Quick Look: OrganATTACK!

Designer: Nick Seluk
Artist: Nick Seluk
Publisher: The Awkward Yeti
Year Published: 2016

No. of Players: 2-6

Ages: 8+

Playing Time: 15 minutes.

Find more info HERE.

From the Publisher:

Our family has never really cared much for co-op games. Even one of the recent Mario Brother Games that is available on the switch as you can play up to 4 players on the same platfoming game it’s a take that game in which the winner takes all! We might be so nice as to ask for help in some of the castles but otherwise and even then it’s a bloody battle which might and often does lead to hurt feelings. So when we discovered there was a game in which you can slowly dismantle your your family (in most of the case when it comes to games played around our house) piece by piece we had to try it. Thinking the only thing that might make it sweeter is if after said dismantle weee could make a bit of money on the black market in which to further grow both our tabletop and video game collections. We had to try it!

Rules & Setup:

It’s simple enough. Once you realize which cards are which and can get them open. It took me a bit of fighting with my pack of cards in order to get the shrink wrap off. My daughter didn’t take as much time. Initially she went to get a pair of scissors but quickly found out from my wife that there was a tab you can pull to get it open quickly. Maybe I’m not the best person to be harvesting organs?

Then once you figure out there’s only really a total of 2 different kinds of cards you’re good to go. I didn’t find out until after we were through killing one another that the plain white cards with pictures on them are stickers(and not needed for game play). You’ve got the blue back-sided cards that say Organ on them. These are your Organ cards. Then you have your red back-sided cards that say Attack! on them. These are your Attack! cards.

– You deal the organ deck evenly to all the players.

– Deal Attack cards until each player has 5 in their hand.

– Place the remainder Attack cards in the center. On one side of said discard pile Organs will be discarded face down. On the other side Attack cards will be discarded face up.

There- you’re ready to play OrganATTACK!

Since so far we’ve only played 2 players that’s what this review will be based on. At this point I do agree with the rule book that states *Note: 4-5 players are recommended for full enjoyment! But, not just because you can dismantle more family and/or friends.(more on this later)

About the Rules & Setup my 12 year old daughter had this to say: 

Easy to understand.

Theme and Mechanics:

While one might be able to put another theme on this game I think it was done PERFECTLY! It really nailed it in both categories for me. You attack each others organs until your opponent(s) is/are dead and you are mostly dead.

About the Gameplay my 12 year old daughter had this to say: 

It’s a fun way to learn about both organs and health issues.

Gameplay:

They have a nice reward being dealt right at the first of the game. Before, I knew this would be the case, I would’ve guessed and opted that the starting player be the last one to have an organ removed. This would’ve been a nice bonus for me seeing how my opponent(my 12 year old daughter) hasn’t had any organs removed and I’ve had 2 full organs removed in the last 3 years, both within a week of one another. But anyways, she got to go first because she was dealt the wild Organ card.

Starting with the player with the Wild Organ card you each play a card for your turn going clockwise. 🤫 don’t tell the publisher’s but I’m not entirely sure we followed this with just 2 players. You each take one move(except for instant moves, designated on the cards). Generally speaking this move is placing an Attack(AFFLICTION) card on the designated organ. This is where I believe the game would shine more at 4-5 players. Because I kept getting cards in my hand that were afflictions for my own organs. I guess in a sense, by them being in my hand they weren’t allowed to be played on me, which will come in handy when I play with both my more older and cutthroat wife and son. But you can instead of playing a card on your turn discard up to 2 cards and draw that many.

Goal of the game is to remove your opponent(s) organs with the corresponding afflictions and other special cards. Each Organ requires 2 afflictions (or special cards, such as NECROSIS (which causes ORGAN DEATH) in oder to be removed from the game except for the wild card which requires 4 afflictions.

You also have blue front-sided cards which act as more defensive carrds such as IMMUNITY BOOST! , MEDICINE! and more, not as cool but still helpful.

Besides the aforementioned NECROSIS card from above, my favorite cards would have to be the black front-sided cards which had cool things going on. To name a few you have: POISONED! , COMMON COLD! , NARCOLEPSY and TRANSPLANT!

About the Gameplay my 12 year old daughter had this to say: 

Really Fun Game Play!

Artwork and Components:

 They nailed both of these categories in my opinion. Upon opening the box you’re immediately greeted by a lovely looking Medical Journal. After opening it you find out that it has been hollowed out to allow room for the cards. The cards are high quality and glossy and “I LOVED THE ART!” and not only that but the text on each of the cards. I found myself wanting to read every card as it entered my hand and/or was played on me. we have yet to try out the stickers but I’d imagine that they stick.

About my 12 year old daughter had this to say: 

Nice Art.

The Good:

Once again I LOVED the ART and TEXT in each and every card. Plus the hollowed out Medical Journal was a pleasant surprise. As I know there are several expansions, it had me wondering if there’s an even bigger medical journal that can be acquired to hold those cards as well? It’s a fun Take-That game. The rules were really straight forward and I don’t think the video I watched was necessary before playing. We could’ve just jumped right in. Which is really nice with my anxieties when it comes to learning and teaching new games.

The Other:

As stated previously it could come in handy, and I have yet to play it with more than 2 players, but I didn’t like how much I kept getting afflictions that only affected my Organs. So not really a dis on the game itself. More than likely this one was just a user error and came from my bad shuffling.

Final Thoughts:

This is definitely a KEEPER in my books! As we’re not fans of the not-so-family-friendly games, I’m really hoping that they’ll offer this as an add-on as well as the expansions to it for fans like ourselves in which maybe one could back at $1 and then get this and other games in their library. However because I loved this game so much, I’m definitely intrigued to see what it looks like when their Kickstarter for OrganATTACK: Below the Belt Edition launches in just over a month. If it’s your thing, I think I also saw somewhere that there are drinking rules for OrganATTACK somewhere online as well, which could be interesting if that’s your thing. We’re hoping to get this back to the table with more players before the Kickstarter wraps up so stay tuned!

For her overall Final Thoughts alltogether my 12 year old daughter had this to say: 

Easy to understand. It’s a fun way to learn about both organs and health issues. Really Fun Game Play! Nice Art. I don’t think she had any complaints neither. And you can thank her for the lovely pictures and layout on our table of OrganATTACK!

Players Who Like: Take-That Games, Fun Card Games, Learning a thing or 2 while playing games

After reading Lake and his daughter’s review, if this sounds like a game for you at the time of this posting OrganATTACK! is available Amazon for $25 or less. Check it out and get it HERE. Or better yet, wait for the Kickstarter and see if it’s available that way as well. 

Disclaimer: Anytime you see a link to Amazon on our site, it is another way to get your product there for the normally listed price as well as a way to support Everything Board Games and everything we’re doing here, without paying any extra. We appreciate the support!

Did you back it based on our review? Please comment below letting us know!