Fearsome Floors!- Escape or get Eaten!

Let me start of November with a game that rocks! Perhaps one of my 1st games that is really a big box i.e. bigger than any of my previous games and one that can be learnt in 5 min, but can give you hours of laughter :D for 2-7 players

Well what is this fun game all about?

You and your friend/friends are in a dungeon/palace or whatever you want to call it and trying to escape from that place without getting eaten by the monster that roams the corridors. What awaits you is a trail of death, blood and horror!!

Well the last part should read- What awaits you is a fast paced, exhilarating fun game that will make you come back many times!

This was a game I had no idea about. My brother was in Singapore and called me from the game shop telling me that a particular game that I wanted was not available and put me onto the shop owner. He strongly recommended me this game and I was very hesitant till I played it. But boy was this a good buy!

Fearsome Floors by Friedemann Friese

Friedemann Friese is a German board game designer who is known for pairing interesting gameplay with quirky themes. He is notorious for liking the color green, to the point which he includes the color on the cover of all of his designs, and has dyed his hair green. He also likes to begin every word in his titles with the letter 'F,' though this trait is sometimes lost in the English versions of his titles. He designs exclusively for his own game publishing company, 2F-Spiele. (From Boardgamegeek website)

He is known for a lot of good games, you can see the list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedemann_Friese

However the best game from this designer has to be Power Grid or Funkunschlag(in German) (currently ranked # 3 on the BGG site). I will be writing about that game sometime in the future, but this game is a must have just for the fun element!

What do you get in the box?

Well you get some really nice stuff inside the box:

• 1 Big game board
• 17 floor tiles (stones, turning tiles, teleporters, blood pools!! oooo, etc. etc.)
• 8 Monster movement tiles
• 1 Starting Player marker
• 25 playing figures in 7 colors (4 each in 4 colors and 3 each in 3 colors) representing characters from Adams Family!
  
• 1 DIY (Do it Yourself) Monster kit (This is fun, believe me)- fix the head, shoes, hands and create about 3-4 different monsters
• 

I have the Rio Grande published version and the quality of components is top notch!

How Does it Play?

1st the game mechanic:

• On your turn you move 1 or more of your markers as per the number indicated on the figure and then turn the disc around to show the other side- each marker is a round disc with a number on each side of the disc totaling upto 7 (so you have characters with number combinations like 5-2, 6-1, 4-3 etc. you can differentiate the sides by the black and colored backgrounds)
• Once all players move their characters they draw a monster movement tile and move the monster as per the number printed on the tile
• The game plays for 15 rounds (monster tiles are exhausted after 8 turns and the last 7 reshuffled to form the next draw pile)
• Player who manages to get most of his characters out is the winner!

Simple enough right :-) Here's what makes this game fun:

• On your turn you move a character and turn it around- so if you had the 4 side up, you can move your playing figure upto 4 spaces (any direction except diagonal) and turn it around with its 3 side up- so the next time it can move only 3 steps
• Monster moves in a straight line and can see in all directions except back side ;-)
• Monster moves till it sees a playing figure, upon which it changes its direction and moves towards the figure
• If 2 playing figures are equidistant, the monster continues in a straight line so make a smart move and trap your friend!
  
• Monster can't see characters behind stones so go behind stones, or move using stones as a shield, but be careful the monsters can crush you if you don't get out of their way as they can push the stones with ease :D
  
• You can slide over blood pools and maximize movement
• Monster goes through walls! This mechanic is just the killer for which you should get this game- i.e. the board is marked with letters and the monster goes through one side of the wall say A and comes through A from another side, so all characters who felt were safe once are now in grave danger of getting eaten!
  
• In the 1st phase i.e. drawing the monster movement cards from the 1st 8 times you get a chance to come back even if you get eaten, but the next 7 rounds, you get eaten and you are one character short
• The whole game is about meticulously placing your pieces so that you don't get eaten, but at the same time are progressing towards the exit!
• Monsters don't stop till the number of movement points are moved, so they can really surprise you when they start to move. You might be thinking that you are safe, but a smart player can expose you and make you look like a fool :D
• There is another mechanic that makes this game beautiful i.e. the one and 2 hits. Whenever this comes up, monsters move upto 20 spaces till they find a victim, so be sure you are not one of the victims ;-)
  

All this augers for an exciting game that you can play which ever way you want- either light or heavy i.e. if you want to plan your moves meticulously like in chess, you can do that and play this really deep or just move around and have fun!!

How long does it play?

It depends on how many players you are playing with. With 2-3 players you should be able to get a game inside 40 minutes, but with 4+ players you can have a full game lasting 60-75min! I would say more the people more the fun. Just don;t get too deep and try to play it like chess, this might take away some of the fun element out of the game!

Who would you recommend it to?

I definitely think this is another game apart from Bang! that everyone should have. So simply go and get it. It is light hearted fun that will make you come back and play more everytime you bring it out. It has an advanced version with teleporters and turning stones which makes it a great game for replayability!

Any Downsides?

If you have players who get into the thinking mode like chess, downtime increases and the fun element goes down a bit, so keep pushing players to make quick movements! Apart from this I don't see great downside to this game. You have to be a little careful with the monster bits as they can wear out by constant assembling and dismantling.

Final Thoughts!

This is a very underrated game according to me. If you see the ranking on BGG- it is ranked #359, but I highly recommend this game purely for the fun factor it can deliver. Accepted that there might be limitations on the strategy part, but I feel not all games need to be strategic to give you kicks, it can be pure fun that can leave people saying, wow we had a good laugh for about an hour. I think this game is a must for everyone! It can be a great family entertainer though some may offended by the theme! (which is very rare).

Scales up beautifully across 7 people and light at the same time. You can use this as a great get-away game as well. So simply get it!