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Before I Kill You Mr. Bond...
Cheapass
Games
Rating:
3.5
In my search for all
things Bond, my husband came across this game by Cheapass Games and
brought it home for me.
Cheapass Games is a
company with the idea that games should not be expensive.
What the consumer pays for is packaging and plastic pieces that can
be found in any other game. So they give you just the necessary things for the game and
the directions in an envelope for a reasonable price. If you need dice or game pieces, you can raid them from
another game. I found the
cards for this game wrapped in strips of paper cut from old magazines. It is an appealing idea for the person who likes to play
games and has a lot of them in the closet.
Before I Kill You Mr.
Bond is a game for 2-6 players. The
game is based on the idea that all super-villains in Bond movies don’t
just kill the spy when they capture him, they torture him and tell him
their life stories first. Giving
him an opportunity to escape while they step out of the room for a snack.
Just killing him would be far too easy and not nearly as much fun.
The game comes with a
deck of 54 cards made up of 18 lair cards, 18 spy cards and 18 doubler
cards. The goal of the game
is to build a lair to capture spies in, kill them and get their points.
Each of the 18 spies have a point value to them.
You win the game by getting 30 points.
Each player starts with 5 cards dealt from the original deck that
has been shuffled. Here
are the main points of play…
-
The players first must build a lair by placing a lair card in front of them. Each lair card also has a point value and the players can add points to their lair simply by placing another lair card in front of them and adding the lair cards together to get a total point value for the lair. However, you can only add to your lair at the beginning of your turn.
-
Then the players, may play a spy into their lair or anyone else's lair from anywhere on the table or in the deck. You capture a spy when the point value of your lair is greater then or equal to the point value of the spy in your lair. So if you have a 5 point lair you can capture any spy that has 1-5 points. The twist comes with the next step.
-
The players may try to double the points they would get by normally capturing a spy by playing a doubler card. Each doubler card has saying on it called a taunt. So when you get the spy into your lair, and you have a doubler card, you can taunt him by repeating the taunt that is printed on your card. For example, “Before I kill you Mr. Bond…I insist in engaging you in a blindfolded karate match.” The problem with doing this is that there is a matching card for each doubler card and if another player has the match they can foil your taunt. If you are foiled, not only do you not get the points but your entire lair explodes and you have to start over again.
This is a simple, fast-paced and fun game that can be played when you do not want to get into a 3 hour match of wits and world domination. It is much more fun with more 4 or more players. The only draw-back was trying to decipher the instructions and rules.
The first time I played, it was with someone who had already played the game once and was able to explain the game and the rules. It would have been much more difficult without the help. The game-maker needs to make the instructions easier to understand.
I really enjoyed this game and would recommend it to those who want a quick game that does not take a lot of time to set up or play to add to their game collection, and especially to those who always wanted to be the villain in a James Bond movie...
Written by
Bonnie
J
(Posted 1-22-2001)