Total (g)Rumble - A wrestling card game review

Of all the themes in gaming that have been given the proverbial shaft, I’d put professional wrestling at the top of the list. To my recollection, the last noteworthy wrestling game to have been published would probably have been Avalon Hill’s Wrasslin’, which unfortunately is long out of print.

It was with great excitement when I saw that Gen X games (2 de Mayo) were bringing their new game Total Rumble at Essen in 2010. Total Rumble is a wrestling card game by first time designer Óscar Arévalo, which pits 3- 12  wrestlers in a Battle Royale styled match to vie for the coveted Champion’s Belt.

Unfortunately this is not quite the game wrestling fans like myself who have been clamouring for. Although it’s a pretty straight forward game to play the rulebook comes in two languages Spanish and Babblefished English. It’s rife with duplicated passages, spelling errors and poor translations. I had to email the designer a few of times for clarifications and on one occasion discovered that a couple of rules were missing.

Where it loses points with this wrestling fan is by ignoring standard wrestling tropes like kicks, grapples and throws then replacing them with numbers.

The game comes with standard-sized cards that make up the common draw deck and 12 over-sized wrestler cards. The draw deck consists of two types of cards: “Numeric” cards and "Special Action” cards. Each wrestler comes with a unique ability and X amount of health points that ranges from 8 to13.

The core of the game is essentially like “hot potato”. A player’s hand will consist of three cards from which they will play one on their turn.  The next player must then play a card which is equal to or greater than the previously played card (for example Pam plays a “4” card, then Eugene plays a 6 card) or avoids playing a numbered card playing a Special Action card. If a player can’t match or avoid the number in play they have to take damage. Taking damage consists of looking at your 3 cards in hand, choosing one with a number and placing it in front of you (for example Wendy plays a 6 card; Eugene has a 3, 3 & 5 in hand so decides to play a 3 as damage).Take too much damage and you’re out of the game.

Special action cards can be played instead of numbered cards. They usually allow that player’s turn to be skipped by changing the direction of the turn order or by targeting a specific player for example.

There are also ladder, chair and table cards that will either provide modifiers to cards or add extra damage to players. Any narrative potential is quickly put to rest as players usually say,  “Yes! I gotta chair!”followed up by “Sooo… that turns this 6 into… a 7!”

And that’s my biggest problem with the game, it’s really about trying to “manage” a hand of three cards (which is pretty small), adding or subtracting a number and trying to remember what direction the turn order is going. At no point do I feel as though I’m battling for my life  in the ring against the Titans of the Mat.

Now, I love games with asymmetrical player powers but the other problem I discovered was that some wrestlers powers were incongruous with the HP given.

For example the card above says (which I've translated for clarity) " When you play a damage card (i.e.  a "3" card), all players reveal their hand. Any player that reveals one or more of the same number value, must take one and add it as damage to themselves."  That's fucking huge as this one player could lay some serious damage to other players in addition to being able to see what cards all other players are holding. To top it off his HP is 13! You would think it would be lower given his two abilities. Another wrestler can discard all his/ her cards then draw 3 new ones and yet has an 8 HP value. Even though a wrestler’s special ability can only be used once it can be regained whenever the draw deck needs to be reshuffled.

As a wrestling card game I’m afraid Total Rumble doesn't quite fit the bill for me. As a fast paced hot potato-styled game it's fun, I only wished it gelled better with its wrestling theme. 

My wrestling influences:

•Stampede Wrestling (1948-1984)

•The Dynamite Kid

•Davy Boy Smith

•Pro Wrestling for the NES

•The Undertaker vs Mankind in the famous "Hell in a Cell" match

•Chris Benoit

•"Beyond the Mat" - A wrestling documentary

 Disclaimer: The reviewer received a complimentary copy of this game