Game: Badaboom

Thread: Re: Could it work with 2 players?

mihair — 2008-06-19T21:30:24+00:00

Hi Christoffer,

Thank you very much for your reply!

Thread: Re: Could it work with 2 players?

kramer — 2008-06-19T10:15:58+00:00

Hi Mihai.

Glad you're interested in Badaboom - it is indeed a fun game (although I'm highly biased).

I'd like to tell you that Badaboom would play well with two players but, to be honest, it probably wouldn't. The game contain a lot of stick it to your neighbour and other social interaction mechanics and with two players you would have the same target (your opponent) for every move. Also a lot of the trick cards redirect effects in a way that would create strange situations with two players. Sorry

May I recommend another Gigantoskop game that plays excellent on two players and share a lot of thematic similarities:

Kablamo

yours
Christoffer

Thread: Could it work with 2 players?

mihair — 2008-06-14T09:30:11+00:00

Hi,

This looks like a fun game, but I'm afraid that I won't have three people to try it with. I know that some 3-player games can be adapted to play with 2. Does anybody know if Badaboom can be played with 2?

Thread: Re: Badaboom review

ced1106 — 2007-09-14T00:18:01+00:00

Thanks for the review!

I picked up the game based on the review, which, IMO, provides a clear overview that helps understand the mechanics of the game! A few comments:

Theme: The theme is odd, but exists in Magic the Gathering, of all places. Goblin tinkerers routinely work on artifacts, usually destroying them and sometimes themselves in the process.

Phases: With six phases, you could keep track of who the player is and what phase everyone is on with a six-sided die.

Pieces: The game comes with fifty coins and two armed bomb counters, in a card tuckbox. You'll need to scrounge a *small* resealable bag from another game. The cards take up half the space in the box.

Thanks again!

aka. Washu! ^O^

Image

onedayyou — 2006-09-18T14:42:38+00:00

Image

onedayyou — 2006-09-18T14:16:34+00:00

Image

onedayyou — 2006-09-18T13:36:57+00:00

Image

onedayyou — 2006-09-18T13:29:42+00:00

Image

onedayyou — 2006-09-18T13:25:38+00:00

Image

onedayyou — 2006-09-18T13:25:34+00:00

Image

onedayyou — 2006-09-18T13:25:31+00:00

Image

onedayyou — 2006-09-18T13:21:30+00:00

Image

onedayyou — 2006-09-18T13:20:16+00:00

Image

onedayyou — 2006-09-18T13:20:11+00:00

Thread: Badaboom review

petterw — 2006-08-16T21:01:36+00:00

Introduction

Before I start the review, I must confess that I haven't played Badaboom more than a handful of times, and I don't own it myself. Normally, I wouldn't try to review it, but since there's no review currently in the database I thought that I'll give it a try.

]]>

In this game, the players are goblin engineers in the research dungeon of a powerful wizard (known as the High Necromancer). The wizard is at war with the humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes and fairies, and he is currently losing. The reason is that the wizard is falling behind in the technology race and the players must help him to catch up.

The wizard will bring the players a number of bombs for them to analyze. The players will tinker with each bomb, eventually making it explode, but hopefully finding out something useful about it first. Players will get paid, the more they find out the more gold they get, and the goal of the game is to collect enough money to bribe one's way out of the dungeon and escape the dangerous work.

The components

The game consists of a number of cards, some gold coin markers, two "bomb armed" markers and a set of rules. The cards each have an illustration and a text explaining the effect of the card. The illustrations are in a dark style that goes well with the game's theme, there's some photos in the gallery so you can see for yourself if you like them. The artwork is inspired by Mike Mignola's Hellboy comics (according to one of the game's graphic designers in one of the forums here at BGG).

]]>

This is not an expensive production from one of the big game companies, but it works.

One thing that I really miss in this game is a set of cards with a summary of the phases that make up a player's turn. When playing, it's easy to get confused on the order of the phases, especially since some of them are quite similar. This would definitely help new players.

The rules

If you want to, you can download the full rules here at the BGG. Here's a quick summary to save you the trouble:

The Necromancer sends the player a series of bombs. Each bomb is tinkered with until it explodes. After the explosion, the players are rewarded with gold coins, and the first player to reach ten gold coins bribes himself or herself out of the dungeon and wins. Players that are killed in the explosion are resurrected (you're working for a Necromancer, remember?) before the next bomb arrives.

