The world demands abominations! Do you have what it takes to give life to the most vile, hideous, and horrible monstrosity of all time? We’ll see! The judges want to see the best … or rather, the worst … you’ve got, so don’t let them down! Well, what are you waiting for? Get creating!

What Is It?

A tile placement and set collection game where players collect various parts for the abominations they are putting together. In addition to building their own monster, players may be able to steal parts from other players’ abominations, and can place parts on other abomination as well, in hope of screwing up an opponent. Once the deck runs out, or someone finishes their creation, players score according to various awards and prizes related to color, size, and parts (for example, most tails). The player with the most points wins!

Who Is It For?

  • 2 – 5 players – Works fine at any count, but I like it best at 4-5
  • Ages 8+
  • Families
  • Fans of simple set collection and tiles placement

Expansions

Robots & Rot – This small expansion adds in more cards with robot and rot pieces. Rot tiles have no type, for the sake of awards and such, they have no color, they can not be stolen, and they can be played on top of matching tiles and effectively destroy that tile, rendering it useless. Robots also have no color, can not be stolen, and rot tiles can not be played on top of them. The expansion also comes with The Beast which is a tile that can never be bolted (meaning it can always be stolen) but it also has a ton of features and is wild in color. The expansion is simple and doesn’t add a ton, but it’s a fun way to change things up once you know the game.

PROS

  • Smooth gameplay
  • Watchful Eye Token is given to the last player stolen from so you can’t gang up on one person
  • Easy set up and clean up
  • Aesthetics – The art fits the theme perfectly and is also awesome and very attractive
  • Components – Nice quality all around from the cards, to the die, and the cardboard components
  • Variability – 10 possible awards and only 4 used per games, plus there are so many cards that the abominations will be very different every time
  • Rules – Well-written, easy to follow
  • Variants / simplified rules included – Makes it easy to play with younger audiences or non-gamers to ease into it.

CONS

  • Certain actions each turn (drawing, bolting, stealing) are determined by a random die roll, meaning some players may get unlucky and never get the chance to bolt, for example
  • The parts deck is very large so games can be very short sometimes, especially with less players, if you don’t see a lot of the parts with multiple open endings, & someone can finish their abomination quickly
  • I’m not a big fan of the secret objectives because of the possibility to lose points, which I don’t love as a mechanic
  • Box – It looks great, but I’m not a fan of the cube shape, just because it’s hard to store
  • The Beast – I’m actually not big on the Beast card. It’s super cool, but it can make the game ultra swingy, especially in lower player counts

Final Thoughts

This game has such a unique, fun look to it that fits the theme so well and looks great! The gameplay is simple – just roll a die to do an action, then play a card on your or someone else’s abomination – and just works well. Making your hideous creature is fun and even if you’re not doing amazing on the goals, it’s cool to see how many pieces you can add and what it looks like.

I love the Watchful Eye token because it allows the game to have a take-that element without allowing players to gang up on one person, which is something I feel is often missing from games with take-that. I also like that there are simplified rules so you can pretty much play with anyone too.

Overall it’s an enjoyable filler game that’s attractive, fun, and has plenty of room for variability and replay value.

Additional Information:
My Final Rating: 7/10
Designer – Judson Cowan
Artist – Judson Cowan
Publisher – (Self-Published), Tettix Games
Game MSRP – £21.00 (approx. $29.00 USD)
Expansion MSRP – £21.00 (approx. $8.50 USD)
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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