5 Minute Marvel Edition - Card Game Review!

  

2-5 players - Age 8+ - Playing time 5 minutes PLUS

What is it?

5 Minute Marvel is a simple card game where you must match resource cards to beat each Villain, Goon or Mastermind in the deck and finally beat the boss. 

Each player starts with a certain number of cards, depending on the number of players e.g. 6 resource cards in a two player game. The time starts when the first enemy (door) card is turned over.  It is then a race to play the combination of resource cards on each of the enemies in the deck. 

There are four different types of resource cards; Energy, Speed, Tech and Fist. As you play and place cards, you need to remember to draw more resource cards so you have 6 in your hand at all times (in a two player game).

You also have the option of drawing a card from your Characters Deck, which can give you special abilities like clearing an enemy card using just one resource card. Some help you to Heal your own or another players Hero. 

What I thought

Mental, stressful, fast paced. Stressful. Did I say this was stressful? But seriously, working together is really tricky when you're both shouting out resources that you're playing, using special abilities to help each other out, getting a little down when you can't match resources, but then excited when you realise you can use your Hero's ability to discard 3 cards to make everyone pick up 2 cards, then you're off again hammering the enemies until the next one you can't or maybe you can defeat! Hence all the masses of cards on the table in the below pic. 

There's also quite a neat Phone App to go with this game, which is basically a timer, but it's based on Jarvis, Iron Man's "Artificially Intelligent" Buddy. He narrates a little while the timer ticks down, so he adds to the "we must hurry" vibes! 

Firstly the timer lets you know how long you have left to try and beat all the baddies, but it's also nice to get a pat on the back when you're all done...whether you win or lose. 

The Verdict!

It's a really fun game, great for young and old. The timer is such a great touch, not surprising in a game called "5 Minute Marvel". And it's this timer that keeps the action fast paced and really good fun. They'll be so many "YES!"'s and "ahhh MAAAAN"'s it's ridiculous! 

I really like the fact that they give you so many different characters. There are male and female heroes so this isn't a "superheroes are just for boys" game. All bases covered. The Character Card decks also give a nice element to the game too, with different abilities and ways of assisting the team. 

Get it, you won't regret it. 

Adult Rating:  As an adult, there's not much to do here to engage those who are used to the more complicated games with lots of mechanics, but if you have a few minutes to kill, then this game ticks the box. 

/5

Family Rating: Brilliant for the little ones (our 7 year olds get on well with this) and the older kids too. It's actually really nice to see them working together to defeat all the baddies! 

/5

5 Minute Marvel is currently on offer at The Entertainer for just £13.33 down from £20!