In castle panic you are pitted against the game itself as orcs, trolls, and goblins pour from the forest surrounding your castle and attempt to breach its walls. The game focuses a lot on teamwork as you and your fellow castle mates bolster your defenses and try to slay monsters before they reach your walls. You must go through all of the tokens in the monster pile before your inner castle walls are destroyed. If you manage to do this, you and your team have won the game! If not, well then the nasty monsters have won the day!
Be sure to check out my full review video to form your own opinion on Castle Panic, but overall I’ve got to say that I really like it. I think its a great game that is fun both for adults and kids, perhaps best played with a mix of both. The game is quick and easy to grasp, even kids who can’t read yet can determine what to do just from the artwork on the cards. This game does a great job of focusing on teamwork with just the right amount of randomness that kids should love. If you’ve been debating getting some kids into gaming this is a great place to start, if your kids are already into games and you haven’t picked this one up yet, what are you waiting for?! Seriously, Castle Panic is fast, easy, fun, and promotes great teamwork in a classic fantasy setting.
[Link to video for those using alternate reading methods]
Players: 2-6 Ages: 10+ (I’d say 6+) Setup Time: <5 min Play Time: ~1hour Price: $27
Production Values: Card quality is top notch, cardstock is good, the die that comes with the game sucks though.
Pros:
- Family friendly, cheap too.
- Quick, simple, and easily recognizable cards for those who aren’t reading much yet.
- Great theme, truly great example of what both family games and co-op games should be.
- Finite ending, the game is fast and can’t drag on. Especially important for kids games.
Cons:
- Random drawing of monster tiles & dice rolls means luck has some swing in this game, but not so much that it takes away from teamwork and strategy.
Thank you for this. Castle Panic has been on my list of games to try with my son. At 5, I’ve got a little bit of time to play it with him.
Got this game as a gift. Just played it with 4 other friends and LOVE it! I actually checked it out based upon your initial review. Here’s what I have to say about it:
Pros:
-The game set up super quickly and we got playing in no time at all. And this was the first time I’ve even played the game.
-The rules are pretty simple and straight-forward. This makes a good “casual” game that I can bring out even with my “non-gamer” friends (yes, I have those).
-We loved the fact that it was cooperative play because it got everyone involved, even when it wasn’t their turn.
-Having a “master slayer” award give the game a “winner” even though it is cooperative and so that gave a nice minor competition to the game.
Cons:
-The cooperative game play could, at times, lend to one or two players “directing” the actions of others on their turns.
Overall, I would recommend this game to pretty much everyone. My girlfriend and I intend to play it with her daughter as well for a family game night!
Awesome! I’m glad to hear you like the game and that my review spurred you to check it out. I agree that the two player game is lacking, most games that are 2-X usually lack unless you’re playing a strictly 2 player game y’know?
I love this game. As for playing with kids, I played a session at a game con over the summer and two of the five players were children (I’m guessing 5-6 and 8-9?). They both did very well with the game. Most of the times I play however is with a full table of adults and the game is well received by all.
I will warn however that the Wizard Tower expansion adds quite a bit of complexity to the game. (Complexity that I welcome as an adult but which is likely to be a bit too much for young kids.)
I’ll keep that in mind for Wizard’s Tower, there are definitely a lot of adults (including myself) that I know that love playing this game so maybe I’ll pick it up just for us! Thanks for stopping by and commenting!