Stupid Users: Kickstarter Preview
Information:
Mechanics: Take That, Semi Co-op,Player Age: 13+
Player Count: 2 - 4 (Possibly 6) Players
Time to Play: 15 - 25 Minutes
Game Designer: Mandy and Matthew Jacobs
Publisher: Dent Ventures
Disclaimer: A preview copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
The Game:
Objective:The aim of the game is to gain 10 minions on your battlefield or to get each component to spell out B.E.T.A. But be careful as other players will have ample chances to thwart your impending victory. Whats more, if the NPC ‘Der Magicker’ (DM) gains 10 or more minions they win and all players lose.Card Anatomy:
Character cards:
The characters have two sides to their cards; one is human and the other is the zombified version.As a human, playable characters each have a unique ability that can be used once three permanents of their symbol is gained. If the character has been turned into a zombie, they can destroy any cards with their symbol from their field at the start/end of the turn to immediately draw two more zombie cards. However, this can only be done if there is less than five minions in their field.
Minions:
The minions are instantly played when drawn and have two types: zombies/employees and flippables.Zombies and employees:
These minions have a power level on the top right of the card; an ‘IT’ (human employee) or ‘Z’ (zombie) on the top left to characterise the type; and either an ongoing ability that will always be active or a one time ability that activates when played.
Flippable minions:
These minions work the same as other minions but can be taken by a human employee or a zombie (see below). The player will flip the card to suit their needs however these minions are not loyal, they can be taken by any other characters.
Armour:
This card will remain in your hand and can be discarded to prevent a negative action being played on your champion (not your minions). It can also be discard to prevent a zombie infection.
Actions:
These can be played on your turn to perform oneshot abilities. Some actions are instants and can be played at any time.
Components:
There are four component letters that spell B.E.T.A. (See below). If you have managed to spell B.E.T.A than you win, simple right? Wrong! you may only have one of each letter attached, so no doubles, and there are cards allowing these to be stolen.
Weapon:
Each character can only have one weapon item equipped. This item will increase the power they have when they attack or recruit, and they sometimes have abilities that can help crush your opponents.
Setup:
- Each player will choose a survivor and the corresponding deck that matches that character.- Each player will then seperate their deck into a zombie deck and an IT deck.
- All zombie decks and all IT decks will be suffled together to create one zombie and one IT deck.
- This will include a base zombie deck highlighted by a red stripe at the top and a base IT deck highlighted by a white stripe at the top (see image below).
- Place DM to the side of the zombie deck, it is time to setup the King of the zombies.
- Draw six zombie cards.
- Each zombie drawn will be played face up in a row representing DM's battlefield (see image).
- Every component and weapon drawn will be attached to DM unless he already has one weapon or a component matching that letter.
- Any chaos cards drawn are discarded during this setup.
How to Play:
Each player begins as a human but during their quest may be turned into a zombie. This occurs by drawing the infected card and not being able to oppose it with minions or armour. Once this occurs the player will flip over their player card and change their strategy to now play as a zombie. But before this, you must first learn to play as a human IT employee.Playing as a human IT employee:
On your turn their are four phases, draw, action, attack/recruit and DM's turn.Draw Phase:
In this phase you will draw from the IT deck until either your hand equals three cards, or if you began this phase with three or more cards then you may draw one card. The maximum hand size is five so if you have more cards you will have to discard down.Action Phase:
The player can play any amount of action, armour or weapon cards from their hand. Remember, a character can only have one weapon equipped at a time.All minions in the players hand must be played first during this phase before doing any other actions.
Recruit/Attack Phase:
During this phase the player can either steal or attack any opponent including DM but they can only target one player and can only perform one attack or one steal action.Recruit:
If the minions on all fields are flippable or they match your faction (your character card colour) you can recruit these minions from one player or the DM but only if the minion level is equal to your recruit strength. For example, if your strength is three you can steal three level one minions or one level three minion.
Attack:
You can also target minions who do not flip and do not match your faction, although you are aiming to attack these, not steal them. After all, if you can't have those minions, no one can.
To do this you need to pick an opponent and you can kill (place in discard pile) any amount of minions equal to your attack
strength. To do this you need to pick an opponent and you can kill (place in discard pile) any amount of minions whose combined power equals your power. Once these minions are slain you collect a reward (corpse loot! Yay).
For each minion killed you now get to draw cards from either the IT or zombie deck (the deck is based on your current state of mortality). The amount of cards you can loot will depend on how many you killed and what levels they were i.e. if you kill two minions with power two, then you will be able to draw one minion card for each minion as you draw cards based on their power minus one.
This is the end of your turn and Der Magicker would now have theirs but before that I will explain playing as a zombie.
You’ve been zombified!:
As a zombie you must first flip over your character card to the zombie side. Any equipable weapons are kept and up to three flippable minions are kept. Every other minion and your hand is now discarded. There are three phases to your turn: Draw, Evolve, recruit/Attack.
Draw Phase:
Now that you are undead you have the benefit of drawing from the zombie deck. The amount of cards drawn is the total amount of power your character has. However, as you are now a brainless member of the undead these cards will be played and resolved in the order of which they are drawn. So there isn't an opportunity to save cards for future turns.If any minions played in the draw phase have an ability, they will activate now.
Evolve Phase:
In this phase you can sacrifice your lower level zombies in your field to upgrade them to DM's stronger zombies. This is done by choosing any of DM's zombies and sacrificing your minions to equal the power of the minion you want. Once obtained this new minion is moved to your battlefield and you can do the one-time ability if there is one. Any ongoing abilities will now activate.Recruit/ Attack Phase:
This works the same as if you were a human IT player.DM turn:
At the end of each players turn, DM will take a turn if he was not interacted with by either attacking or stealing. His turn consists drawing zombie cards equal to his power then resolving them one by one as they and are drawn. Like all other players, DM can only have one weapon and one letter of each component equipped. Der Magicker is neutral when it comes to choosing sides, he has a distaste for humans and zombies alike.Who is it For?
Stupid Users is an exciting zombie-filled domination game (oh my!) that executes a whimsical style while seamlessly balancing take that with semi co-op. If you enjoy an IT theme with comical references, and don't mind randomised and take that fun then you definitely want to look into Stupid Users.Click...feed the addiction:
Visit the KickstarterDent Ventures
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