Do This Thing - Boss Monster
- MC Wright
- Feb 17, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 19, 2019
(Do This Thing is a weekly Sunday Feature where I suggest something to do, pretty straight forward lol.)
I wanted to do a shout out to something I love, & decided this would make for a perfect weekly-feature on the blog. So my for first one I chose a game I've played with almost all of my friends in RL.
DTT #1 - Boss Monster
What is it? - A self contained card game for 2-4 players that’s very nerd-centric, containing a bevy of references to video games and pop-culture & great Pixel Art.
How? - There’s 4 different types of cards in a standard Boss Monster set (there’s a number of different sets and a few expansions, all sets can be combined to be used with one another, or the sets(except for the expansions) can be used alone)
-Boss Card - These cards at the final destination in your dungeons, if a hero reaches it you take a hit. Each Boss Card has flavor text describing an ability that can be used once you have a full dungeon of 5 cards.
-Room Card - These make up your path for your dungeon that’s placed to the left of your Boss Card. You can have up to 5 which include Monster or Trap rooms, as well with an Advanced version that can be built on-top of a standard room. (There’s a few different rules that are added in some of the expansions & in the “Rise of the Minibosses” set)
-Spell Card - Spells fall into one of two categories, they can be used during Build Phase or Attack Phase, or both. There are spells that can help a player or used to hurt another player.
-Hero Card - Heroes are placed in Town (essentially a river akin to Texas Hold ‘Em) at the beginning of a turn, and are lured to a player’s dungeon dependent on if they have the appropriate treasure types to bring them in.
Each Boss, Room & Hero card has one or multiple treasure types associated with it, there’s; Fighter, Mage, Cleric, & Thief. There’s Standard Heroes that are used first before Epic Heroes begin to enter town. Epic Heroes stand to hurt you twice as much than a Standard if it makes it through your Dungeon.
The goal to the game is to gather up to 10 Souls. Standard Heroes count for 1 Soul, whereas Epic Heroes count for 2. You’ll lose the game if you allow yourself to take 5 wounds.
Likewise, Standard Heroes inflict 1 Wound, Epic Heroes inflict 2.
Where? - Wherever!, as long as you have a table or flat surface you can play Boss Monster.
How Long?- A typical match lasts anywhere from 10 - 20ish minutes.
$$$? - There are 3 Main sets for Boss Monster that are self contained; Boss Monster, Boss Monster 2: The Next Level, & Boss Monster: Rise of the Minibosses. They each cost $25
There’s 3 expansions as well; Tools of a Hero-kind, Implements of Destruction, & Crash Landing. The first two add new rules and abilities to Heroes and Bosses, where as Crash Landing can be used to expand the game up to 6 Players! Each expansion costs $10, save for Crash Landing that’s $12.
There’s three different official playmats, a 2-Player one that’s $20, a 4-Player one that’s $30, & finally a 6-Player one that’s $45.
Finally there’s a Collector’s Box to contain every card for the game that’s $18, that also has a new pack of cards, The Portable Cards. There’s 11 of those in total and change up some of the ways you can build rooms in your dungeon.
That seems like a lot, but essentially you only need $25 to start your Boss Monster fun. I’d recommend starting with Boss Monster 2 as it has the least amount of rules. Also Boss Monster 1 could be considered Hard Mode by this point, in my opinion every set since is better balanced for 2-3 Player games where B.M. 1 is more geared for 4 Player games.
Lately I’ve been playing B.M.: Rise of the Minibosses by itself with Alexandria (The Fiancée), and we’ve been having a blast. I think it’s the best set yet, and adds the new card type of Minibosses that can be used in conjunction with a new play mechanic (coins) to level up and buff rooms in your dungeon.
Check the game out and lemme know what you think!
(The game can be found at a number of stores, Barnes & Noble, Target, Comic Shops, etc.)
-MC Wright
(This post was in no way sponsored, and is a personal recommendation since I’ve been playing the game since the original set.)
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