Each bomb is played in the following way: First, the bomb is constructed. The bomb consists of a number of cards, one is the "bomb card" and the rest are "mechanism cards". The bomb cards is drawn at random and decides how many mechanism cards are in the bomb and some other characteristics.

Next, each player is dealt four cards to play with. These are either "trick cards" or "gadget cards", more on that later. Then, the bomb is given to one of the players who starts the game.

An unusual thing about this game is that the deck of cards that the players draw from has the cards face up. This gives the player with a good memory an advantage since he or she can remember which cards the other players have drawn. Also, there are lots of options in the game that influence who gets the next card, so this creates some interesting tactics.

When a players has the bomb, he or she will go through a series of phases:

1. The draw phase (where new cards are drawn).
2. The pre-tinkering phase (where everyone can play cards from their hands).
3. The tinkering phase (where the current player can replace one card in the bomb with a card from his/her hand).
4. The post-tinkering phase (where everyone can play cards from their hands).
5. The explosion phase (where the bomb can explode).
6. The pass phase (where the bomb is passed to the next player).

This is a long list of phases, and the main weakness of the game in my opinion. It's simply difficult to keep track of what's going on. The fact that everyone is acting in the pre-tinkering phase and the post-tinkering phase can cause some confusion of whose turn it really is. This problem might go away if playing the game more, but I have found that when playing Badaboom, you get a lot of "whose turn is it?" and "what phase are we in now?".

If you read closely, you noticed that in the tinkering phase players can replace a card in the bomb with one from their hand. For example, the player can remove a mechanism card and replace it with a trick card they don't want. When doing this, the player can only see the back of the cards in the bomb. The back side of the mechanism, trick and gadget cards are different, so the player is having some idea of what he or she is doing, but most of the time you don't have complete knowledge of what's in the bomb.

The trick cards in the bomb have no effect. The mechanism cards prevent the bomb from going off. The gadget cards change the characteristics of the bomb, for instance, preventing it from killing anyone if it goes off or changing who the bomb will kill.

If you find this confusing, you're not alone. For most players, it takes a few rounds of play before realizing what the game is about. This is, I believe, at least partly because of the odd theme of the game. If you make a game about pirates, you will have an advantage when teaching the rules because everyone knows what a Jolly Roger is and everyone knows what walking the plank means. If you make a game about goblin engineers disarming bombs in a dungeon, you're kind of on your own and will have a difficult time explaining the rules.

Anyway, once all the mechanism cards are out of the bomb it will go off... Almost. It is passed to the next player once more and he or she will have one more chance to tinker with it. If that player has a mechanism card on his or her hand, he or she can insert it into the bomb and prevent the explosion. But this is bad, because holding mechanism cards when the bomb goes off gives extra pay... Which brings us to what happens when the bomb explodes:

- Any player surviving the blast gets one gold coin. Normally, only the player holding the bomb dies in the blast.
- If the player holding the bomb survives the blast, he or she will get one extra coin.
- Each mechanism card the player holds gives him or her one gold coin.

Oh, and one more thing: Some cards have, apart from their usual effect, a "secret mission". A secret mission can be, for instance, to be the only surviving player when the bomb goes off. If you manage to complete the secret mission, you'll get extra gold.

The first player that reaches ten gold wins.

What I don't like about this game

The rules. There rules are overly complex and difficult to grasp quickly. The multitude of phases during a player's turn is confusing. That all players are playing cards during each player's turn can make it sometimes difficult to remember what's going on. A turn summary card for each player would really help.

The theme. I think the theme is a bit odd. Usually, this kind of game with a lot of cards with texts on them are closely tied to a well-known
theme. Gunslingers in the wild west, B horror movies, fantasy heroes in a dungeon... All these makes the game easier to grasp if the rules tie in well with the theme. This game actually have rules that fit very well with the theme once you think a little about them, but the theme itself is kind of alien. Goblin researchers in a Necromancer's bomb lab. Never heard of it before.

