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A Delicious Treat
Pulp is a two-player hand management game where you make modifier chains with your own cards and your opponent’s. Some cards get boosted based on what you have already placed, while others rely on what your opponent will do in the future. With a single game lasting around 20 minutes, the diversity of abilities and combos is what keeps this game fresh.
The Basic Ingredients
At the beginning of a round, each player draws five cards. They will alternate laying them down left to right until they have played however many that round calls for. Each card will have a base value and an Ingredient Ability. This is the real meat of the game and is what you will plan your future turns around. They almost all include a spatial aspect, such as all your previous cards or the last card your opponent will play this round. They then explain what this ability does to that card. Some will help you by boosting your own fruits and hurting your opponent’s plans, while others give your foe a benefit, such as drawing a card or doubling their final turn’s score. This push and pull is central to Pulp as you are constantly balancing what will benefit you while not giving your counterpart too large of an advantage.
The iconography of these abilities is well-designed, with each player receiving a small legend if they ever get lost. QR codes scattered throughout the instructions and player aid cards also help if you would like to learn more about an ingredient ability.
The Core of the Game
The first player to 13 points is the winner, meaning you will play through a total of four to five rounds. Player’s scores are tracked by the winner retaining the starting player card, which also doubles as the round instructions and victory point tracker. Nothing in Pulp is wasted, with the boost cards all being reversible if you need to halve / double a card’s value. These space-saving strategies ensure that a surprisingly deep game can be kept in a rather small package, but the designer’s true motivation was to, “Design and manufacture [Pulp] with the most stringent ecological standards concerning both the ethical and responsible sourcing of raw materials which ensure safe and environmentally-friendly disposal, as well as the production process.”
Designing a game that is 100% compostable is a noble goal, but without a good game to back it up, there would be little to encourage would be designer’s from hearing its message. Luckily, Pulp is a fast-paced, engaging game with plenty of gotcha moments and laughably long combo chains that can all end in disaster if your opponent catches you off guard.
A Little More Flavor
If Pulp stopped here, it would be a great duel style game with an above-average amount of player interaction. This game, however, isn’t willing to settle as a small package collecting dust for years on a shelf. It adds one more feature that brings players back again and again. The game comes with four mini-decks, which can be exchanged for certain sets of cards from your starting pile at the beginning of the game. These cards really stretch the use of iconography for the ingredient ability, but ultimately, they get the necessary information across.
These added cards bring even more conflict between the players. Actions such as forcing your opponent to play a random card, or stealing a fruit from their discard, add even more tension about what your next turn will look like. With these modifiers, you also have to take extra consideration on what abilities you will save for the next round. Cancelling your opponent's harmful action now may mean being defenceless against an even more devastating chain of events next round.
Blending it all up.
Pulp is a quick, portable, 1v1 game with most players able to grasp the entire system within one or two short rounds. A game only lasts 15 minutes, and setup / teardown are easily under a minute each. Overall, it gets its message across clearly and efficiently. Games can be designed using ethically sourced materials and environmentally friendly processes without taking away from the enjoyment of the experience. The materials used in production, and minimal card count, give Pulp a unique look and feel that is sure to leave a lasting impression on its players.
Blending it all up
Pulp is a quick, portable, 1v1 game with most players able to grasp the entire system within one or two short rounds. A game only lasts 15 minutes, and setup / teardown are easily under a minute each. Overall, it gets its message across clearly and efficiently. Games can be designed using ethically sourced materials and environmentally friendly processes without taking away from the enjoyment of the experience. The materials used in production, and minimal card count, give Pulp a unique look and feel that is sure to leave a lasting impression on its players.
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