We bought Super Mario Bros Power Up Card Game because it was on the birthday list of our 10 year old grandson. Pretty cool that his birthday list contained a bunch of board games!!!
A Bit of Background
For anybody that just arrived on earth, you might not have heard of or played Super Mario Bros. It is one of the classic video games of the 1980s selling more than 40,000,000 copies (that’s a lot of “mama mia”s and “It’s a me, Mario”).
There were dozens of spin off video games, a cartoon series and a really bad movie all based on Mario and his brother Luigi. We still have two video consoles that run Mario Bros games.
This game was released by USAopoly in 2017 and features classic Mario Bros art and scenes.
Inside the Box
The box and everything inside it could have been made at the same time as the Super Mario Bros game...the art is awesome. We all talked about how it made us want to go play the classic video games.
The box indicates the game is for 3-8 players takes 20-60 minutes and is good for kids 8+. We found it plays best with four or more players although the game gets really interesting when you are down to the last two or three players too. Game time is proportional to the amount of players.
There are two kinds of cards: Level cards that are game scenes numbered 1 through 12 and Power Ups that use mushrooms and other powerups to let the player help themselves or cause another player to go spinning out of control. Also there are a handful of Life tokens.
High Level Game Play
Game play is Super fast, Super easy and Super fun.
Each player starts with a secret Power Up card and 5 Lives.
The dealer gives each player one face down Level card. If any player has a Castle Level card, the Castle is turned up and the player is awarded a Power Up card and is safe for this turn.
The first player can either keep his Level card or swap it with the player to the left. This continues until the dealer is reached and the dealer has the option to swap his card with the top card of the Level deck.
All players turn their Level cards face up. The person with the lowest Level loses a life. Except - this is when players can lob in Power Ups to help their level and lower other players.
The deal passes to the next player and play continues until only one player has a Life remaining and is the winner!
It was also Super cool when our daughter played the classic Super Mario Bros sounds from her smart phone while we played the game. Just good family fun.
Reactions
Okay...this isn’t the world’s most intriguing strategy game but it isn’t meant to be.
Super Mario Bros Power Up Card Game succeeds at its goal - it is a fun entry game for kids or a quick filler game. It plays fast and play time can be adjusted (give each player fewer Lives to start the game).
It is a great, fun nostalgic blast from the past!
The Good: Awesome artwork.
The Bad: Just don’t expect it to be something that it isn’t. What it is is Super Fun.
The Dastardly: I’m-a going to get you!
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