Monday , March 18 2024

Game Review: ‘Ultra-Power Battle Game’ from Expand Your Mind

Ultra-Power Battle Game from Expand Your Mind brings together timeless action in second-guessing an opponent and exciting gameplay that does not need batteries. In an era of endless screens, parents and kids alike are looking for opportunities to set devices aside and do something in the real world. While tabletop board games are fun, they are often limited by available space and time. For Ultra-Power Battle Game, all someone needs is an opponent and enough room to flip a coin.

The main component of the game is the battle-band. Situated atop a slap bracelet is a plastic launching device with a Power Dial ranging up to 10. The plastic is sturdy, and the slap bracelet gives way before too much pressure is placed on the flipper, making it a toy that will last instead of being one and done. The launcher also unhooks to reveal a compartment to hold the cardboard discs that make up the Ultra-Power Tokens that serve as the method for the game’s showdown.

To play Ultra-Power Battle Game, players face each other and secretly pick one of six Ultra-Power Tokens to flip. Each token has a power listed on it, building the aesthetic of super-powered heroes and villains duking it out. There are 25 total powers, ranging from frost control to magic hats to beast claws, encouraging players to collect them all. People have long argued whether a super healing factor like Wolverine’s or Deadpool’s would be able to stand up against laser eye blasts from Cyclops or Superman. In play, it’s all about the scores.

At the same time, players flip their tokens to see what numbers come up. The player who has the highest number wins the round and collects the tokens, and the losing players must deduct the points from their Power Dial. Players whose Power Dials hit zero or lower or who run out of tokens are out until one player is left as the winner of the Ultra-Power Battle.

The real strategy in Ultra-Power Battle Game comes from studying one’s tokens. The numbers are randomized on the two sides, meaning a token could be a big risk with a one or a five or a safer split between two twos. Some totals are higher, such as a three and a four, while others might even have two ones. These lower numbers are not to be scoffed at since a loss deducts points from a player’s health. Strategic players might toss out a few weak numbers to get an enemy to waste their powerful numbers and then turn around with heavy blasts to win. Like the historical Odds and Evens and rock-paper-scissors, the way to win is to know the opponent’s mind.

Ultra-Power Battle Game is a dueling game for two or more players aged five and up. With numerous powers and seconds-to-learn rules, it is a game with endless replay. While it is a game for kids, part of Expand Your Mind’s mission is to produce games for young players where nostalgia (e.g. of slap bracelets and cardboard discs) will catch older players’ eyes, too. No matter the player’s age, they will love challenging each other with flips and be eager for another go as soon as the last has ended.

About Jeff Provine

Jeff Provine is a Composition professor, novelist, cartoonist, and traveler of three continents. His latest book is a collection of local ghost legends, Campus Ghosts of Norman, Oklahoma.

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