Cannibal Pygmies in the Jungle of Doom
From: Z-Man Games
Reviewed by: Marc Shayed
Cannibal Pygmies in the Jungle of Doom is a new stand-alone card game of B-movie action and adventure from Z-Man Games. Coming out on the heels of Grave Robbers from Outer Space, this game capture the essence of the Saturday morning action movies. Tales of the Jade Monkey, Tarzan, and any number of pulp action films with golden idols, giant apes, man-eating plants, and my favorite… the native jungle queens in leopard skin bikinis!
From the back of the box:
“Swing into adventure as the Jungle Queen and Skippy the Wonder Dog come face to face with Dinosaurs, Nazis, and Dancing Haitian Voodoo Zombies! Will the Great White Hunter escape the clutches of the Native Chieftain’s Daughter? Will he? WILL HE?!?”
Like in Grave Robber from Outer Space, in this game you are trying to “make” a move by playing cards. The cards represent characters in your movie, locations for your movie, creatures & villains for your characters to thwart, and a wide range of special effects. As you build your movie… the other players are doing the same. Your goal is to build a movie, and use creatures & villains to attack other player’s movie. You can switch your location to a favorable one and move you opponents to a less favorable one… then send monster after their “characters”. You can give your characters “props” to help them withstand attacks, like a map, jeep, the Ark of the Covenant, or the hero’s hat. In the end when the “credits roll”… the movie with the most points wins the game.
All of the locations are classic B-movie locations… such as; “Ancient Temple”, “The Lost City”, ‘Rope Bridge”, or the “Ridiculously Elaborate Tree House”. Each location has a value and have either a special property or drawback. These can be like stealing other characters, letting “Natives” automatically win, making certain creatures more powerful, or making your entire movie weaker. The characters work the same way, all typical B-movie action characters. The Great White Hunter, the Native Guide, the Antiquities Poacher, the Crazy Old Prospector, and many more. The props are attached to a specific character and they also add to the strength of your movie.
The creatures and villains are also taken from B-movie action flicks… crocodiles, witch doctor, giant ape, and Nazi troops! These opponents range in power level and have different traits making them more or less powerful depending on the location of the movie.
To round off the movie (game) there are special effects. These are cards that can do many things to help you or hinder your opponents. They can make monsters stronger, weaker, or go away. They can make characters die, or to give a character a “Second Wind” letting them rejoin your movie from the discard pile or nearly any thing else to enhance this excellent game.
Again as in Grave Robbers from Outer Space, the artwork is in black & white. It is very reminiscent of the old comic books that I read as a kid. The art itself is good… but added to the rest of the game, the art’s comic style of it really adds to the feel of the game.
From the rules sheet:
“From the producers of Grave Robbers from Outer Space, the B-movie Horror/Sci-fi card game, comes another low in B-movie card games. Cannibal Pygmies in the Jungle Doom takes you to the realm of jungle and pulp adventures!
To play Cannibal Pygmies in the Jungle of Doom (CPJD) you will need one deck of CPJD cards, a flat place to play, at least one friend and a sense of humor.”
All very true. This is a complete game. There are actually 2 things that would help while playing (although not needed). Those items are a pencil and piece of paper. These are used just to keep the name of the movie recorded.
This game is easy to learn with very simple rules. I and 5 others, who had never played this game before, opened the game and with in 10mins we were playing. Those in my play-test group that had never played Grave Robbers from Outer Space said that the rules are simple enough that they caught on really quickly. The rules are nearly identical to Grave Robbers from Outer Space, with an addition of the new trait “Treasure”. The “Role the Credits” cards can only be played if you have at least 1 card in your movie with the Treasure Trait. After all… our heroes won’t go home empty handed.
So… what does Marc really think?
This is a wonderful game. As with ‘Grave Robbers’ its fun and fast. Price of the game is pretty much right for the game… its well worth it.
As for play time, the more players the shorter the game. The games with 4 players tend to be the best as far as points and action goes. With 4 players we had scores of up to 25 points. With 6 players 12 points was the winning total, and the games only lasted 3rounds. The game dose play fine with 6 players… they’ll just be faster games.
After considering the price, playability, simplicity, and enjoyment of this game, it is clear that Cannibal Pygmies in the Jungle of Doom has earned my highest recommendation.
What does the future hold for Z-Man games… super hero games, kung-fu theater? Only time will tell.
Above all I suggest you judge for yourselves. Check out Z-man Games and their new card game of B-movie action and adventure Cannibal Pygmies in the Jungle of Doom at their websites http://www.zmangames.com OR http://shadowfist.com/html/home.htm …and of course at all of your local game stores!
Cannibal Pygmies in the Jungle of Doom
From: Z-man Games
Type of Game: Stand Alone Card Game (B-movie action/adventure)
Game Design by: Stephen Tassie
Art by: Steve Bryant, Tom Castillo, Jason Millet, and Paul Gerardi
Game Components Included: 120 game cards
Retail Price: $ 19.95 (US)
Number of Players: 2-6
Play Time: 20-40 minutes
Item Number: ZMG4001
IBSN: 1-931748-08-X
Email: zman@shadowfist.com
Website: www.zmangames.com & www.shadowfist.com/html/home.htm
Reviewed by: Marc Shayed
Review Editor
GamingReport.com
