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In 2017, Studio MDHR introduced us to a video game that would bring both overwhelming joy and even more intense frustration to gamers all over the world. Cuphead would go on to become a classic with mountains of merchandise, graphic novels and even an animated TV show joining its ranks.
Fast forward to 2021 and The Op have added another jewel to Cuphead’s already shining crown, Cuphead: Fast Rolling Dice Game. The Op are known for taking fan favourites and combining them with well-established games, but this addition offers 1-4 players a completely new game with an astoundingly unique premise that will get you dicing with the Devil in no time.
A Brawl Is Surely Brewing
We will get into components a bit later but let me tell you that this is a heavy box with plenty of tokens, cards and dice needing to be organised. Each character has their own board and dice sets which are given to players during the set up. You’ll also start with the Boss Board in the centre of the play area alongside various tokens and Wallop cards. From there, it’s time to set up the Boss Deck that you’ll be facing during the round.
There is a choice of 8 bosses in the game and as you can imagine, the higher the Boss level the more difficult the round. For your first game, it’s recommended that you start with Boss Deck 1 – The Root Pack, and for this review we’ll only be discussing this boss. The game is quite particular in that the Boss Decks are already set up in a particular order as they will go through a certain number of phases as the round goes on. So, when you first open that deck box, don’t shuffle!
Once you’ve drawn either 3 cards (or 4 if one was a Wallop card) from the first phase of the Boss Deck and set the Boss’s health tracker up – it’s time to get cuphead rolling.
A Good Day For A Swell Battle
The aim of the game is simple: defeat the boss before it defeats you. This is done by dodging the Boss’s attacks and, when you can, attacking them yourself.
Each of the Boss cards you place on the Boss Board will have symbols on the bottom that match with the symbols printed on each character’s dice sets. The goal is to roll your dice, match the Boss cards to avoid taking damage and then place the dice on your character board in matching order.
The only exception to this is the Wallop Cards. When drawing from the Boss Deck, if you place a Wallop card on the Boss Board and roll the correct symbol, you’re in with a chance of receiving a reward at the end of the round. These cards are helpful as they don’t count towards any potential damage you may take from the Boss so if you’re struggling it won’t matter if you skip it and move on to the next Boss card.
Some Boss cards will have 1 or 2 symbols printed on them, if there is only 1 then that is your opportunity to strike back. To attack a Boss, you must roll a specific ‘shoot’ icon on the dice and place it on your character board in an available space. The trick here is that there are only a limited number of available spaces to attack so you must judge if you would like to take a risk in using one of your dice to attack and potentially fail to match the rest of the required symbols.
To top this off, all of this rolling and matching must be done in under a maximum of 20 seconds. Slowly, as rounds go on, you will knock down the Boss’s HP and once it reaches 0 – knockout! However, fans of the video game may have guessed already, but that’s only the beginning. Knocking the boss down to 0 will start the next phase in the Boss Deck with more challenging symbol combinations to match and so the rolling starts all over again.
Boss Deck 1 has 3 phases to get through before you have officially beaten the Boss and at the end there are rewards waiting. After defeating a Boss Deck, players can determine a grading for their performance during the rounds. This ranges from the dreaded ‘F,’ all the way to a very impressive ‘A+.’ The game includes a decent sized pack of Save Sheets that will allow you to track your progress as you go through each of the Boss Decks. These sheets will allow you to record any equipment you may have, any coins you have earned and of course your final grade.
Coins will allow you buy upgrades from Porkrind’s Emporium, these can be an improvement on how much damage you deal or even a health upgrade. Of course, you can always then go back and face the same Boss again with your new weapons and stats to try and improve your grade! Either way, having the improvements will definitely help with later bosses.
Continue your journey all the way through to Boss Deck 8 and take on the Devil!
A Real High-Class Bout
Let’s talk components in Cuphead, because wow. There is a choice of 4 characters to play, each coming with their own character board and dice sets. Admittedly there is not much difference between the character boards other than the artwork however the dice sets are what stand out for me. Although each set is printed with the same imagery, they are unique in colour to match with your player character which is a great touch.
Every other component in the game, from tokens to even the boxes the cards come in are all designed to fit in with the 1930’s artwork style that characterises Cuphead. From the font that’s used to the almost grainy looking artwork, The Op has gone above and beyond to really make sure the theming is carried right through the game.
Apps becoming a feature of board games is something that is happening quite frequently nowadays, just look at Familiar Tales or One Night Ultimate Werewolf. Cuphead is no different as the rulebook recommends downloading the available app to assist you with playing the game. When downloaded, the app will act as your timer as well as help you work out your grade once you have reached the end of the Boss Deck.
Of course, you can always use your own timer if you would prefer and there is a table at the back of the rulebook that allows you to work out your final score, however the app comes with themed music from the game to add to the tension and the wonderful voiceover from the announcer.
All in all, the components get a big thumbs up from me. They are well made, and a great deal of care has clearly gone in to produce them.
Knockout
This game, Cuphead, really wowed me when we picked it up at UKGE this year. We first played it at the convention almost immediately after purchasing it and all eyes were on us. The Op have done a phenomenal job in recreating both the look and gameplay of the video game – a feat which can be incredibly tricky to authentically do.
As beautiful as the game looks and plays, my goodness is it difficult. I shouldn’t be that surprised really considering the difficulty of the video game, but I suppose in my naivety I thought there was no way a tabletop game could match the level of frustration that the video game had caused me. To be blunt, I was very wrong.
The 20 second timer might sound long enough but in real time it goes by so quickly. Trying to roll your dice, assign them in the correct order with matching symbols and potentially try and get an attack in there somewhere is quite stressful under that kind of time pressure. Just to add to the tension, as the game goes on, the bosses’ difficulty levels increase. There are new mechanics to learn and much of the game will force you to rely on memory. Because of this, the game scales very well but can be unfavourable to players if you’re not a fan of those kinds of mechanics.
Despite all this stress, the game is so easy to get invested in and will get you coming back to the table again and again. There’s even a solo mode if you truly are a glutton for punishment and want to keep playing even after everyone else has tapped out!
Whether it’s because you want to beat your original score or you want to try and complete a goal to open one of the Super Art Card Envelopes included, Cuphead has enough challenges to keep players interested and having fun.
