If you’re a fan of quirky, offbeat humour and strategic gameplay, then Bears vs Babies from Exploding Kittens is a game you must play. Have you ever asked the question “what would happen if monstrous bears had to defend themselves against an army of terrifying babies?” Well, Bears vs Babies answers that question in the most ridiculous way possible. It’s a monster-building card game – sounds cute doesn’t it? Despite its cute furry packaging and whimsical monster-building fun, these monsters go to war with horrible, awful babies in brutal fashion.
Bears vs Babies is supplied in a box which has a furry brown bear coat for a lid, making it standout among other games on the shelf.
In the furry box:
- 107 Cards featuring illustrations from The Oatmeal
- Cloth Playmat
- Instructions
- FAQ
Bears vs Babies is a card game for 2-5 players, age 10+ with a 20 minutes playing time. Players compete to build the most formidable bizarre monsters, by stitching body parts together composed of a mix of animal parts, machine components, and other strange appendages. The aim is to defeat an army of bizarre and often hilarious … er, babies. Whoever eats the most babies wins. And don’t worry, no real babies, or monsters, are harmed in the playing of this game (unless you have a bag of Jelly Babies as your game snacks, then bite those heads off!).
The game begins with each player drawing cards to create their monsters, starting with a head and adding various body parts, weapons, and accessories. The goal is to build Land, Sea and Sky monsters strong enough to take on the Land, Sea and Sky baby armies that accumulate in the centre of the playmat.
Setting up the game is very easy, and the fun instructional video on the Exploding Kittens website explains it very well. We found that watching the video also made it easier to understand the game rules and mechanics of the game than the instruction booklet.
To set up, unfold the cloth playmat and place it in the centre of the table. Give each player a Bear Head card – there are only 5 of these in the deck and are the most valuable, as well as most vulnerable cards in the deck. These are called “Rainbow Cards” – meaning that they are all types of monster at once. Put any remainders back in the deck. Shuffle all the cards and deal each player 4 cards. Split the remaining cards into three piles and place them facedown on the draw pile spaces on the mat. If any players have any “Baby” cards in their hand they place these facedown on the relevant Baby Army space on the mat and take a new card from the draw pile to replace – all players do this until they have no Baby cards in their hand.
To play, on your turn you can:
- Take Action – any combination of playing and drawing a card (the number of actions you can take is determined by the number of players: 2 players – 4 actions per turn, 3 players – 3 actions per turn and 4+ players 2 actions per turn.
- Provoke – take no action and pick a Baby Army to provoke (attack). Yell PROVOKE to battle.
- Dumpster Dive – take no action, taking a card of your choice from the Discard pile.
Players are collecting cards to build their army of Land Monster (green), Sea Monster (blue) and Sky Monsters (red). All cards vary in points and when battling the Baby Army whoever has the highest point tally wins that battle. Each monster can only be played once and then put in the Discard pile. The game is played until all the Draw piles have been used. The player with the highest points score is the winner.
Overall, this is a really fun game trying to create the most powerful bizarre monsters capable of defeating waves of angry babies that threaten to take over the world. Yes, you read that right – babies are the enemy, and they are not cute and cuddly.
The game is easy to learn, with straightforward rules that make it accessible to players of all ages. Each turn, players can either draw cards or play cards to build their monsters. The strategic element comes into play when deciding whether to provoke the babies into battle or continue building your monster’s strength.
With its ridiculous card combinations (a Sloth wearing a bikini and spooky cat feet, with a bat wing and guns for arms, a monster worth 7 points for example), there is plenty of absurd humour. The illustrations by The Oatmeal are both grotesque and amusing.
Bears vs Babies is a delightful addition to any board game collection, especially for fans of Exploding Kittens. It’s wild, unpredictable and lots of fun. Can you create bizarre monstrosities to do battle with the weird and wonderful Baby Armies? And will your monsters have the strength to beat the babies?
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £24.99
For more information, visit www.explodingkittens.com. Available to buy from Amazon here.
