Review
Stak Bots by Tom Norfolk
DogEared Games (2013)
Click the cute bots to go to stakbots.com to find out more and buy the game.
In Stak Bots, players battle with stacks of little robots with a variety of unique powers. On a player's turn, he or she will draw a card then do the following actions any number of times: play a card, trash a card, or attack the other player's stack. The only restrictions on a turn are that a player can only attack with one robot and, at some point, a card must be trashed. If the player can't defeat one of the opponent's robots, then they are forced to trash their own.
When a robot is trashed, the next face down card in that stack is turned face up. Some cards have “come into play” abilities that trigger when turned face up or played from a hand. These abilities have a number of different effects that can greatly change the game state. Since the initial composition of the stack is completely random, these effects bring a lot of chaos to the game. Any time a player trashes the opponent's top robot, there is a chance that the robot under it will flip over and cause the attacking player to lose a robot. Or, it could cause damage to its own player's stack.
This random element means Stak Bots isn't a game of high strategy. Still, it isn't completely a game of luck either. The game does offer some tactical decisions that aren't meaningless. Unfortunately, a lot of decisions can be made moot by the ensuing chaos when cards begin to be flipped over.
What I like about the game:
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It plays quickly
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The ability to do all the actions as often as I like makes for lots of options each turn
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The chaos of the bot powers makes for unpredictable fun
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"Toggles" exist to customize the game to fit different play styles
What I dislike:
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A player can make nothing but smart decisions and get squashed by a player only half paying attention
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Way too chaotic when more than two players are playing
Overall, given its low cost, quick, fun gameplay, and the potential for cool micro expansions in the future, I can recommend Stak Bots for anyone not put off by the described randomness. It is an odd game. I can imagine some players will think it is awful while others think it is fantastic. I enjoy it. I've got five games going on the iOS app right now and I imagine I'll keep playing it there since it is about a perfect game for having multiple asynchronous games going that I can check in on a few times a day.
Score 3/5