Quick Look: Super Mario Bros. Power Up Card Game
Publisher: USAopoly, The Op
Year Published: 2017
No. of Players: 3-8
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 10-30 minutes
From the Publisher:
In the Super Mario Bros. Power Up Card Game, you want to survive the perils of the Mushroom Kingdom and make it safely to the Castle, but to do that, you’ll need to use your wits and deduction skills to figure out how to take out everyone else who might beat you there.
Each round, players receive a secret level card at random, with these cards being numbered 1-12. After looking at their card, each player in order can swap their card with the one held by their right-hand neighbor. Will you get something better? Maybe! If someone has a castle card, they’re immune from trade or disasters this round. After everyone has traded or passed, players can play “? Block” power-ups to affect their strength or others. Whoever has the lowest score in a round loses one of their life tokens, and if you lose all four life, you’re out of the game!
Review:
Super Mario Bros. Power Up card game is a simple yet entertaining game. The more players there are the more interesting the game.
The cards contain pixelated mario themed images which is fun, and the life tokens are circular cardboard cutouts but they’re thick and hold up well. The cards are self-explanatory and the suggested age range is accurate. My 6 year old enjoys this game but still struggles to read, and therefore requires some assistance when it comes time to play the question block cards.
Game play begins with the person to the left of the dealer by deciding whether or not to keep their level card or trade with whoever is to the left of them. The cards have a level between 1-12, if the player has a high card they would choose to “stay” or “keep” their card, if it’s a low level they would most likely trade with the person to their left, unless they know from using one of the question block cards that another player has a card even lower in which case they might “keep” theirs, or if the person to the left of them has flipped over a “castle” card that then blocks the player from trading with them. When a castle card is revealed, that player cannot lose the round and gains another question block card for their hand. The question block cards contain various items that will either hurt your opponents, or raise up your own level in order to win the round. Each player is given 4 life tokens to start, at the end of each round whoever has the lowest level must lose one of their life tokens. Once someone has lost all 4 of their life tokens they are eliminated from the game, this continues until only one player has any life tokens left and they’ve won the game.
Each player starts the game with 1 question block card, the only way to earn more is by revealing a castle card, or if your level is tied with an opponent’s. I personally would have liked more ways to earn these cards as they can be very helpful during game play and there’s quite a disadvantage when you only have 1 of these cards and others have 3-4 in their hand.
Regardless, it is an enjoyable game that doesn’t take long to play, and is quick and easy to learn.
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E.V. – Reviewer
E.V. is passionate about music, nature, and her family. She is a piano teacher/composer who loves to venture outdoors on sunny days. Hiking, camping, snowboarding and beach days are her favorite kind of adventures. She has always loved playing tabletop cards & board games. Being taught backgammon at a young age her love of games grew, some of her favorites include: Thanos Rising, Battle of Hogwarts, Red Dragon Inn, and Mysterium. Finding the time to play board games with friends and family, and instilling a love for games in her children is very important to her. She is excited to be a part of EBG, to learn new games and continue to branch out and diversify the types of games that she plays.
