Attack of the Intergalactic Gherkins! Card Game Review

Attack of the Intergalactic Gherkins!

WBG Score: 6.5/10

Player Count: 2-6

You'll like this if you like: Plotalot, Unstable Unicorns, Cockroach Poker.

Published by Teleporthole Games Ltd

Designed by Andrew Klinkenberg

Are you looking for some 'B-Movie' fun for your table? From the name alone I think you already know what this game is going to be like, and after playing for the first time, you won’t be disappointed. This game, as the name suggests, is just about having some fun! You cannot take this game too seriously, although it does have some clever card play and interaction. The game advertises itself as the 'best B-Movie that was never made in card game form,' and if you take this attitude to the table, you will be in for a treat!

The game is set after some brave astronauts have been sucked through a black hole whilst escaping the terrifying 'Intergalactic Gherkins'. Now stranded, the astronauts need to rebuild their ships to try and be the first to sling shot around the Sun and return home.

The aim of the game is to collect enough ship repair cards and then get out of dodge. But beware the 'Intergalactic Gherkins' will be out to stop you? Why? Does it matter, just get it done captain!

To set up the game, lay out the four planets around the Sun. Underneath each planet, place one ship part per player. Shuffle the deck and deal four cards to each player and begin. On your turn, after drawing one card from the deck, you can play as many cards from your hand as you like. Powers on the cards vary from allowing you to pick up more cards such as the ‘Solar Eclipse,’ exchange your cards for other players ship parts using the ‘Wormhole,’ or the ‘Conjunction,’ will let you steal a turn when used with other cards. Turns will pass by quickly, and you will need to pay close attention to see how the other players are progressing.

The main action you will want to be doing is moving from planet to planet. When you do this, it will immediately end your turn, but you can then search under the planet card for ship parts. Once you have four of these, you can then move to the Sun card and win the game. But beware of the Gherkins! If you flip over 'Gherkins Attack!' card then you must immediately either lose a ship parts card or two cards from your hand. Unless you have an ‘Antimatter’ card which will allow you to stop the attack, or the ‘Rocket Pickle Jar’ which allow you to send the attack over to another player. (Which is always fun!)

There is a fair bit of ‘take-that’ in this game with cards such as the ‘Meteor Shower’ allowing you to stop other players from moving, the ‘Cloaking Device’ letting you stop another player from finding ships parts, the ‘Cosmic Ray’ card giving you the chance to take any card from another players hand, and the ‘Alliterating Aliens… Appropriating Artifacts’ card forcing all players at a planet to lose one card at random. Although of course this last one will most probably affect the person who plays it too.

Playing this game is fast and a lot of fun. It can become a bit of a tug-of-war when a player with three ship parts often becomes targeted to stop them from winning. And some players won’t enjoy the take-that aspect of some of the cards. But this is a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously and you shouldn’t either. The art is bright, vibrant, and rather amusing. It has a South Park style to it in both looks and humour.

If the character cards offered minor asymmetric powers, that may have offered the game a little more edge. Also, perhaps missions given to each player for them to acquire specific ship parts may have given this game a little something more. Although there are advanced rules which require players to get four specifc ship parts instead of just any four, and with the kickstarter there are plans for Team and Solo versions. But if you are looking for a family-friendly card game then this will certainly deliver a lot of fun and laughter at your gaming table. The kickstarter will go live on October 5th and you can check the pre-launch page here.