Ryan Strong
United States
Seattle
Washington
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I bought this for a few bucks on Ebay in 2004, and I just got around to breaking the shrink (!) and actually playing the thing. I was a fan of this show when it was on nearly twenty years ago, and became a lifelong Toxic Avenger fan a few years after that.
So there's a fair bit of nostalgia involved, here. Is it enough to make this game worthwhile? Not really.
This is an exceedingly simple game. One part War, one part Memory, with a few interesting new mechanics thrown in.
It basically goes like this: Two decks of mini-cards (imaginatively labeled 'Pollution' and 'Pollution Solution') are laid out Memory-style. Each player is given an even number of 'Good Guy' and 'Bad Guy' cards, (strangely) numbered 6-10, which are kept face down in front of them.
On a player's turn, he or she flips over a 'Good Guy' card, while the player on their left turns over a 'Bad Guy' card. If the Good Guy wins, they get to flip one card from each Memory deck, trying to match up colors--to find a 'solution' to each 'pollution' if you will. If the Bad Guy wins, the Good Guy's turn is over, and the Bad Guy gives the spinner a flick. If the spinner points at Toxie, he gets a chance at a match. Play continues to the left (with the former Bad Guy becoming the new Good Guy). Play continues until all memory cards are matched, with the player who made the most matches being the winner.
A simple game, indeed. Playable even by small children, who would probably enjoy the cartoony monsters and environmental theme. Speaking of the art, it's bright and well-done--fun to look at and highly serviceable. The same could be said of the components, though they're a little on the cheap side (I'm guessing this game was probably in the $10 range).
Ultimately, this game wasn't much fun to play as an adult. Then again, I bought this as a Troma novelty, and not as a board game, and I'm actually impressed by how solid the rules are. Most of the tie-in games I've played have been a lot worse than this.
The Good: great theme and artwork, a glow-in-the-dark spinner (which serves almost no purpose, but is cool nonetheless), good for kids, cheap if you can find it.
The Bad: overly simplistic, not much fun for adults.
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