The secret mission cards. These rarely have any big effects on the game, at least not in the few games I've played. They're a nice idea, but they add a lot of text to certain cards - text that has to be read when the cards are drawn. This slows down the game, and I don't think it's worth it.

What I do like about this game

When reading what I wrote about the game above, it might seem that I don't like it, which is not at all the case. Granted, the game has some problems and could use some more work. But what makes it work are, in my opinion, these things:

The cards. The cards work really well together, and they're the main strength of the game. The different effects of the cards change the game in imaginative and useful ways - from changing the order of play between clockwise and counter-clockwise to changing the characteristics of the bomb so the effects of the explosion changes (if I had the game here I'd give some good examples). Anyway, some cards can create powerful combinations when played together - but not too powerful, the other players can always stop your clever plan. To summarize, the cards are good and seems to be well play-tested.

The interaction. Everyone is trying to move the bomb to the correct position so they can play a card they have that will give them the victory, but the other players are always there to stop you. There's a high amount of interaction between players, which is a lot of fun.

That each game consists of several bombs. During a game, several bombs are being played, each of which doesn't take too long. I like this since it means that the game is played as several mini-games, and you have the opportunity to try different tactics. A small detail is that if you're killed in an explosion, you get four new cards (discarding your old), while if you survive you get one new card (keeping your old). Often, this gives the killed players a better opportunity in the next game, which helps the players who are behind.

The limited information you have and the memory aspect. I like that you don't know what's in the bomb except for the cards you placed there yourself. Also, the fact that the draw deck is face-up makes it possible to remember what cards the other players have. In real life, this is very difficult, but perhaps you can remember some card and adjust your tactic accordingly. This adds depth to the game.

Conclusion

This is not a perfect game, it has some wrinkles, but it has a good mix of strategy and luck and it plays fast, which makes it a very good filler game.

Thread: Re: Rule question about specific cards (In Swedish)

Johan Salomonsson — 2006-05-21T15:10:05+00:00

Ja, tempusformen kanske förvirrar en aning, men du är inne på rätt spår. Precis som du skriver så har du fyra kort på handen när explosionen sker, och det är det uppdraget kräver, vilket innebär att du mycket riktigt får ett guldmynt i det här fallet. Att du blir av med kort efter explosionen på grund av impkortet eller på grund av att du växlar in Mekanismer mot guldmynt påverkar inte hur situationen såg ut vid själva explosionsögonblicket.

/Johan

Thread: Rule question about specific cards (In Swedish)

FurbyGoneFubar — 2006-05-20T20:49:44+00:00

Ok, since I've seen the Gigantoskop guys posting in here and I only have the Swedish version of the cards, I'll ask this in Swedish.

Vad händer om jag har "Taskigt Byte" på handen och tre andra kort och vill använda det hemliga uppdraget "Du får 1 Guldmynt om du har minst fyra kort i din påse med trick inklusive det här när bomben exploderar." och det ligger en "Imp" i bomben, ("Bomben kommer att implodera (det räknas fortfarande som en explosion). Ingen dödas, men aklla spelare måste slänga ett kort från sin Påse med Trick, om de har några, innan poängen räknas ut.")?

Har jag fyra kort på handen när implosionen (som ju räknas som en explosion) sker? Ja, det har jag ju. Har jag det när vi kommer till poängräkningen? Nej. Eftersom uppdraget sa "har" inte "hade" blev det här en fråga ingen i vår grupp tyckte hade ett klart rätt svar.

Så, vad gäller, får man nåt guldmynt för det hemliga uppdraget?

/Pelle

PS, väntar fortfarande på expansionen till Spank the Monkey

Thread: Re: Timing Questions for Cards which affect explosions

Tim Kelly — 2006-05-12T11:20:35+00:00

Here's Johan's reply: There's a difference between "affected" and "killed". Thanks!

Hello,

Glad to hear that you enjoy Badaboom. I'm gonna try and answer your
questions, and then hopefully you'll be able to enjoy it even more.

First of all, the general rule when it comes to determining the effect of
the explosion is the one stated in section "When the Bomb explodes". Here it
says that you first look at the cards in the Bomb to see who's affected by
the explosion. In your case there's a Gadget in it (Marbles), stating that
everyone but the Bomb holder is affected by the explosion, so that's the
basic effect. In other words, player 1 is unaffected and player 2-4 are
affected.

