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It’s time to kick back, flip on the VHS, and see what Blockbuster and Chill has in store with the latest instalment to the Blockbuster mini board game series from the good folks at Big Potato Games. Unlike its predecessors, Blockbuster and Chill is specifically designed for two players which acts as a stand-alone game and an expansion to the original Blockbuster, providing two new category to play with. So, let’s fire up the VHS and take a look at Blockbuster and Chill.
Be Kind, Please Rewind
The basis for Blockbuster and Chill is simple. Players come up with a Mystery Movie each and write its title on a piece of paper, tucking it into a small cardboard wallet before giving it to their partner. Players then remove the Late Fee cards and shuffle the remaining Popcorn cards, which have categories such as ‘Movies with dinosaurs’.
These categories are what you’ll be trying to get the other player to guess by listing films during each turn. Then, players remove the top 15 cards from the deck and shuffle the Late Fee cards back into the rest, placing the 15 back on top before starting. Finally, the board is placed in the middle of the table and a Popcorn card is placed face-down at each of the indicated spaces. Now it’s time for the fun to begin. Each round is a minute long, timed by the handy Big Potato app, and players take it in turns drawing Popcorn cards and trying to get the other player to guess the category.
At the end of the round, the player who was drawing cards can give any cards that were correctly guessed to their partner to help them identify the Mystery Movie’s title. For example, if my partner’s hidden film was Gravity and they guessed the card ‘Movies set in space’, I could give it to them to help narrow down their search. Any Popcorn cards that aren’t relevant are kept face-down and can be used to buy guesses at the Mystery Movie or clues, such as the first letter. You won’t want to hang around, as the Late Fee cards could pop up and surprise you. Draw three of them and the game is over.
Make It A Blockbuster Night
While the gameplay is super simple, it can lead to some fantastic chaos, as players are shouting out any guess they can muster, desperate to guess the card before the time runs out. Even film fanatics will be floundering trying to get their partner to guess something as vague as ‘Movies with guns’. The game’s components are fantastic, with unnecessary plastic kept to a minimum in the sleek, VHS-shaped cardboard box.
Overall, Blockbuster and Chill is the perfect two-player adaptation of the Big Potato classic. There’s a lot of fun to be had condensed into the thirty minutes of gameplay. It takes almost no time to teach and so even the most board-game averse can pick it up in five minutes at most.
