The Big Book of Madness Review - with Tom Vasel

[@TheMacdreamcatcher]

Played game with 4 people at Essen. Great fun and we did not beat the Book :( Would play again.

[@MetaGrrrl]

Bought this one based on review from Mina's Fresh Cardboard and happy I did. Very high quality components and fully realized design and playability. Recommended, especially for anyone both a fan of Pandemic and stories about young wizards. (Rulebook could be better-e.g. back cover with turn sequence in better detail-but not missing vital info.) Deceptively simple to experienced gamers, there's plenty of challenge to this one, just be sure you're very very clear on how madness works. Whenever you can't draw a card from your deck-including every single time you get through it and it's time to shuffle it-your wizard goes a little more insane and a madness card gets added. Plus some other things can add madness to your deck, so there's a nice constraint on power players who maximize their actions: the more you do, the more likely you are to end up with a hand half full of madness and thus a constraint on how much you can do. Note also on setup: the number of madness cards is limited by number of players; once you burn through that madness, the game ends in your loss. Therefore spells that let you destroy madness (putting it on a stack away from the gameboard, but not back in the box because there are some things that act on 'destroyed' cards) rather than curing madness (putting it back on the madness draw stack on that window space on the gameboard) should be used with a careful eye to how much remains in the madness draw pile. I wouldn't be surprised if those who were 'meh' on this game weren't playing with the proper use of madness and thus making it far too easy on themselves.

[@adriankevin7045]

does this game gets samey/repetitive? How long is the honeymoon with this game?

[@stevemayne24]

Hey Tom great review. A quick question, it says 10 and up on the box. How does it play with kids?

[@chooseacareer]

strategy: ignore the curses for the first 5 monsters, build a strong element deck, and destroy the last boss. I don't see a point in clearing curses for the first 5 monsters as your efforts will be wasted if you don't clear all, when you cld have spent time building up a stronger deck. Am I playing it wrong?

[@TheShapingSickness]

Russell Tan you can lose the game through madness cards.

[@Belkan2087]

This game is so fun. A deckbuilder combined with a board, a little twist that make a big diference.

[@citmod]

First game we played at Essen 2015, really liked it, although we lost hard even though we were playing on the easiest level and forgot to do some of the negative monster effects. :P Cool title, good looking game, much table talk during this one. Going on my to buy list. :)

[@sweatyeti]

Thanks for the review and tutorial how to play!

[@Crs9072]

What is it with these publishers and tiny cards. Why can't they just release a game with normal standard size cards, instead of these tiny ones? It can't be saving that much money and those would be so much better to handle.

[@mouselim72]

+C r s Fully agree! Especially for old folks like us with bad eyesight...sigh

[@Netsmile]

Well it would take up a lot of space on the table, imagine all players need to maintain a discard and a draw pile also the commonly usable cards, plus the bank for each 2s and 3s of each of the 4 colors. I think it was the right design choice to have small cards, since you have to see a number and a color on that card i think you can manage.

[@TheShapingSickness]

The tiny cards do not have any text.

[@neverclever0]

This looks like it might be a better gateway deckbuilding game. It seems fairly simple and a bit repetitive, but lower complexity can still make for a good game. If you're playing with people new to board games and want to introduce them to deckbuilding, this might be a good fit.

[@BobLee-df4zh]

This is in no way a "gateway" deck builder. Star Realms is a gateway deck builder. Attack, block, and buy better cards to attack and block with. That's it. This game would 100% confuse. Someone new to these types of games.

[@TribulationsSolo]

Shut the book !

[@stevepruneau6561]

I love the title for this one. very good artwork as well. Saw a few things here and there about it. Thanks for your input on this one Tom. Curses, monsters, decks, oh my! All stuff for a great HALLOWEEN game ;) Gonna get it for sure!

[@philiphanvy7092]

Got it on order.

[@TheShapingSickness]

Picking this one up tomorrow

[@ignitedxblaze]

Hmm, I think Tom is pretty ho-hum on this one. Perhaps this is more of a Zee game?

[@smolle8906]

really fun game i'm glad i picked it up at Spiel. I was worried because i heared some bad things about it but they where just wrong.

[@snowren24]

this game has one of the worst alpha gamer problems I have ever experienced. I'm surprised Tom didnt at least make some comment on that.

[@wonderfulemir6202]

+snowren24 those are everywhere in co-op games, it's obvs...

[@snowren24]

yes and no. New games are trying to input elements that prevent it, this one does everything it can to promote it. Its the sharing of cards from your hand that promotes the quarterbacking. You have to share all of your info and set up future players to take out the monster for the round. I found it to be the worst co-op experience of my gaming life. Could a perfect group of players move past this, sure, but it seems most groups have one or two alpha gamers. If you dont think your group has one, there's a good chance you are the alpha gamer of the group.

[@Wulfborn]

+snowren24 It actually doesn't take a perfect group of players. It just takes a balanced individual. the 'alpha gamer' as you put it is a term people who have to win at all costs, even if that means ruining the experience for others, give themselves so they feel better than others. True co-operative games like this, Castle Panic, Pandemic, do require a certain type of person. And that is someone who understands that 'winning' is not the end all be all, but enjoyment of a game is. My gaming group has competitive games such as Munchkin, Cuthtroat Caverns, Settlers of Catan, Small World, Talisman, and Co-operative games like This one, Pandemic, Castle Panic, and semi-cooperative like Last Night on Earth, Heroes Wanted. We enjoy all of them, and no one is the 'alpha gamer' as you put it because we know that enjoying a game and playing with friends and enjoying their company is more important than winning at the cost of everything.

[@ssssyther]

True. I started to just do the opposite of what the alpha gamer suggested. We lost, but I had fun watching them fume!

[@dabearz27]

Interesting review. I think I may take this one with a grain of salt after iEllo sponsored the Dice Tower at Essen this year. Especially after there was so much negative buzz from those who have already played it.

[@zmann4444]

+newkillerstar26 Was thinking the same thing when watching this...

[@Wulfborn]

+newkillerstar26 What negative buzz? I haven't heard anything at all about it aside from this, and looking up other reviews, this is the only actual review people have anywhere.

[@dabearz27]

There were a lot of people who demoed it at GenCon, I think it was, and the feedback wasn't that positive.

[@a1investigations433]

Are you suggesting Tom is lying about his opinion?

[@gooberweevil]

Tom has integrity please don't suggest otherwise just because he liked a game you heard wasn't good.. The game's got a 7.2 on BGG. Anything above a 7 is usually solid. I own it.. and i actually don't love it but respect it's design. There's no conspiracy theory here.

[@gabrielesimionato1210]

Played once. The set-up and tidy-up is unnecessarily long. I don't understand the urge to make 19 different sets of cards, of which we randomly pick some of each, just in the name of replayability. Why don't just make a better game and choose the best set while playtesting! Don't make my team playtest your game, it's so boring.

[@OneyClavijo]

Hi Tom. Hey this game is extremely hard to win. I have played it many times now and the game always wins. We play in the easy mode and it is nightmarishly hard. I think you must play it before saying it's a great game because we really feel frustrated. I wouldn't suggest this game if you want to have fun play something else.

[@thedicetower]

+Oney Clavijo We've beaten it, so I know it's possible!

[@OneyClavijo]

+The Dice Tower Thank you. I tried again with a friend and I did beat it. It was very rewarding.

[@pe60t0]

Beat it the second time in easy mode. You noobs

[@jffalaschi]

Fast Aaron.... I have to agree, nothing new or interesting here.

[@mescaLEO]

Played it yesterday. Extremely repetitive and mechanical. Will never play it again