Category: Gaming
Last article published: 4 May 2020
This is the 109th post under this label
Number of players: 2-5 (best: 3)
Playing time: 5 minutes apparently! (get to and finish the end boss in under a half hour)
By: Connor Reid for Korea Boardgames co., Ltd. / Spin Master Ltd.
Rank on BoardGameGeek: 1716th
A licensed spin-off of Reid's 5-Minute Dungeon, 5-Minute Marvel trades on the popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and what was (in 2018 when it was released) the anticipation for Avengers: Infinity War. Given the speed at which they propose this be played, it looks like a good game to start with on game night, or perhaps to finish with if you only have time for a quick round of something.
Gameplay
It's pretty simple and it's fast. In this co-op card game, you play one superhero among the 10 offered in the box. Each has their abilities and strategies represented by their own little subsection of cards (your Hero Deck). In the middle of the table is an increasingly tough villain (Boss #1 is Green Goblin, the 6th round's Boss is Thanos) and a deck of cards called the Mission Deck. You have exactly 5 minutes to defeat each of these Bosses, working together (a timing app is available with music upping the tension and cool JARVIS graphics, but any timer will do). Basically, to get to the Boss, you must fist defeat his (yeah, no female Bosses) Mission Deck which is composed of other random Marvel villains and the occasional "Crisis" card which forces discards, "injures" a character (which must then be healed), that kind of thing. Each villain has icons on it that match the Resource Cards each player takes from their own Resource deck. Everybody goes at the same time, as quickly as possible matching every icon on the card so that it is defeated, then we move on to the next. When you get to the bottom of the Mission Deck, you match the Boss' icons to do the same. If the buzzer sounds, you lose. If you win, you're invited to go again, only this time, the Boss is tougher, has more icons, and a thicker Mission Deck.
Players with great visual acuity are advantaged in this game (that's Art-Girl for my group), able to slap down the correct cards at a faster rate than players who maybe are further from the center of the table. Good thing we're all working together! The replay value comes from which character you're playing. So for example, Captain America is a bit of a healer, Groot and Ms. Marvel can "act" as a Resource (icon), Iron Man can pause JARVIS or get more cards (he's rich), Hulk can defeat foes in one go but then turn into Puny Banner, and for those visual acuity players, there's always Squirrel Girl and looking at card art for hidden squirrels! Each is also particularly good at getting one or two of the necessary icons. Some players will want to use their favorite character, others will want to coordinate strategies, but it doesn't really change the difficulty level overmuch. In terms of co-op games, this is one that's relatively easy, is won 90% of the time (and even when it isn't, you can at least send SOME Bosses to jail), and will work quite well with younger players.
Theme
It's quite abstract, but if you think it as a superhero battle where each card slap is a punch (or other moments of battle, since the icons represent Fist, Shield, Energy, Jump and Tech), then your player team's furious action is also your superhero team's. Villains are behind "Door Cards" so the implication is that you're in a video game or Game of Death, facing different foes inside a villainous lair, and the bad guys do have categories like Goons, Minion, Villain and Mastermind (with power levels relative to that, but is also means, say, Spider-Man can be good at defeating Goons and have an advantage there). I'm sure someone could sit there and question why X icons are required for Y enemy, but they seem to make casual sense. For example Absorbing Man needs 3 Punch and 1 Shield, while Stilt-Man (a Minion) requires Energy and Jump. Like most card games, the randomness means the "plot" is ludicrous. Why is MODOK hiding behind Enchantress and J.Jonah Jameson?! But that's par for the course.
Where the game shines thematically is in the way each hero included is very different from the rest. I already mentioned a couple of fun mechanics they've brought to bear (Puny Banner replaces the Injured side of Hulk's card, for example), and for comic book fans, there are a lot of fun little references, whether it's Medusa having a Lockjaw card to teleport out of trouble (and cancel a Crisis card), or each character having flavor text (including the non-Boss bad guys) in the form of ability names or subtitles ("Symbi-Nope" says Venom's card, while AIM are called "Spooky Beekeepers". That's just fun. Even if you don't know just what version of the Avengers this is with Spider-Gwen and Black Widow both on the team. (I think I named them all by now - were you paying attention? - so yes, it's half and half male/female).
Components
Fun art across the board, courtesy of Alex Diochon. I might have been happier if Crisis cards had their own images, mimicking things from the comics, but that's my CCG background talking. In reality, the game is so fast, you need Crises to look very different from the villains you need to beat. The Resource cards (icons) are easy to differentiate and the Heroes and Bosses are on stronger card stock. The box has trays that make story the Heroes with their own Hero decks quite easy. And that timer app looks neat. No problems or misgivings.
House Rules and Expansions
I did say the game was a little easy, but it's so breathless, it's more about having fun and getting the heart pumping than play difficulty (I mean, you can always hurt yourself afterwards with a tough game of Castle Panic or Ghost Stories). Nevertheless, there are ways to increase the number of bad guys and Crisis cards (hey, shouldn't this be a DC thing?!) your "Veteran" heroes face. While I don't recommend it, I could imagine a CURATED Mission Deck that better applies to whatever Boss is at the end of the line, so, y'know, AIM and other science or Hydra guys when you're attacking MODOK, or Enchantress and other magical beings when the Boss is Loki. I'm not sure you could ENTIRELY get that to work (especially as Mission Decks get bigger), but it might be an intriguing thematic idea for strict comic book experts.
In conclusion: 5-Minute Marvel does was it says on the tin, which is offer a very quick, all-ages card game that, while fun for everyone, will be extra fun for Marvel Comics fans. And yes, it's comics, because movie-only fans will not know many of these character, including a couple of the heroes.
