The Steven Rhodes Card Games Are Now Out There
Last December we alerted our readers to the existence of a Kickstarter meant to fund three card games based on the art of Steven Rhodes. We were almost too late to report on them as the campaign was on its last day. But if we didn’t manage to inform you about it soon enough, and you missed your shot to pledge, there’s good news: the games are officially out as legitimate retail products, thanks to Cryptozoic.
If you don’t know who Steven Rhodes is, he’s a graphic artist known for his reinterpretations of 1970s children’s book covers. You know the type: Rainbow borders, bulbous fonts and extremely detailed children in period-accurate clothing, with an educational safety message most prominent. Rhodes takes such concepts to their extreme with pieces like “Don’t Talk To Strangers,” depicting the kids chatting with a large-headed alien, “Let’s Dig For Treasure,” showing the kids digging their shovels into a graveyard, and “Let’s Summon Demons,” which is self-explanatory. Now you can not only gaze at these demented scenarios, you can live them.
Let’s Dig for Treasure is a fortune and glory push-your-luck experience in which players start by shuffling cards and creating three “Dig Stacks.” They then dig for all kinds of zany stuff, while looking for cards that are worth a lot of points or trigger powerful effects.
In Let’s Summon Demons, only the savviest (and luckiest) player—the best Demon Summoner—will walk away a winner. Each player’s goal is to summon all three of their Demons before their opponents by rolling dice, activating cards, and acquiring Soul Tokens.
Finally, in Don’t Talk to Strangers, players navigate kids from school to scoring spaces that reward them with points and unique bonuses. If any player draws a Stranger card, they can abduct any kid on a Stranger Space. The goal is to score as many points as possible before the neighborhood is completely overrun by otherworldly Strangers.
All three games support two to six players age 14 and above, and cost $19.99. Look for them today at the closest hobby shop near you.