The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a cult classic horror film and the folks at Trick or Treat Studios have captured the frenetic action of the film in a try-your-luck motion game that will have you craving some good barbecue. It follows the plot of the classic 1974 movement of the same name.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a cooperative board game for 1 to 4 players that lasts between 45 and 60 minutes. It can be played alone, in cooperative or semi-cooperative mode.
Game Overview:
Each player takes control of a doomed character from the film, each with a small advantage that sets them apart from the others. Depending on the number of players, you will need to exit the van on the side of the road into the Slaughter family’s territory to find a set of keys and gas to escape. The only problem is that Leatherface is after you and you have no idea where to look.
Each of the moving spaces on the board has a face-down token. As you move around the board, you reveal the tiles and place them on the barbecue tray. At the end of the turn, those tray tokens are thrown into the draw bag to be “in play” for the next turn.
Each player’s turn is divided into some phases. Players begin by moving their character up two spaces and collecting tiles face down. Players can then choose to push other players or enemies into a space if they are adjacent. The draw phase occurs after the push phase, allowing you to draw tokens from the bag, allowing for anything from additional actions to powering up Leatherface and having him move towards the nearest character. The last phase is cleaning, where the scanned tiles are dropped into the draw bag.
During each draw phase, if players ever draw three or more tiles of the same type (in addition to bonus actions), they must stop drawing from the bag immediately and then resolve the drawn tiles. This can cause Leatherface to become more dangerous and faster, Slaughter Family characters to appear on the board, as well as characters to see cards and quest tokens face down.
If characters ever end up in a named space, they can spend an extra action token they draw to get a quest card that has a variety of effects. The characters can also use the truck as a means of defense against the Slaughter family, allowing them to possibly hurt Leatherface or the hitchhiker.
The game continues until 3 characters are placed on the meat hooks and die or the players return to the van with the required items.
Gaming experience:
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a funny moment. Hidden tiles require you to spread out to cover as much ground as possible, adding a lot of tiles to the draw bag, of course, the downside is that most of those tiles are negative for the players.
I split my team and immediately went three different directions. I was finally able to escape with the necessary items, but not before getting quite injured. I realized early on that getting into the draw bag is a requirement and the longer the game goes on, the more dangerous it becomes.
Leatherface’s tokens allow him to move, but in addition, if you draw three during your turn, he turns on permanently, moves faster around the board, and hits harder. About halfway through the game, I didn’t want to draw out of the bag, but I needed to get back to the van as soon as possible, so the game uses real tension.
The truck mechanic seems strategic on higher difficulty modes, but it had no impact on my playthrough. If the truck runs over you, you take damage, but you can use the truck to attract Leatherface, damaging him, and eliminating other members of the Slaughter Family. The game has a variety of scaling options, including optional rules and objective cards, giving it variety and allowing you to scale the game based on the number and experience of your players.
The only thing that could have gone wrong is luck. The keys and gas could have been in the bushes right at the beginning of the game and I could have immediately turned around and walked back to the truck without Leatherface having a chance to run around the board after me. Or it could have been the last two checkers on the far spaces, forcing the game to be extremely difficult. This is a small incidental aspect but it could ruin the gaming experience.
Final thoughts:
In general, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre The game is a light “push your luck” motion game that really captures the spirit and tension of the film. I enjoyed how easy it was to learn and how well thought out the game was scaled for higher difficulties.
If you need a light and fun game for game night and have friends who are also horror nerds, this is the game to try. The mechanics are simple and the draw bag turns the tension up to 11 at the end of the game.
Final scores: 4.5 – A fun push-your-luck motion game that captures the spirit of the film.
Visits:
• Well thought out scaling.
• Capture the tension of the movie, especially at the end of the game.
• Fun action economy to try your luck.
Failures:
• Luck can be an important factor in the game and its duration.
• The truck mechanics don’t have as much impact in the lower levels of the game.
