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Batman: The Animated Series, the Emmy Award winning TV show, has long been regarded as one of the greatest animated TV series of all time… not to mention many people’s definitive interpretation of the Dark Knight. From the groundbreaking visuals to the stellar voice cast of Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Co., BTAS continues to hold a special place in pop culture almost 30 years after the last episode aired.
One of the highest regarded episodes of BTAS is ‘Almost Got ‘im’, an anthology style episode centered around some of the biggest hitters from Batman's Rogues Gallery. The story begins with villains The Joker, Two Face, Poison Ivy, Penguin and Killer Croc meeting up for Poker night. Inevitably, the conversation turns to the fly in their collective ointment, Batman–thus begins a bragging match where each villain recounts their story of that one time where they “Almost Got ‘im”. The episode culminates in the big reveal that one of the party is not who they seem and is in fact Batman incognito. It’s a great episode and leans heavily into the film noir atmosphere that BTAS was so famous for.
Now here’s where things turn to tabletop talk…
Take said plotline and the notion of hidden identities and merge them together. What do you get? Batman: The Animated Series - Almost Got ‘im Card Game (yes it’s a mouthful!)
“I find your middling machinations mildly diverting.”
Almost Got ‘im is a mash up of two other games: Poker and Werewolf. Yes, it’s a hidden role deduction game where each player will be taking on the role of a Batman villain for a game of Poker. However, one of the players is not what they appear to be and it’s up to the party to determine who amongst them is the dreaded Batman in disguise.
At the start of the game each player will choose a playable character and the choices include many of the other villains from Batman's catalogue of crime such as Bane, Scarecrow, Harley Quinn etc. Once ‘identities’ have been chosen, players will be randomly handed their true identity–are they ‘Sneaky’,’Crafty’,’Watchful’ or ‘Batman in Disguise’? These identities are kept hidden throughout the game and are only known by one person–the Dealer.
The Dealer is basically the Moderator for the game and will be responsible for making sure that gameplay flows properly. It’s worth noting that the Dealer DOES NOT participate in the actions of the game.
“I want a nice clean game, gentlemen.”
Each player has now received their Secret Role card which tells them what kind of Poker hand they are required to make so that they can use their Special Ability. During the game, players will be drawing and discarding cards in an attempt to craft the hand that they need. At the end of a round an accusation can be made, in true social deduction style, and then the Blackout phase begins.
During the Blackout all players will close their eyes whilst the Dealer invites each player in turn to show them the card hand that they have made. If they have made their required hand such as a Flush or a Straight etc. then they will activate their Special Ability. Unsurprisingly, if the player who is secretly Batman manages to craft their required hand, then during the Blackout phase they can silently choose to subdue (or eliminate) one of their fellow players. In a 5 player game, for example, Batman needs to subdue 2 other players to win the game. Once the Blackout phase is over players will again start drawing cards to craft their Poker hands and so on. The aim of the game for the majority of players is to accurately guess who is secretly Batman and make their accusation, thus eliminating him from the game.
“You know him as the Dark Knight, but we prefer to think of him as history.”
On paper this game has everything that I’m looking for: a great theme, fun party game shenanigans and a film noir aesthetic.
But oh my was I disappointed!
It’s not a bad game, it’s not a good game… It's just, OK.
To begin with, I’ll start with the positives:
The Theme!
Wow, what a theme this is. Far from being a Batman skin slapped on the Werewolf game box, Almost Got ‘im is a great example of a concept for board game adaptation. The whole concept feels like the episode was actually made for the game and not the other way around. It’s a very smart idea and I love the notion of this Poker/hidden role mechanic.
The Cards
Included in the box is a full deck of playing cards (obviously an important part of playing Poker) featuring artwork and motifs from BTAS. It’s just a beautiful deck of cards pure and simple. In fact I would recommend just using the playing cards as your new deck of cards for everyday use!
Gameplay
I’m not a Poker player and was slightly apprehensive about how much I would need to know to play the game. Happily the game does provide you with a reference card so you don’t in fact need to have any knowledge or experience of playing Poker before you begin this game.
The Negatives
It’s a shame that for such a well thought out game, the execution of it results in more negatives than positives. I wish it was the other way around but our experience with Almost Got ‘im hasn’t been ideal.
For starters, the rules are badly written and take some rereading to understand how gameplay should proceed at various points. If the rules were more succinct it would definitely help.
Due to the nature of the game, there is a very high minimum player count. Almost Got ‘im requires a minimum of 5 players so that, although it may work well for gaming groups, it is unlikely to work for many families and DEFINITELY will not work for couples or smaller families. We found this to be too high of a point of entry and could see how many would be put off by this prerequisite.
A special mention has to go to the Dealer role. Unfortunately, only one word applies to this role… BORING! The only real bit of interaction that the Dealer has is during the Blackout phase and in every game we have played so far it has only taken 2-3 Blackout phases before the game is over. The Blackout phase itself either drags on for too long or goes in a flash, there is very little consistency in this game and the Dealer basically sits there for the most part of the game before checking who has what card and asking people to open or close their eyes.
Lastly, the artwork on the whole is not great. Instead of using the beloved original artwork in an intelligent or bold way, we are just handed some screen grabs from various episodes that have been plastered onto the player cards. It could have been handled much better, especially by a name as big as Cryptozoic.
“It was a big rock…”
Almost Got ‘im place in the world of TV is solidified–it’s a classic piece of animation. The crime of its card game counterpart is that it’s simply not interesting enough to make any real impact. There are some strong ideas at play but the result is a game that feels unfinished and poorly tested. The potential for a game like this is huge, but unfortunately it falls far short of what could have been.
But hey, we’ll always have the TV show.
