Sharpen your katana… Samurai Jack is taking you back to the past with this competitive, villain fighting board game based on the show’s final season.
Samurai Jack is a 2-5 player game that plays in 45-60 minutes. It’s designed by Andrew Wolf and published by Project Ray-gun. Inspired by the animated series’ final season, you are taking the role of one of Jack’s many friends. You are tasked with gathering allies, weapons, and virtues necessary to send Jack back to the past.
Samurai Jack: $34.95
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Accompany Samurai Jack on his quest to vanquish the Shape-shifting Master of Darkness, Aku. As beloved companions from Jack’s adventures, players strive to gain the most Honor by helping him gather Allies, Weapons, and Traits. Will you be the one to get Jack back to the past and undo the future that is Aku?
Contents:
1 Game Board
15 Location Tiles
7 Painted Vinyl Figures
48 Support Cards
40 Movement Cards
9 Villain/Aku Cards
5 Character Cards
71 Honor Point Tokens
1 Jack Token
4 Encounter Tokens
Ages: 13+
Players: 2-5
Game Length: 45-60 minutes
Samurai Jack Board Game Goes Back to the Past: REVIEW
The gameplay in Samurai Jack consists of traveling a path alongside Jack while avoiding Aku and keeping Jack’s sanity in check. For your turn, you play one of five different regions per path. Unless you are caught by Aku, you can take a support card from that zone which will help you fight a villain and eventually Aku himself. If you land in an area with Jack you gain honor. Landing in the same area with Aku will deny you a support card and cause you to play your next movement randomly as you are cast through a portal.
Also, it’s not good for Aku to land where Jack happens to be. This will cause Jack to lose sanity. If that happens too many times it will lose the game for all. Another way Jack will lose sanity is being alone. If no player occupies a location with Jack he will advance on the sanity meter.
At the end of the path, you will encounter a villain in the first two rounds and Aku in the final round. When you move to these spaces you must discard cards for each symbol needed to defeat them. Each character also has thematic special cards that anyone can use. They grant extra points if the proper characters use them. There are only a certain amount of free spaces available each fight and Aku can beat you to these spots. At the end of the third round, you will battle Aku in the same method. After fighting you can also discard unused cards for one point each. The player with the most honor points is the winner.
As a big fan of the Samurai Jack animated series, I was definitely interested in playing this game. I was surprised to see it wasn’t a fully cooperative game, as the theme would have worked for that. I see how it works better as a competitive game instead. It plays relatively fast because turns consist of moving and taking support cards and a quick battle each round. I like the lightweight feel of this game, which can be great for younger fans of the show.
The component quality is fantastic. Once I saw that it came with fully painted miniatures, I expected the price point to be much higher. Retailing at $35 is amazing for the miniature quality you get. Other than the figures the rest is pretty standard. Most of the components are cardboard chits and tiles. The artwork is very good and what you’d expect from the show.
I would say it’s a good game overall definitely enjoyable. It probably would have been better if Jack was playable, but I’d imagine everyone would fight over who gets to be him, so this design works out. Give this one a shot if you want something quick, simple, and if you enjoyed the animated series.
About the Author: Christopher Guyton
When not driving forklifts for a living Chris can be found pushing cubes and chucking dice at Gamer’s Guild in Spring Lake, NC
