Deathbot Derby Kickstarter Review

For anyone who remembers the TV show Robot Wars, Deathbot Derby will strike a chord right off the bat. You make a robot with various weapons and go head to head with each other. The game comes packaged in such a small box and I wasn't very hopeful of the game being any more than your run of the mill filler but I was wrong.

Deathbot Derby - The Contents

Aside from the little robot shaped meeples and dice, Deathbot Derby is entirely card based and with arena cards and several types of weapon and robot cards - the options for a small box game is astounding!

Inside the box you'll find:

1. Arena Cards.
2. Armour Cards.
3. Meeples.
4. Die.
5. Component Cards.
6. Hazard Cards.
7. Rule book.

Arena cards are varied and make up the battle arena. They have things like saws, bombs and power-ups on them. Armour cards are your robot's main source of health and are numbered on the edges so you can see what health you have left.

Component cards are made up of different categories which include movement, ranged weapons, melee weapons, and secret weapons. These cards are drafted and make up your robot, with the different choices there is plenty of potential for different types of robots each time you play.

Enter The Arena

Deathbot Derby is so quick and simple to play, and after a few goes of setting it up you can set the game up in less than five minutes which makes this a great filler game.

Here's the set-up process:

1. Shuffle and layout the arena cards into a 5x6 grid.
2. Draw the top three cards of each weapon deck, select one and pass the remaining two to the other player so they can do the same.
3. Choose a name for the robot and get ready for the carnage that is about to happen.

On your turn, you can take up to two actions which are simply move or attack:

• Move - A player can move all or some of the SPD (speed) the robot has.
• Attack - Here you say which weapon you are using and if you are in range you deal that damage to the opponent.

That’s it for what you can do on your turn. This game is so simple and easy to play that you will not just play it once, it’s a filler game that can, and will, be played more times than a standard game.

Things like arena hazards and a hazard card with four uses add a few more choices to the play but the game flows nicely and is great fun.

Final Thoughts

I really really enjoyed Deathbot Derby. I will admit when I saw the size of the box I was a bit concerned it would be a run of the mill filler game. I was wrong, after over 15 plays it has not gotten boring and every game is different.

My group always asks to play the Robot Wars game now and it hasn’t been moved from the bag I take to games nights. We like the way it’s so easy to set up and play yet has a wealth of options once you get going.

This game will be hitting stores soon and I recommend it to anyone who likes great little fillers packed full of replay value.

This blog was originally published on April 26th, 2017. Updated on May 4th, 2022 to improve the information available.