When I backed the simple looking little set-collection card game: Mint Condition Comics on Kickstarter, it wasn't really because I thought the game was going to be any good. This was a game about collecting comic books. A game about, "collecting comic books!" I had to get it.
So, I backed the Kickstarter because small card games don't cost so much and it wasn't a huge investment. I knew the game play would most likely be pretty lame. I had been burned by games like these before, especially on Kickstarter. But, I loves me some comics themes, and I thought the art on the cards would be nice.
My copy of Mint Condition Comics arrived the first week of September and was tossed up on my game shelf. I didn't even bother to open it up to look at the cards. It was an impulse buy and that impulse had long since waned.
I saw the box on my shelf last night and showed it to Julie. To my surprise, she immediately suggested we play it. (Surprised, because I think it was nine o'clock?) So, we opened it up and gave it a try.
I was right. The art on the cards is nice.
But, I was also wrong. Wrong in leaving this wonderful little hidden gem of a game on my shelf unplayed for two months. Mint Condition Comics is really good.
It's a simple game about drafting cards to make sets, but the set up and the game play all work really well to support the theme of collecting comic books.
There is a top row of cards (comics) face-up that represent books that the comic book store has on display. You can get these by trading.
Trading with the store is always 2 to 1. You can trade any two comics from your collection for one comic on display in the store, or if you trade a comic of higher rarity, then you can trade one comic for two of lesser rarity from the store.
Every comic that you acquire gets added to your collection and goes face-up in front of you. These you must arrange into sets if you can. Any comic that can't be placed into a set is known as a loose comic.
On another player's turn any player can "trade" with you by exchanging any one comic from their collection for one of your loose comics of equal or lesser rarity. These exchanges are always 1 to 1. Since loose comics can be suddenly lost in trade in this fashion, it's important to form sets as quickly as you can.
It's surprising how much like "collecting comic books" Mint Condition Comics manages to get. It feels right. The theme really shines through here and turns a pretty decent set collection game into a great one. This was a very NEAT* surprise!
Mint Condition Comics is kind of awesome and I love it!
*Neat Games is the name of the game company that makes Mint Condition Comics.
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