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Cowboy Bebop Boardgame Boogie

Hot
Cowboy Bebop Boardgame Boogie
MSRP $
39.99
Year Published
Genre
Jasco Games

3…  2…  1…  Let’s Game!  Choose your favorite member of the Bebop crew and take on their role and carry their weight as their space adventure unfolds!

Travel the Solar System!  Fly between the Astral Gates, visiting contacts, bars, shops, and spaceports to gather leads and resources!

Face your Demons!  Complete your personal Session with a little help from your friends.  Everyone wins when the past is put to rest!

Get Paid, Keep Flying!  Combine your leads to locate iconic Bounty Heads and chase them down!  Earn enough woolongs to pay for fuel and delicious bell peppers and beef to keep your adventures going!

Contents:

  • 1 Rulebook
  • 1 Game Board
  • 1 Bebop Token
  • 4 Character Boards
  • 5 Planet Boards
  • 7 Standees
  • 23 Game Tokens
  • 165 Game Cards

 

 

~ Jasco Games


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ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #294664 28 Mar 2019 12:35
I might have to put this on my birthday wish list.
Ska_baron's Avatar
Ska_baron replied the topic: #294670 28 Mar 2019 13:48
Better come with the soundtrack.
Shellhead's Avatar
Shellhead replied the topic: #294671 28 Mar 2019 13:58
Even though I love Firefly and Cowboy Bebop is essentially the original version of Firefly, I never liked Cowboy Bebop. I just didn't like the characters, especially the weird one. Except that I really liked the one episode that focused on the weird one. That said, the Cowboy Bebop theme song is fantastic.
hotseatgames's Avatar
hotseatgames replied the topic: #294673 28 Mar 2019 14:00
Josh demoed this for me last Origins. The cards all have art from the show, and you get to track down all sorts of bounties from the show. The part I liked the most was the personal stories; each character has to achieve something unique to them.

It's been a year since I've played it, but it hit all the notes you might expect of a Bebop game. You'll have to supply your own Seatbelts music. :D
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #294675 28 Mar 2019 14:09
@hotseatgames

I'm good to go then. I have a couple of Seatbelts CDs.
DarthJoJo's Avatar
DarthJoJo replied the topic: #294680 28 Mar 2019 14:47
Tentatively interested, but has Jasco ever published anything good? Didn’t they do that abysmal Mega Man game?
fightcitymayor's Avatar
fightcitymayor replied the topic: #294686 28 Mar 2019 15:29

DarthJoJo wrote: Tentatively interested, but has Jasco ever published anything good? Didn’t they do that abysmal Mega Man game?

Exactly why I hold out little hope for this game. Although Lynnvander also did the Buffy boardgame, not sure if that fact is encouraging or discouraging.
Also, the release date has been pushed back multiple times now. From early 2018, to GenCon 2018, to March 2019, now to August 2019.
Virabhadra's Avatar
Virabhadra replied the topic: #294694 28 Mar 2019 16:35
I kept reading "The Seatbelts" and thinking y'all meant "The Pillows." Different anime.

@DarthJojo: we could say the same thing of USAopoly, who gave us Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle out of nowhere. Cowboy Bebop is a cool IP, so we're at least in 'high expectations, low hopes' territory.
Josh Look's Avatar
Josh Look replied the topic: #294695 28 Mar 2019 16:40
This was for sale all the way back in November at PAX Unplugged. I debated on it a bit too long and it sold out. Why it isn’t out now is because Jasco seems to be kind of a mess.
Vysetron's Avatar
Vysetron replied the topic: #294696 28 Mar 2019 16:43
If you told me that a company called "Everything Epic" was going to make a legitimately good Big Trouble in Little China game I wouldn't have believed you, but that exists. There's always a chance. Cautious optimism.
DarthJoJo's Avatar
DarthJoJo replied the topic: #294702 28 Mar 2019 17:50

Anjou Valentine wrote: @DarthJojo: we could say the same thing of USAopoly, who gave us Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle out of nowhere. Cowboy Bebop is a cool IP, so we're at least in 'high expectations, low hopes' territory.


At the risk of derailing this thread, Hogwarts Battle was a mixed bag. Some clever ideas, pretty great production but really needed about two months more development to iron out the game itself. My wife really liked it, but I traded and replaced it with the old TCG.

I’ll go along with high expectations, low hopes, though.
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #301511 06 Sep 2019 14:51
We have played Cowboy Bebop Boardgame Boogie twice now. Once was a 3-person flail through, where we screwed up some rules. Once as a four player game. I feel like I still need to play it a few more times to make a final decision on it, however, after two plays, I will say it is surprisingly good.

It seems to share a bit of DNA with Knizia's Lord of the Rings, having a similar mechanic of discarding cards that represent skills or qualities, individually or as a group, to overcome obstacles or achieve objectives, creating a tension/trade-off between personal goals and the well being of the group as a whole.

It also seems to share a bit with Battlestar Galactica, having events (like crisis cards) forcing you to lose resources, and giving you choices between discarding cards from your hand or losing resources from the group's pool of food, money and fuel. Again that tension between what is good for you vs what is good for the group.

It has this neat thing where you collect leads (cards) as a group and then use them to create melds which allow you to locate bounties. Having played a lot of Arkham Horror where clues are just another resource to be spent, it was cool to have "clues" that had in-game meaning that came together to direct the action.

Despite being somewhat abstract, it manages to be evocative and capture the essence of the show, especially feelings of desperation and of living on the edge - there is real concern when food and fuel stores are running low, as you can all starve to death, or get yourselves stranded and then starve to death.

The art is better than expected from Jasco.

Right now my main concern is that the four player game seemed a bit too easy. I don't know if that is just because we were lucky with how the cards came out, if we got a rule wrong, or if it is actually that easy. We will have to play a few more times to determine that. Also there are spoilers in the game, so it probably shouldn't be played by people who haven't watched the show but intend to do so.
DarthJoJo's Avatar
DarthJoJo replied the topic: #301512 06 Sep 2019 15:02
There’s original art by Jasco? I assumed it would all just be screenshots.

And thanks for the write up. It’s unlikely I’ll get it as I already have too many games that need first plays, but I’m glad to hear it’s a solid piece. Now, where’s my Kids on the Slope game?
charlest's Avatar
charlest replied the topic: #301514 06 Sep 2019 15:14
Thanks for sharing Uba. I love Cowboy Bebop and really enjoyed Josh's other work, but I was wary of this one based on snippets I've read in various places. Going to check it out.
hotseatgames's Avatar
hotseatgames replied the topic: #301516 06 Sep 2019 15:28
When I played it way back, it was just screen caps from the show. I have not seen the production copy.
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #301517 06 Sep 2019 15:57
@charlest

I bet they are saying that it is a frustrating catch-22 in which you feel like you are at the mercy of lady luck. You spend a lot of the game worrying about having enough food to get through the next day, while hanging out on the Bebop or in bars doing nothing just waiting around for other people. Just when you think you might finally be making some progress, Vicious appears out of nowhere and kicks you in the head. Even if you manage to win, the ending is still kind of depressing...
Just like the show.

The game is certainly NOT a fun little romp, or a happy adventure.
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #301518 06 Sep 2019 16:04

DarthJoJo wrote: There’s original art by Jasco? I assumed it would all just be screenshots.


The art is better than expected, because Jasco actually got the rights to use the screenshots, and use a lot of it. Like every card has a unique shot. If they hadn't, it could have been as ugly as the Buffy game. The stuff that is their own, original art is kind of janky, but serviceable.