pretty neat powers too … and they also help contribute to the conversations of combos!!

Overall, this was a hit cooperatively.  Everyone had fun, there was a lot of interaction and discussion, and the combos we pulled off made us all feel smart! 

Good times.

Reactions

Andrew: Fun, 6/10
Sam: Fun 7.5/10
Teresa: 7/10
Richie: 7.0/10 solo, 8.0/10 cooperatively

My rating was initially a 7.5/10 for cooperative play, but the more I look back on my experience with my friends, the more fun I realized I had as we played!

Which One?

Which game should I play?  The Four Doors is very much like Pandemic, Forbidden Island, and Forbidden Desert.  Where does it fit in with those?

I think it depends on what you are in the mood for.  From a complexity point of view, I think Pandemic is the most challenging and complex game, Forbidden Desert is next, The Four Doors, then finally Forbidden Island.  If you want a game that is little bit more than Forbidden Island, but not too much more, The Four Doors is a great choice.  To be fair, I think all of these games are great choices.

Conclusion

I should just called this review The Four Doors: The Forbidden Pandemic! It sounds like a forbidden dance of love! But it’s not; The Four Doors a cooperative card game that feels like Pandemic/Forbidden Island/Forbidden Desert. I do think it’s different enough from those games that you can buy it and not feel like “they are all the same game!”. I think The Four Doors is a nice cooperative game to bring out for someone who is just above Forbidden Island, but maybe not quite ready for Pandemic or Forbidden Desert.

This game is easy to learn, has a great table presence, and can be a jumping on point to learn cooperative games.  It’s a little more complex than Forbidden Island, but I think it can still be a pretty good starting point as a cooperative game.

Even though this is an “easier” cooperative game, the cooperation, interaction, and combos that emerge from the game will also appeal to more sophisticated gamers.  It’s a good cooperative game!

I’d say the solo game is good at 7.0/10, but the cooperative game is better! I’d personally give it a 8.0/10, but as a group, my friends probably average this at about a 7.5/10.  Still, that’s good!

Alibis: A Cooperative Word Game! Does it Get a Pass?

Alibis is a cooperative word game for 1-6 people: think Cooperative Codenames!

This is a game about guessing words cooperatively as a group.

Let’s take a look!

Unboxing/Gameplay

This is a very smallish game: see can of Coke above for scale.

Each player gets a little white-erase board to write a single word on (two of these boards of you play 2 or 3 players).

The white-erase boards are used to write a single word; players are trying to connect two “words” together (much like So Clover, where you try connect two words with one word, or Codenames where you give a word clue to connect some words together).

Each player is given some guys to alibi: in a 2-Player or 3-Player game, you get 4 guys.

The single words are supposed to provide “alibis” for two of the guys in the line up!  See above!  For example, “magma” (the + board, upper left) is providing alibis for guy 1 (“island”) and guy 7 (“dragon”).

So, you’d mark a + on the guy 1 and guy 7 on your board! You are keeping track of everyone who has an alibi!

Basically, there is always one guy that’s “the perpetrator” and you, as the players, are trying to alibi everyone else!  It’s a word guessing game!  Can you guess the perpetrator by alibiing everyone else????

This game really isn’t very thematic; the line-up with weird villains has nothing to do with the game.  It’s just a cooperative word-guessing game.  To be 100% clear, there is no real communications among players EXCEPT for the words given.  (That part is very much like Codenames, but not So Clover).

No Solo.

There is no solo mode for this; this is nominally a party game for 2-6 players.

Two Players

My 2-Player game with Don went great.  It works well, as you get 4 guys to alibi, so you have to provide 2 words!  You actually get more options in the 2 (and 3-Player game) as you can choose how to group your 4 guys into 2 groups.  There are 9 guys on the board (see above), and you have to alibi 8 of them!

2-Player worked well, it was fun.

Three Players

In 3-Player mode, like 2-Player, in 3-Player mode, each player gets 4 guys to alibi. See above as me and Caroline and Nathan play!   The difference is that there are more guys out on the board! There is ALWAYS must be one guy out (who is the perpetrator).  In the 3-player game, the players alibi 12 guys, with the 13th guy being the perpetrator! See above.

The 3-player game worked great.

Four Players

The 4-Player game wasn’t … quite as fun.  See above as me, Sara, Teresa, and Andrew play! It’s the same game but you only get 2 guys to alibi (instead of 4), which means you only get to craft one word!  There are 9 guys out, and the 4-Players alibi 8 of them.  See above.

This means you have to come up with a single word to connect two guys.  What does “stuffed” (above) mean?  I don’t know, and I wrote it!!!  And the two words (guys) you get may suck and have nothing in common.  Sure, this happens in Codenames a lot, but at least you start with many many words to connect! You only get “stuck” with two bad words at the end.  In this scenario, you only have two words!  Hopefully they will be easy to connect!

The 4, 5, and 6 player game all play like this; the players each get 2 guys to alibi which means they only get to write/craft one word.

Scoring

The scoring is a little wonky.  Every time you guess something correctly, you remove “heat” (see heat above) from the game!  The more your remove, the better you do!  At the very end of the game, you get told you how good or how awful you are by how mush “heat” you remove.

Eh, it’s nominally a party game, so the score doesn’t matter too much.

Conclusion

If you love Codenames, you will probably love this! If you hate Codenames (Joe, I am looking at you), you will probably hate this as well.

I think Alibis is better at 2 and 3-players, as the players get choices as how to group their 4 guys, so they can come up with better groups of 2 words.  The 4-Player and higher count game “works”, but it’s just not as fun; It like the worst part of Codenames when you have exactly two words that don’t have anything in common … and you don’t know what to do.

This is a fun game, but I’d recommend So Clover over this. I think So Clover is a stronger party game, partly because you have more words and more opportunities to connect things.  Probably more important is that in So Clover players can talk amongst each other, rather than just be quiet (like in Alibis).  That interaction is so much more fun in a party game.

Still, this is light and easy to get into.  It’s fun to play: I’d give this a 6.5 or 7/10 as a 4, 5, or 6 player game and a 7.5/10 as a 2 or 3-player game.

This would probably make our Top 10 Cooperative Party Games, maybe just not near the top.