Thereafter, you look at the Trick cards that people have played to see if
anyone else is affected or if anyone is protected. Let's start with player 4
who has played Lucky Bastard. This card states that the explosion doesn't
kill the player who armed the Bomb. No matter who armed it, that player
isn't killed. In this case I guess it was player 4 who armed the Bomb, so
player 4 isn't killed. Note that the card doesn't say that he's unaffected
as you've written; there is a big difference between being affected and
being killed. You can be affected by the explosion but still survive if a
Trick card says that you're not killed. In this case player 4 is still
affected, but the Trick card protects him from being killed.

Now we're left with player 2 and 3. Here we run into a problem because both
players can't actually have played their cards. Why, you wonder? Well, let's
say that player 3 plays Say Hello to My Little Friend and redirects the
explosion to another player. The card says that he must redirect the
explosion to an unaffected player. The only unaffected player is player 1
holding the Bomb, so he chooses that player (he must choose player
immediately when he plays the card). After having played his card, player 3
is still affected by the explosion, but now player 1 is also affected.

Now player 2 wants to play Bomb on a Stick. Just as Say Hello to My Little
Friend this card allows him to redirect the explosion to another player (and
it also protects him from being killed), but he most choose an unaffected
player. Unfortunately there are no unaffected players left. Player 1 is
affected by the explosion via Say Hello to My Little Friend, player 3 is
affected by the explosion via Marbles and player 4 is also affected by the
explosion via Marbles (even though he's protected from being killed). This
means that player 2 can't play Bomb on a Stick, since you're not allowed to
play a Trick card if you can't carry out the instructions on it completely.

If player 2 had played Bomb on a Stick before player 3 played Say Hello to
My Little Friend, he would have been able to redirect the explosion to
player 1 and protect himself from being killed. In that case, player 3
wouldn't have been able to play Say Hello to My Little Friend, since there
wouldn't have been any unaffected players left (player 2 is still affected
even if he's protected from being killed).

This may seem complicated, but if you remember the basic principles it's
quite easy:
- First, look at the cards in the Bomb and determine who is directly
affected by the explosion.
- Second, look at the permanent and temporary Trick cards that players have
played and see if anyone else is affected and if anyone is protected from
being killed.
- Remember, being affected and being killed isn't the same thing. You can be
affected, but if a card says that you're protected from being killed, it
doesn't matter if one or several cards say that you're affected - you're
still protected from being killed. Once you're affected, though, you always
count as affected.

I hope this answers your questions. If not, or if you have any other
questions, you're more than welcome to contact me again.

Best regards,
Johan Salomonsson

Thread: Timing Questions for Cards which affect explosions

Tim Kelly — 2006-05-10T11:13:29+00:00

Here are some timing questions for "Badaboom".
Player 1 has an armed bomb which will explode at the end of his turn. The bomb has the "Marbles" gadget, which means the bomb will affect everyone except the bomb holder.
Player 2 has the "Temporary" card "Bomb on a Stick", which means he can redirect damage to an "unaffected" player.
Player 3 has the "Temporary" card "Say Hello to my Little Friend" which means he takes damage, but can also direct damage against an "unaffected" player.
Player 4, who armed the bomb, has the "Permanent" card "Lucky Bastard", which says the player who armed the bomb is unaffected by the blast.

The bomb goes off during player 1's turn. Who is affected by this explosion? Can players 2 & 3 direct damage against players 1 & 4? Are players 1 & 4 protected by their gadgets and permanent cards? Does the Gadget Marbles card trump the Permanent Lucky Bastard card? The rules cover timing when it comes to playing cards, but not to resolving such cases in explosions.

Very enjoyable game, by the way.
TK

Thread: Badaboom -- Session Report

gschloesser — 2005-11-21T16:39:40+00:00

EDITOR’S NOTE: My full review of Badaboom will appear in an upcoming issue of Games International. What follows is a brief summary.

This is the latest offering from the Swedish company Gigantaskop, the fun folks who brought us both Spank the Monkey and Kablamo. While I enjoy Spank the Monkey (stop it!), I found Kablamo to be way too random and chaotic. I was hoping their third offering would be up to the standards of the first.

