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The Game: Tick-N Timebomb by One-Eyed Cat Games
How Many Players: 2-6
Age Range: 12+
What Type of Game: Card game of timing, luck, and suspense. Also good for 2 people!
Difficulty/Complexity: Easy
Average Length: 20-30
Replayability: High
You should try it if you like: Hot potato!
What's The Story
Tick-N Timebomb doesn't really have a story to it, but in a way that adds to its fun. You get to choose from six different characters who each have a special ability. However, they don't really make sense if you are trying to piece them together into a timeline. The characters are Plumber, Spy, Southern Belle, Knight, Medic, and Quarterback.
As long as you don't think too hard about why a knight is fighting against a plumber, you're good.
What the Gameplay Feels Like
You know that time when friends are gathering for a board game night and you have the awkward situation of trying to figure out if you should start a game or keep waiting for everyone to arrive? This game is the perfect game for that situation. It's quick and it can accommodate anywhere from 2-6 people. I expect you could have more people if you had more than one copy of the game and put them together actually. Plus, it is fun.
I would liken this game to a card game version of Hot Potato.
Essentially, you take turns drawing cards and hoping you don't get the BOOM card. You are usually going to be drawing Explosive cards for varying values or Action cards which may have you discard your hand or pass your cards to someone else. However, mixed into the deck are several BOOM cards.
When you draw a BOOM, all the explosives in your hand go off. Unless you have some ability to avoid the boom, which is rare. You will then have to add up how much damage you take and subtract that from your health.
It's a very simple system, that ends up being a lot of fun.
What I liked
First of all, it's very well designed. The graphics are fun and bright, and you get a little red cube to move along your character card to keep track of health.
Besides that, my husband and I just had a lot of fun playing! As I said, it moves quickly and is simple. This is not a game that you will spend a lot of time reading instructions. In fact, the instruction book even says that if anything is unclear, just use common sense.
It feels like a game of Hot Potato as each turn you are reaching to draw a card and hoping it isn't a BOOM. You are trying to pass your explosive cards back and forth between you to end up holding the least value cards. And when the BOOM happens to your opponent…it is hilarious relief.
What I didn't like
Honestly, not much.
Obviously, this game is in a different category from the complicated, big games that fill a table and you have to plan out when and how to play (looking at you Charterstone). This game is more in the category of Uno. It's a quick, light card game that would be great for travel or just to kill a little time while waiting for people to show up.
And it will definitely be played a lot in my household.