Hollywood! Card Game
From: Fantasy Flight Games
Reviewed by: Ron McClung
Hollywood! Card Game is a new card game from Fantasy Flight Games.
From the back cover : “Take control of a major movie studio and outwit your rivals.”
Hollywood! Card Game is an interesting little card game for 3 to 4players. It consists of Star cards, Film cards and Blockbuster cards. Players use these cards to build movie projects. Movie projects gain the players points and, of course, the one with the most points wins the game.
You gain cards by a very interesting and inspired mechanic. The number of rounds ina game is equal to the number of players – 3 or 4. Each round starts with the Hollywood Area, made up of Stars, Film, and Blockbuster cards where each player places counters or Movie Reels on a grid of 14 cards and competes for specific cards by bumping opponents’ counters up the grid. There are two special or Studio cards that effect placement – the “Clap Board” card and the “Double Reel” card. These can be played during Movie Reel placement only.
Once all counters are placed (and there are two cards without counters), play starts from the top left most card and goes down and right, each player collecting the respective cards in order. As they receive them, they build projects. A completed movie is a number of Film cards and a Star Card. Blockbuster cards are extra points set aside. There are also special filmcards that make a project award winning, and if that projects gets completed with a Star, it can be worth a considerable number of points. Each round ends when the last card has been allocated to a project. Play begins again with anew Hollywood Area.
This game has multiple areas of strategy that fascinate me. Each different aspect – from the Hollywood Area to forming projects – creates an interesting dynamic for a very fun game. The challenge is predicting what Film cards your opponents are going to vie for in the Hollywood Area and forcing them to bump you in the places you want.
In conclusion, this game is from the designers of games like Citadels, Coloretto and Fist of Dragonstones, all of which I have either played or seen played at conventions with great zeal. Hollywood! Card Game is a challenging and fast-paced game that is quite fun in many ways. The only drawback I saw was the limit of 3 or 4 players. In times when I can play a game like this, I always either find myself with too few or too many people to play a game with a player limit of 3 or 4. I also liked the price. It is a good value.
For more details on Fantasy Flight Games and their new Card Game “Hollywood! Card Game” check them out at their websitehttp://www.fantasyflightgames.com, and at all of your local game stores.
Hollywood! Card Game
From: Fantasy Flight Games
Type of Game: Card Game
Game Design by: Bruno Faidutti and Michael Schacht
Development: Christian T. Peterson, Greg Benage
Editting: Greg Benage
Art by: Brian Schomburg, Szucs Gregory, Daniele Bigliardo
Number of Pages: 8
Game Components Included: 12 Star Cards, 39 Film cards and 5 Blockbustercards, 16 Movie Reel Counters
Retail Price: $6.95 (US)
Number of Players: 2-4
Player Ages: 12+
Play Time: 20 min+
ISBN: 1589942078
Website: www.fantasyflightgames.com
Reviewed by: Ron McClung