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Who doesn’t love a good movie night?! Who doesn’t love chatting about that said movie for nights to come?! In this new party game from Big Potato Games, talking about Movies is what it’s all about! Whether you’re a movie boff or a causal consumer of a good flick every now and then, Blockbuster is the hilariously fun game for you and your friends!
Components
Blockbuster comes in a perfectly themed box. Yes, this game comes in a VHS case! Upon opening, you'll be greeted by a VHS cassette inspired playing board. On the gaming side, there is a car park styled board.
You will also find a Blockbuster signpost, a buzzer, 200 Movie Cards, 60 Head to Head cards and of course the obligatory Big Potato Games sticker! Take a closer look at these components in my unboxing video below.
Gameplay
Being a party game, Blockbuster requires you to have friends and ideally in two equal teams. A first player is selected from both teams and they step up, (well sit opposite each other) for the Head to Head!
Between them is the buzzer. A card is revealed with a random category such as “Movies with buses” and the first person to shout out their answer then hits the buzzer to start a 15-second countdown for the other player to give their answer. This goes back and forth until someone runs out of answers…
If, like me, all of your movie knowledge disappears at the sound of that buzzer ticking down, all is not lost. Your team-mates can mime out clues for you to guess which adds a whole new level of fun and laughter to the game!
The winner of the Head to Head draws six Movie Cards from the deck. They'll secretly pick the ‘easiest’ three for themselves. The other three are handed to the loser of the Head to Head, who also keeps them secret from the rest of their team. As a result, the winning team could have a huge advantage in the next stage.
Both players now decide which Movie Cards to place face-down in the corresponding parking places on the Game Board. The categories (spaces) are:
- One Word Only - Describe the movie using just ONE WORD. Easy! Or is it?
- Quote It - Quote a line from the movie. If you don't know one, make it up!
- Act It - Through the medium of mime, you become the movie.
When everyone is ready the player who won the Head to Head starts. The 30-second timer is set by holding the buzzer down for three seconds. The timer begins when the horn sound is made.
If your team are wizards at guessing and you glide through your three cards with time to spare then you are allowed to steal your opponent's cards, moving through them in the same way. When the time is up the other team has their turn. All cards guessed correctly remain face-up in front of the team.
New opponents are chosen and the Head to Head and Movie round starts over again. The winning team is the first to get all eight different coloured genre cards laid out in front of them.
Final Thoughts on Blockbuster
This game was an instant hit with our games group, the Hairy Game Lords. Even my non-gaming, not seen many films, wife got involved on the second play through and thoroughly enjoyed it!
Blockbuster shot to the top of my favourite Big Potato party games and there is certainly lots of fun to be had in the 30 minutes of gameplay. Whilst some have questioned if it has enough replay-ability, I think this game has more than other well-loved titles from Big Potato, like Obama Llama.
It’s easy to learn and easy to teach and you can be set-up and playing in 30 seconds. Even if you don’t know too many movies the game plays well as you are part of a team that can make up for lack of knowledge you may have. The Head to Head was partially fun with team mates frantically miming out suggestions in those 15 seconds. Of course, the other team are keeping a close eye on you! You may accidentally give the answer away and they'll steal the victory.
Despite having knowledge and acting prowess, it all comes down to something not related to skill. This is true of most Big Potato titles, and I like this. In the case of Blockbuster, winning is all about set collection and being the first team to get eight different coloured movie genres.
Bring this out at your next games night or party if hilarious fun is your thing…And in the meantime get binge watching movies on Netflix, even though you will probably forget everything you've the moment that buzzer begins counting down!
