Bloody hell! How did you even end up here?! There are zombies all around you. They are trying to get inside…Is this…the end for us? Was that worth it? Was the beer worth it?
Hell yes, now give me those crisps!!! And some darts – let us smash them, I don’t mind a few bites, they are not going to… have us!
Pints of blood board game– a zombie survival game for 2 to 4 players and 1 hour of playtime with free public transport…for zombies! Can you imagine that? They drive around, see the spots where is more flesh around, and they just get out to get those snacks! It’s bad enough that this time we are the snack. But what you can do… Smash them! As much as you can. And try to survive until the rescue arrives.
And mark me, they will save you, if you did not eat too much of your precious crisps or drank too much beer….You got to pay somehow, that’s your new currency of a post-apocalyptic world…HA! You can probably add luck to the currency as well.
Review details
The review will be covered in the following structure:
- Fun
- Replay value
- Art & parts
- Game price
Feel free to read the review details, or just scroll down to the review summary.
Fun
Well, this is certainly funny. Just like in Zombieland, you are having fun all day, eating garbage, drinking beer, smashing stuff, or zombies if there are some, close by. Then you find the car with some fuel, drive until you are out of fuel, find another place, such as a casual British pub, get drunk, and start smashing stuff or zombies, just like in your previous location, a well-thought model to end your days in this world of horror!
And here it comes. Too much noise attracts a huge horde of zombies. And now you are stuck! They are trying to get inside from all the sides. Good luck to you, friend! May the winner gets the most beer & crisps or I hope you get a fast death if there is no escape, cos those bites hurt pretty bad…
In Pints of Blood board game, you actually get crisps and beer the more zombies you defeat (that help you to survive), and you get bitten as well if some of them get into the pub and sneak up on you.
There are two very unique mechanics of how zombies move towards the pub. There are 5 lines of pavement leading to the pub (rows). And those pavement squares within a row, called movement tiles, are differently colored. Each turn you throw a color dice to spawn zombies on every movement tile of a random color. On top of that, during each turn rows move, slide towards the entrance of the pub, bringing those zombies closer. And you try to kill them as fast as you can, or else they get inside and bite you.
The other mechanic for “zombie supply” is the bus. It drives around the pub, from one row to another round and round. While you fight zombies, the noise attracts more zombies. Here you fight them with battle dices, and of course, there is a chance for bad luck and populate the bus with zombies. And then those zombies get off and enter rows towards your pub, waiting for those rows to move, to get closer to you.
Now those two mechanics make this game pretty fun. But after a few sessions, you will start to see the main downsides of the game, the first is the CHANCE. In Pints of Blood board game, you roll battle dices to fight zombies, you need to successfully roll the weapon signs. Without them, you cannot really damage and defeat zombies. And given the number of zombies that are pushing through, your chances seem often too slim. If you win or lose the game depends more on a chance rather than strategy and skill.
Even in the endgame, there are 5 rescue cards, one of them will get into the game, which gives a chance for different conditions deciding who will be rescued and left to die! To put it simply, it feels that there is a bit too much chance influence in the game.
Another disadvantage would be quite complicated rules of the game as well as a strangely structured rulebook. It takes quite some time to get a good understanding of the rules, as well as to teach others, and it often comes to checking the rulebook multiple times during gameplay. But once you get them, oh boy we going to have some fun!
Another thought about Pints of Blood board game would be a quite interesting aspect– interaction with other players. Once you see the rescue cards, you kind of understand that there is little room for cooperation, this seems to be more competitive gameplay, as it is likely that not all players will survive. But another wonderful mechanic of the game just balances that conflict level of gameplay really well, which is the buddy mechanism.
Every player can control from 1 up to 5 buddies, depending on the amount of the buddies existent on the sofa in a corner of a bar or the number of rows that you are willing to defend. And if the player reaches the maximum number of bites – one buddy figure is eliminated from the game, but all the players still remain in the game. This means that all players finish the game at the same time, either getting killed once the last buddy present on a sofa dies, or the rescue card is drawn from the draw pile. This actually brings people back to cooperation, as they try to help you avoid those bite marks as their lives depend on that as well!
Replay value
What we enjoyed about the game, that this is a decent potential for replays. Of course, that chance issue makes this game not to be on your tabletop choice for every game night, but there is quite some pleasure getting back to this game.
The main reason for that is advanced gameplay rules, which bring lots of new things into the game, which give a little more boost to the strategy element of the game. Players get food markers, each having a unique special ability, and movement tiles now sometimes provide additional effect once reach the pub – either positive or negative, depending on if they reach the pub empty or with zombies on it.
And of course, some even more challenging rules, such as more zombie cards included in the game to make your chances for victory even slimmer!
Art & parts
Probably the most fascinating think about Pints of Blood board game is its components. The board has great quality and is so gorgeous! It has different layers, thicker or thinner at different parts of it, just according to environment and objects.
Pictures, cards, tokens, and the board greatly supports the zombie theme. Just look below, those zombie tokens are actually quite creepy.
What do you think she is telling (image below)???
Bite me 5 times????
Buddy figures are from wood, and most of the components are really qualitative. We also loved how the bus is constructed, as well as the idea of “Brainspotting – Tours”. A real zombie civilization. It seems that this game kind of reflects zombies not only as dead but intelligent as well! No wonder the chances to win are so low haha.
The con here would be the game box. There are no convenient insert trays, you have to stay with plastic bags & other game parts that juggle inside the box. Not very convenient in terms of mobility, etc.
To compensate for that here is an efficient & free 3D printable insert tray for Pints of Blood board game. This will keep your components in place.
Pints of Blood colorblindness review
The only 2 details that come to mind about negative points in relation to game components, they are not colorblind suited. Just look at this image below.
Well, this game is generally not colorblind suited as movement tiles are distinct by colors, there is nothing you can do about it. Based on that we assign a colorblindness rating of F (Not recommended).
Speaking about other quality issues, dices are with stickers, that wear out fast – and that’s the only quality issue we spotted during repeat gameplay.
Price
Given the normal price of the game (it is still in production, so the fluctuations are minimal) the value you obtain seems okay. I would actually expect the game to be slightly more expensive than its actual price. You can check the availability and pricing at the bottom of the review page.