Game: Save Doctor Lucky

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smcneil — 2007-11-25T02:28:33+00:00

Close shot of a sampling of the cards

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boltongeordie — 2007-09-29T14:36:19+00:00

Liner floor plans (better image)

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boltongeordie — 2007-09-29T14:35:36+00:00

Box front (hi res)

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boltongeordie — 2007-09-29T14:34:57+00:00

Box back (hi-res)

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jpsharp — 2007-09-04T07:58:12+00:00

Thread: Doctor Lucky microbadge available

bill_andel — 2007-01-24T00:57:33+00:00

A microbadge for Doctor Lucky fans is now available. To purchase, follow this link:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/microbadge/1313

Thread: I don't want to Save Dr. Lucky

kolibri — 2005-08-15T20:30:21+00:00

After we had quite a bit of fun killing Dr. Lucky, I picked up the prequel Save Dr. Lucky for $12 CND from my local gaming store. Game mechanics for saving him were identical to killing him, but in addition the game board was shrinking while the ship was sinking which was done in a really nice and clever way – so it all looked quite promising.

However the first time someone tried to save Dr. Lucky, the differences become painfully clear. Firstly, the "saving aides" unlike the weapons where somewhat forced, but worst of all was that the failure cards were all identical abstract cards. Whereas in Kill Dr. Lucky the failure cards were funny and could be role-played and you could see what was happening in your mind’s eye, the failing save attempts where just a mechanical "oh well, it didn’t work". We did play the game till the end – I saved Dr. Lucky – but I sincerely doubt we’ll ever bother doing it again. In fact, we talked about killing him as soon as possible as our hate for him just grew with this stupid game.

I don’t get it – first game was carefully thought through, balance of weapons, failure cards and move cards was good and the cards themselves were funny and easy to understand and corresponded well to the background of being in a mansion. The second game – it was like they just copied the rules, printed out three different types of identical failure cards that filled half of the deck, then threw in few not very well thought saving aides and some moves and called it a game. Balance between the cards sucked big time – most of us had huge amounts of failure cards in our hand all the time, few move cards that we didn’t feel we needed, and very little saving aides whose value was mostly very low anyway so countering them was just trivial.

The problem is not with the rules – the rules play well enough as they are pretty identical with Kill Dr. Lucky – it’s that all that made the original game funny is missing, so the game just becomes another game of moving the pawns and playing the cards without much thought.

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Banelord — 2005-04-18T16:36:12+00:00

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puppi — 2005-03-02T21:06:19+00:00

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Skymarshal — 2005-01-27T12:44:43+00:00

Failure (german)

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Skymarshal — 2005-01-27T12:44:36+00:00

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Skymarshal — 2005-01-27T12:44:35+00:00

Movement (german)

Thread: Session Report

Jpwoo — 2004-11-03T17:27:24+00:00

I was hanging out with Mike and his friends JP and Jen? I think that is what their names were. We went out to Pipers and got some Irish pub food. I had the bangers and mash, Mike had the shepards pie, Jen had the Chicken pie, and JP had a rachel sandwich. So after we were home and lazy with too much food we decided to play some games before heading to a party.

Mike gave JP and Jen the choice of Dr. Lucky, and Dinosaurs (trias). When they asked what the games were Mike said, "thats all the information you get." They picked Dr. Lucky, Which is good for them but most likely bad for me. I think that DL has an easier mental buy in than Trias, Trias takes about two games before you get the gist of a good play.

We had to reread the rules, we have played it once before with three and were kind of unimpressed but had a feeling that it would play better with more, so trying it with four this time seemed a good idea. The rules were relearned quickly. Cheapass games delivers on that promise normally, an easy buy in both in mental involvement and in cash. It took a couple of rounds before we got things rolling. JP and Mike had a couple of brilliant surfs, Jen had a couple of nice spots to be in but no save cards to play. I mostly wandered around and picked up cards without surfing.

As the game plays out the board gets smaller and smaller as the ship sinks. (read the review for mechanics) And the ship sank up to B deck before we ended the game. I ended up winning, but winning feels kind of random, I didn't win because of any brilliant play, I was just in the right place at the right time. It was more fun with 4 than with 3, and it was an entertaining experience, though not much of a game.

We didn't play again if that is an indicator. The game just has an unsatisfactory ending. The theme is fun and the cards are neat. It does have a giant squid! And you can't beat that. I wish that they had put some more time into making your actions carry a bit more weight to them. I'm addicted to victory points I guess. Alternatively, if they had found a way to make the game play out in 5 minutes and you played a lot of rounds over time.

I will say that if you are looking to get a cheapass game, pick up Starbase Jeff, or the Big Cheese. Both of which are lots of fun.

Later on we played Boggle and I schooled everyone, so I won every game that we played that night, but I still would have rather lost a round of Trias. I think that is one of the Gamer traits, would rather play and loose a good game than win 20 crappy games.

Thread: User Review

zombiemonkey — 2004-04-01T17:22:11+00:00

Save Doctor Lucky is the prequel to the ever-popular Cheapass Game, Kill Doctor Lucky. The mechanics are very similar to Kill Doctor Lucky, with a few exceptions - when attempting to Save the doctor, other players must be able to see you (everyone is trying to be the hero!) and also, the game is set on the doomed Titanic - so decks are gradually sinking one by one.

The deck sinking mechanic is a very good idea, and works very well - basically, at the beginning of the game the deck of cards is split into four roughly equal piles - each one is set alongside a deck of the ship. All players draw from the pile next to D deck at the beginning, and once these have been exhausted, D deck sinks. Anyone on it moves up to the lowest number room on the next deck up, and play continues as normal.

For anyone familiar with Kill Doctor Lucky, play is very fast and intuitive, with only a few minor changes and additions to learn. It becomes quite a challenge to try and save the doctor with people watching, although this does become easier as play progresses due to the fact that the ship is sinking and therefore the available space to roam becomes smaller. Sadly, one thing is missing from the formula - the Failure cards don't have witty reasons on them for why the attempt has failed. One of the big attractions of Kill Doctor Lucky is the fact that stopping a player from committing the evil deed often results in a farcical series of comic mishaps before the doctor wanders off, completely oblivious. This is a major omission - the Titanic trivia facts and logic puzzles that replace the witticisms just aren't the same, and the appeal of the game is somewhat lessened as a result.

Even so, it is still an enjoyable game - it is just not as fun to play as Kill Doctor Lucky. If you have played and enjoyed Kill Doctor Lucky, chances are you will also enjoy saving him - but be prepared for the fact that the humour isn't as raucous or obvious as it is in most Cheapass games.

Thread: Re:General Comment

KatanaLynx — 2003-07-23T12:52:37+00:00

The shrinking board does make it a lot easier to get in line of sight, of course....

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

The exact same game as "Kill Doctor Lucky", with the slight change that the game board disappears,
deck by deck, as the ship sinks. This pushes all the players (and Dr. Lucky) ever closer together, which
would actually make a game of "Kill" very challenging (since you have to be out of line-of-sight of the
other players to attempt to off the good doctor. However, since in "Save" you have to be IN the
line-of-sight of others to save Lucky, the shrinking board seems to have little game effect. I enjoyed
the game, but wouldn't consider buying it - it's just too similar to "Kill". It would have been better as
a pack of cards and a rules sheet, to use with the "Kill" components, like the expansions to "Deadwood".