The game involves a group of goblins who have been sentenced to work in a dungeon. Their task is to study how the elves, dwarves, humans and fairies make bombs. Seems to me they could easily learn this by attending an Al Queda summer camp, but perhaps goblins aren’t welcome there! So, they must tinker with the bombs in their dungeon to see what makes them tick. This is dangerous work, however, and many goblins end-up splattered on the dungeon walls. Eventually, the player-goblin who manages to accumulate 10 gold pieces can bribe his way out of that dangerous place and secure his freedom.

In any game involving loads of cards with various effects, there is a lot of text that must be read. This tends to cause such games to drag. Further, there always seems to be conflicting situations which arise due to interaction of the cards. These must be discussed, the rules consulted (usually in vain), and a group decision rendered. I tend to get frustrated with all of this unexciting activity, as it truly detracts from the proceedings, which are clearly intended to move along at a fast pace.

While these problems do exist in Badaboom, they are not as prominent as they are in other card games of this ilk. Game play is generally quick, but with a few speed bumps and slow moments as players read their cards. I’m not sure we played the sequence of play as the designer intended, as the rules are confusing, but the game did work. Players can manipulate the proceedings a bit, but there is no escaping that the end result is pretty much out of your control. Also, it is common for players to have their “turns” skipped, as the bomb changes hands frequently, and can cause it to bypass one or more players. This same thing can occur in other games (Family Business comes to mind), and the affected players can grow frustrated.

Badaboom is certainly not a perfect game, and it doesn’t feel as though it has the same polish or development level as games from some larger publishers. Still, it is fun to play, and there is quite a bit of laughter and groans when the bomb explodes and the resulting carnage is assessed. While a bit long to be considered a true filler, the game does fill a nice spot when folks are looking for something light between heavier games. This is one bomb I certainly don’t mind tinkering with.

Ray and Rhonda found themselves victims of early explosions, while Kevin and I managed to survive several incidents and conserve our funds. I was in position to grab the final few coins needed for victory, but a nasty trick prevented me from collecting when the bomb exploded. Kevin, however, did scoop a few more coins and bought his way out of the dungeon.

Finals: Kevin 10, Greg 8, Rhonda 6, Ray 5

Ratings: Kevin 7, Ray 6.5, Kevin 6, Rhonda 5.5

Thread: Re: Jesper Moberg & Peter Svärd must be fans of Mike Mignola

wice — 2005-11-07T12:07:01+00:00

don't get me wrong, i really like the graphics. but i'm not sure whether i should consider this a hommage or something else...
well, nevermind.

Thread: Re: Jesper Moberg & Peter Svärd must be fans of Mike Mignola...

nyarlathothep — 2005-11-05T20:13:32+00:00

Of course we are.
Mignola is one of the best out there right now and his style suited our game perfectly.
Don´t you think?

.peter

Thread: Jesper Moberg & Peter Svärd must be fans of Mike Mignola...

wice — 2005-11-04T17:20:35+00:00

FYI: Mike Mignola is the creator of the Hellboy comics.

http://www.geocities.com/mignolaart/

Thread: Re: who knows what is in the bomb?

spindisc — 2005-10-24T09:16:04+00:00

The Bomb Holder may always look at the cards in the bomb. The other players are only allowed to look at the back sides to see what type of cards are in the bomb.

Once the bomb is armed the bomb holder must announce the effect of the explosion, still without revealing what cards are in the bomb.

Since the bomb is passed face up between players, make sure the bomb card is on top hiding the other cards in the bomb.

Thread: who knows what is in the bomb?

KenRude — 2005-10-24T04:22:33+00:00

Does the bomb holder look at the actual cards in the bomb or does he/she only see the back side of the trick, gadget, or mechanism cards?

Thread: Re: Gadget cards

kramer — 2005-10-17T06:11:33+00:00

As the deck is placed face up and all players can see all cards that are drawn this poses no problem.

All trick cards and gadget cardes are shuffeled together, this is the deck called the Storage.

krämer

Thread: Gadget cards

murkland — 2005-10-15T00:05:02+00:00

It is unclear in the rules how the Gadget cards are being put into play. Since the back of these cards are differently colored than the Trick cards, it does not seems logical to put them into one deck.
Does anyone know?