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“We Got One!”, Ghostbusters - The Card Game (GTCG) is a short card game for 2 – 5 players, cleverly cartooned, with the aim for players to try and out-score their opponents, by strategically capturing ghosts.
This bite-sized boxed game brings the likes of Slimer, The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and The Librarian into a player’s home and “Who you gonna call?” in this case? That’s right, the Ghostbusters; Dr Peter Venkman, Dr Raymond Statnz, Dr Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddemore.
Those players familiar with the original first two Ghostbusters films, released during the 1980’s, will discover all their favourite characters from these films, within the playing deck, along with some new, possibly random at times, ghostly additions such as “Ghost Hair”.
Suitable for players aged eight and over, the artwork and overall quality of the game components is evident, even from inspecting just the box.
Release the Ghosts
GTCG is played using only two components, a deck of cards (split into Ghost Cards, Action Cards, a Direction Marker Card, a Ghost Trap Card, and a Reference Card) and a Scorepad. The only item the players must provide is a pen or pencil along with a flat playing surface, large enough to lay twelve playing cards around in a circle, in the shape of a clockface.
The production quality of this game is high and evident from how easily the cards separate and slide free of each other, making shuffling and drawing new cards from the deck as easy as catching a ghost is to a true Ghostbuster!
It’s now time to set a trap…
Set a Trap
The game rules are simple to understand and contained within a small Rulebook of only seven pages. The rules can be learnt in 10 – 15 minutes and are handily illustrated too, to help further a player’s understanding of them.
Setting up GTCG is a straight-forward process taking no longer than five minutes. The game set up involves firstly splitting the deck of cards by card type and shuffling the decks of Ghost and Action Cards. Each player is then dealt three Action Cards, to create their hand. From the Ghost Deck a circle of twelve cards is created on the playing surface, in the shape of a clockface. The Direction Marker is then placed in the centre of the circle and the Ghost Trap laid at the top of the circle
The trap is now set…
Game Play
Each game consists of three rounds, each taking approximately 5 – 10 minutes to complete, leading to an overall game time of 15 - 30 minutes.
Gameplay is simple by which a player must play or discard two cards from their hand and at the end of their turn refill their hand from the Action Deck. Actions allow a player to move the Ghost Trap around the circle of cards, capturing the ghost the Ghost Trap finally lands on, at the end of their turn.
A round concludes when there are no more Ghost Cards left face up on the playing surface. A new round begins by placing a further twelve Ghost Cards on the playing surface. Players keep any captured ghosts from one round to the next, along with their current hand.
After the third round is concluded the player with the highest calculated score wins! As well as their standard points value, captured ghosts can score additional bonus points should a player hold the most captured ghosts of a particular set, created a captured ghost sequence, defined by the ghosts class number, or obtained ghostbusting gear, during the course of the gameplay.
Players should be cautious not to capture ghosts with slime on them unless they hope to capture Slimer as well. If a player holds captured ghosts with slime on them, but not Slimer himself, then there is the possibility for a negative penalty to be applied to that player’s overall score. Holding captured ghosts with slime on them and Slimer himself, however, grants an additional bonus to that player also, so strategy is key where slime and Slimer are concerned!
Final Thoughts
Throughout all the games components the artwork, illustrations, and cartoon characterisation of the Ghostbusters films most popular characters, really is impressive and adds to the premium feel of the game.
Ghostbusters fans will find GTCG a light-hearted, lightweight, easy to learn treat, which can be replayed multiple times, or until at least the scorecards within the scorepad are used up. At which point, a photocopier may be required to produce some more!
GTCG is perfect for those wishing to take a trip down memory lane, to revisit those classic first two Ghostbusters films of the 1980’s. It could also however be a great introduction to a new generation of individuals to the Ghostbusters franchise, as the cartoon characterisation and ease of play, makes GTCG a game which can be enjoyed as part of any family game night.
