Ring Side Report-Doctor Who Card Game by Cubicle 7

I’ve been playing a few games of The Doctor Who Card game by Cubicle 7.  Here is what I think

Mechanics-This game is pretty simple to play and easy to learn.  What makes this game interesting is you don’t get to keep all the cards you are dealt.  You MUST pass a number of cards to the player on your right.  This means you know you will give great cards to your opponents, but you have to by the rules.  Every turn you start with five cards in your hand.  With these cards you have a few options.  You can play location cards that give you points at the end of the game.  You can play enemy cards to attack other players’ locations and gain their points.  You can play heroes to defend locations.  Attack and defense cards are played face down with higher number winning a combat.  This aspect makes both sides gamble to see who will come out on top.  You can play support cards to give effects listed on the cards.  You can discard cards to gain time points that allow you to buy extra cards.  The final option is to place cards in your reserve.  Since the only thing that really ends your turn is handing three cards to the player on your right, reserved cards basically function as extra actions in later turns.  Attacking and defending is a simple  The game runs till you run out of cards or one player has defended five locations or taken over five other players’ locations.  My Thoughts-This is great.  Game runs quick and is easy to learn.  Doesn’t need a whole large back story of Dr. Who to play, but it does make the game more fun to see who fights and think up what episodes that came from.

Theme-The game does reflect the Dr. Who world very well.  Its harder to defend places and save everything while destroying things is much easier to do.  I’ve won two games so far and both victories came from capturing other player locations.  As that’s a theme in the Dr. Who Mythos, it reflects the TV show pretty well.  However, don’t expect any characters from beyond the current seasons with emphasis on the Matt Smith Doctor.  My Thoughts-Good execution of the show on a small scale.  The Mechanics and theme work well together.  I’m pretty much up for this game whenever I get a chance.  I would like to see more Doctor Who enemies and characters, but that might be the realm of other expansions.  There is a free idea Cubicle 7!

Art-The cards are nicely done, but they used a painted art style.  The paintings are semi-realistic.  My Thoughts-I don’t hate the art style, but some of the paintings are juussst slightly off.  You know who it is, but you do a double take when you see them as you think something is up with the character.

My one problem with the game-A major part of this game is handing your hand to another player.  While this sounds simple, I’ve found I’ve become confused a few times.  If there was an insert or a direction of play vs direction of passing card, I would be less confused.  But this is nit picking.

Final Thoughts-Great game!  Go get this.  Its less than $30 on Amazon or in your friendly local game store.  Go give this a try.  If you are a Whovian, then this is a must! 9/10.