The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game is another game we backed on Kickstarter (Kickstarter campaign).
It is a quick (< 30 minutes) co-op game where Harry Dresden (the protagonist of the Dresden Files book series, by Jim Butcher) and his friends/allies defeat various fiends, overcome obstacles, take advantages, and solve cases.
In game play terms, one person is Harry Dresden, and then everyone else picks who they like. However, in a 2 player game, each player takes 2 characters, but then shuffles those 2 decks together (a la Smash Up). Harry decides who goes first, at which point the game is afoot!
The game box features a QR code with a link to “Learn to play in 12 minutes!”
The game plus the 3 expansions currently available takes you through the first 11 books (Storm Front to Turn Coat) and provides “Side Jobs” to offer up random scenarios.
We’re still working our way through the “book” decks, but we have been enjoying it. I usually end up as Harry (Chubby Unicorn enjoys getting to devise new combos without restriction). We’ve been keeping track of our plays on BoardGameGeek.com, so it helps jog our memory about character choices between plays. At times it feels like we spend more time picking our characters than we do actually playing the game, but finding a good combo is important!
If you are a fan of the book series, this game offers fun reminders from it, along with the ability to play out what might have happened if Harry had different folks with him in the various books.
For folks without a connection to the book series, there is still a lot to recommend this, including:
- Cooperation and Teamwork
- Fudge/Fate (d6 with 2 blank faces, 2 + faces, and 2 – faces) dice rolling
- Strategic Card Planning
All in all, I highly recommend this game.