Last article published: 4 May 2020
This is the 109th post under this label
Playing time: 5 minutes apparently! (get to and finish the end boss in under a half hour)
By: Connor Reid for Korea Boardgames co., Ltd. / Spin Master Ltd.
Rank on BoardGameGeek: 1716th
A licensed spin-off of Reid's 5-Minute Dungeon, 5-Minute Marvel trades on the popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and what was (in 2018 when it was released) the anticipation for Avengers: Infinity War. Given the speed at which they propose this be played, it looks like a good game to start with on game night, or perhaps to finish with if you only have time for a quick round of something.
Gameplay
It's pretty simple and it's fast. In this co-op card game, you play one superhero among the 10 offered in the box. Each has their abilities and strategies represented by their own little subsection of cards (your Hero Deck). In the middle of the table is an increasingly tough villain (Boss #1 is Green Goblin, the 6th round's Boss is Thanos) and a deck of cards called the Mission Deck. You have exactly 5 minutes to defeat each of these Bosses, working together (a timing app is available with music upping the tension and cool JARVIS graphics, but any timer will do). Basically, to get to the Boss, you must fist defeat his (yeah, no female Bosses) Mission Deck which is composed of other random Marvel villains and the occasional "Crisis" card which forces discards, "injures" a character (which must then be healed), that kind of thing. Each villain has icons on it that match the Resource Cards each player takes from their own Resource deck. Everybody goes at the same time, as quickly as possible matching every icon on the card so that it is defeated, then we move on to the next. When you get to the bottom of the Mission Deck, you match the Boss' icons to do the same. If the buzzer sounds, you lose. If you win, you're invited to go again, only this time, the Boss is tougher, has more icons, and a thicker Mission Deck.
Players with great visual acuity are advantaged in this game (that's Art-Girl for my group), able to slap down the correct cards at a faster rate than players who maybe are further from the center of the table. Good thing we're all working together! The replay value comes from which character you're playing. So for example, Captain America is a bit of a healer, Groot and Ms. Marvel can "act" as a Resource (icon), Iron Man can pause JARVIS or get more cards (he's rich), Hulk can defeat foes in one go but then turn into Puny Banner, and for those visual acuity players, there's always Squirrel Girl and looking at card art for hidden squirrels! Each is also particularly good at getting one or two of the necessary icons. Some players will want to use their favorite character, others will want to coordinate strategies, but it doesn't really change the difficulty level overmuch. In terms of co-op games, this is one that's relatively easy, is won 90% of the time (and even when it isn't, you can at least send SOME Bosses to jail), and will work quite well with younger players.
It's quite abstract, but if you think it as a superhero battle where each card slap is a punch (or other moments of battle, since the icons represent Fist, Shield, Energy, Jump and Tech), then your player team's furious action is also your superhero team's. Villains are behind "Door Cards" so the implication is that you're in a video game or Game of Death, facing different foes inside a villainous lair, and the bad guys do have categories like Goons, Minion, Villain and Mastermind (with power levels relative to that, but is also means, say, Spider-Man can be good at defeating Goons and have an advantage there). I'm sure someone could sit there and question why X icons are required for Y enemy, but they seem to make casual sense. For example Absorbing Man needs 3 Punch and 1 Shield, while Stilt-Man (a Minion) requires Energy and Jump. Like most card games, the randomness means the "plot" is ludicrous. Why is MODOK hiding behind Enchantress and J.Jonah Jameson?! But that's par for the course.
Where the game shines thematically is in the way each hero included is very different from the rest. I already mentioned a couple of fun mechanics they've brought to bear (Puny Banner replaces the Injured side of Hulk's card, for example), and for comic book fans, there are a lot of fun little references, whether it's Medusa having a Lockjaw card to teleport out of trouble (and cancel a Crisis card), or each character having flavor text (including the non-Boss bad guys) in the form of ability names or subtitles ("Symbi-Nope" says Venom's card, while AIM are called "Spooky Beekeepers". That's just fun. Even if you don't know just what version of the Avengers this is with Spider-Gwen and Black Widow both on the team. (I think I named them all by now - were you paying attention? - so yes, it's half and half male/female).
Fun art across the board, courtesy of Alex Diochon. I might have been happier if Crisis cards had their own images, mimicking things from the comics, but that's my CCG background talking. In reality, the game is so fast, you need Crises to look very different from the villains you need to beat. The Resource cards (icons) are easy to differentiate and the Heroes and Bosses are on stronger card stock. The box has trays that make story the Heroes with their own Hero decks quite easy. And that timer app looks neat. No problems or misgivings.
House Rules and Expansions
I did say the game was a little easy, but it's so breathless, it's more about having fun and getting the heart pumping than play difficulty (I mean, you can always hurt yourself afterwards with a tough game of Castle Panic or Ghost Stories). Nevertheless, there are ways to increase the number of bad guys and Crisis cards (hey, shouldn't this be a DC thing?!) your "Veteran" heroes face. While I don't recommend it, I could imagine a CURATED Mission Deck that better applies to whatever Boss is at the end of the line, so, y'know, AIM and other science or Hydra guys when you're attacking MODOK, or Enchantress and other magical beings when the Boss is Loki. I'm not sure you could ENTIRELY get that to work (especially as Mission Decks get bigger), but it might be an intriguing thematic idea for strict comic book experts.
In conclusion: 5-Minute Marvel does was it says on the tin, which is offer a very quick, all-ages card game that, while fun for everyone, will be extra fun for Marvel Comics fans. And yes, it's comics, because movie-only fans will not know many of these character, including a couple of the heroes.
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