Preview: Protect Your Innards in OrganATTACK: Below the Belt Edition

Protect your organs and learn a thing or two in this lightweight and informative (but whimsical) card game.

Published by The Awkward Yeti, OrganATTACK: Below the Belt Edition is designed for 2-4 players and is currently on Kickstarter.

Disclaimer: The rulebook was not complete at the time of playing, so while we were able to play the basics of the game, there were some additional mechanics that we were unable to test.

Gameplay

All the organ cards are dealt out evenly between the players, who put them face-up in front of themselves. Each player is also dealt five attack cards, with the rest of the attack deck going into the center of the table.

On a player’s turn, he can play one card. Most of the cards in the attack deck are attack cards. Most attack cards can target 1-2 specific organs. The player will place the card on the organ he is attacking. When an organ has two attacks on it, it is discarded. The goal of the game is to be the last player with at least one organ left.

If a player does not have a card he wishes to play, he may discard up to two attack cards. There are also defense cards in the deck, as well as cards with abilities such as swapping hands with another player or copying the last card played.

After playing his card, the active player draws back up to five attack cards, and it is the next player’s turn.

Review

OrganATTACK: Below the Belt Edition is a light, casual card game. There is a lot of luck of the draw involved on which organs you can attack, but we also found ourselves playing with that in mind for the endgame. We held back certain cards for later when it’s more vital to protect your remaining organs or you want to do a final push to knock out another player from the game.

As with any game with a lot of luck involved, there are some rather wild ability cards, such as one that allows you to choose everyone’s card they’ll play until your next turn. It’s intended to be light, fun gameplay that’s not to be taken too seriously.

The theme is going to divide some players, but we did appreciate the way it was presented. It’s very factual, presenting interesting physiology, striking a good balance of engaging information on a level that you can easily understand without a lot of prior knowledge.

The artwork is a cartoon-y style that brings a lot of character to the game. You’re not going to want to play this with every audience, but it’s also not trying to be rude or overly adult in its humor. It’s just factual and a little bit whimsical in the way it presents it. That being said, this isn’t likely a game you’ll want to play with kids given the STD cards and the anatomically correct (yet cartoon-y) depictions of certain organs.

As stated, we were not able to play a complete version of the game, but what we did play we enjoyed. Check it out on Kickstarter and see for yourself if it would be a good fit for your game group.

Pros: Colorful artwork gives the game its own unique character, interesting facts on the cards, fun abilities

Cons: Theme will not be a good fit for all groups, lots of luck in the gameplay

Disclosure: This is a paid preview of an unpublished prototype of this game, which is subject to change prior to publication.