If you have ever played the video game series Borderlands, you are probably familiar with Tiny Tina. A mentally unstable 13-year old who has a knack for explosives. She is loud and insane. Also, hilarious. In Borderlands 2 she has a wonderful series of quests relating to a tea party. Tiny Tina's Robot Tea Party, designed by XYZ Games, allows you to experience another tea party of hers! This time you are getting to mess with the series favorite robot, Claptrap. Mix and match cards to build your Claptrap and mess up everyone else in their designs.
But First…
Before I say anything else about this game, I have one serious nit to pick.
The Box.
Seriously. This box looks beautiful with its fun graphics, yet is the most infuriating thing to open I have ever come across. My husband and I have both fought with it to get it open every time we play. I am about ready to just keep the cards out of it and wrap them in a rubber band…the box is that annoying.
Once It's Open, Tiny Tina's Robot Tea Party is Great
The gameplay is very straightforward. Each person playing starts with a center body piece of a Claptrap. Drawing from the deck, you each need to put together your own Claptrap with the appropriate, matching parts. Meanwhile, you can mess with the other players by attaching incorrect pieces to their Claptraps. There are action cards mixed into the deck as well. These action cards can allow you to scrap a part from off a Claptrap or look through the discard (scrap) pile or more. There are also wild cards that can attach to any of the Claptrap bodies.
Race against your opponents to put together your Claptrap first, and mess with them along the way. That's essentially all there is to it!
The game is designed for 2-5 players, and goes quick. Most of our 2-player games were over within about 10 minutes.
So What Did We Think?
My husband and I are huge fans of the Borderlands series. Both our animals right now are named for characters from the games. The gimmick of Tiny Tina's Robot Tea Party being Borderlands–themed works for us. I'm always looking for 2 player games! However, the game itself is a little too simple. It's fun and quick, but probably not something we will play over and over again. Especially as we can't get the dang box open. Overall though, it is a good palette cleanser or something to play when we don't have a lot of time.