Review
First TerrorBull Games surprised us with the War on Terror Board Game, which was very impressive indeed. Then just when you thought that was your lot TerrorBull kindly rewarded us with the cheap as chips card game - Crunch! I’ll be quite honest, normally if anyone ever mentions ‘credit crunch’ within a 10 meter radius I develop an urge to chop my ears off without any consideration of the consequences, but this game almost makes up for all the pap and makes me wish I could turn back time and study to be a fat-cat banker.
Yes this game let’s you play on the other side of the fence of the credit crunch. You are indeed, a banker. A big fat banker to be precise whose sole ambition is to screw everyone and everything over, several times, much like a real banker.
Big shoes to fill? War on Terror, for me wasn’t the most original game in the world (although it’s still pretty damn fantastic) but this on the other hand was. I doubt there’s another game anywhere on our funny little planet quite like it (not in civilised society anyway), it encourages you to embezzle ‘assets’ in whichever method you feel to be ethical, much like a real banker! Ho ho! During my first game I obliterated my opponents by owning 90% of the game's assets and was convinced I was the unquestionable ruler of the universe, much like a real... ok I’ll stop with that now. So what makes this game different to and perhaps better than War on Terror...?
It’s simple and cheap. True to the style of the recession this game is affordable to all and sundry, why even a commoner could afford it. It’s a tiny wee game that can fit neatly within a pocket of your three piece suit (so it’s actually kind of travel-friendly too). The game is comprised of only a few decks of cards but what it lacks in balaclavas, spinners, boards and counters it makes up for in sheer genius. Well what did you expect, the game designers did go to Oxford y’know... I think this game is genius for two reasons.
- Who the hell ever thought they could make a great game about borrowing assets, rebranding and corporate mergers? I mean you’d have to be ruddy mad... or incredibly clever. You’ll shake your head with appreciation when you play this it’s that good, it’s witty, satirical like WOT and really good fun when played with a group of 4 players.
- Whether you understand all of the credit crunch banker fraud malarkey or not this game is easy to play and will give you more truth about what went on than most of the usual media. Much like War on Terror in that sense. TerrorBull Games to run for office!
How does it work? You make huge amounts of dosh by borrowing assets to your workforce when you cash in on the good times, high risk loan situations bring mega moolah. Each turn you need to cover your debt and if you can't there'll be hell to pay, well not really as there are many slippery, slimy ways to get out of said situations. Trust cards will get you out of trouble when it all goes belly up (when the 'Crunch' card comes up for example), trust cards comprise of nice little benefits such as 'Government Bail Out' schemes etc. You don’t win the game by owning the most assets, you win by skying away the most loot, this can be via your official bonus pile, or via the sneaky pile of cards hidden away sneakily from the view of your opponents (this can bring funny situations if you're dying for the toilet and you have half the economy stashed underneath your arse). I feel like playing a game again now...
Any bad points? Yes but it's a very small complaint, which can be remedied quite easily in fact. When playing with 4 players the asset cards seem to run out fairly quickly, which isn’t too much of a bad thing as you don't really want the game to go on for hours on end anyway. Quick games with bags of replayablity is the way I like 'em personally, so in that sense this game is perfect. But if you feel the game goes too quickly then a simple remedy would be to buy 2 boxes of Crunch as you'd have plenty of asset cards then. If you did decide to do that you could easily get away with playing with 1 or 2 more additional players. Then you can feel like a real big spender...
Conclusion? Why do you need a conclusion? I’ve given you all you need to know, cheap, travel-friendlyish, simple, witty and clever. Good show old boy!
by David 15/02/2010
