If you like to mix your video gaming with the tabletop variety, this may just tickle your fancy. New company Game Decks is debuting a series of tabletop card games featuring different gaming properties. The first two sets are based on Atooi's Mutant Mudds games and will be available soon exclusively via Limited Run Games.
Game Decks is a board game formed, as you might have guessed, by a deck of cards. Each deck is unique, with the first two releases based on indie hits Mutant Mudds Deluxe and Mutant Mudds Super Challenge. Both of them are 2-4 player games where players pick one of three official Board Designs (including one designed by the creator of Mutant Mudds himself), or create their own.
The Mutant Mudds Deluxe (Game Decks release 001) will have players hopping around the board collecting Golden Diamonds, Water Sprites and Power-Ups while battling Mutant Mudds along the way. Mutant Mudds Super Challenge (Game Decks release 002) will see players on battling the five Mudd Bosses featured in the 3DS game.
Each deck also includes a bespoke Mini-Game that can be used with any Game Decks release. A 'Crossover board' is also included enabling players to join the separate Game Decks together. The Gold Edition of the Mutant Mudds Deluxe Game Decks (pictured above) is being bundled in the Atooi Collection Collector’s Edition only available from Limited Run, with a standalone versioned planned for release in the future.
Standalone Game Decks will have an MSRP of $19.99. Here's some more info from the official PR, followed by a short interview with Perry Burkum from Game Decks:
For Deluxe:
- Gorgeous hand-painted artwork
- An adaptable Dynamic Board Game System™️
- 2-4 Player gameplay
- Combine with other Game Decks™️ (like Mutant Mudds Super Challenge) for fun expansions
- exclusive Mutant Mudds Deluxe Mini-Game
- extra cards to create your own Board Designs
- 3 official Board Designs (Including one from the creator of Mutant Mudds)For Super Challenge:
- Gorgeous hand-painted artwork
- An adaptable Dynamic Board Game System™️
- 2-4 Player gameplay
- Combine with other Game Decks™️ (like Mutant Mudds Deluxe) for fun expansions
- exclusive Mutant Mudds Super challenge Mini-Game
- 5 unique Mudd Bosses to conquer
- 3 official Board Designs (Including one from the creator of Mutant Mudds)
We spoke to Perry Burkum from Game Decks to find out a little more about the games:
Can you explain a little about the Dynamic Board Game System and how it works?
Our Dynamic Board Game System is one of the things that sets us apart from normal board games. The fact that our boards are created from cards! This makes it possible to have drastically different Board Designs each time you want to play, and allows creators to design their own board. Each Board Card is numbered, so you can easily make a blueprint for your levels and share them online.
How long would you say a 4-player game takes from start to finish, on average?
The average game can last anywhere from 20-30 minutes. Sometimes when you think someone is about to win, the tables can turn quickly!
The first two Game Decks are for 2-4 players – will this be the same for all upcoming sets?
Great question! It will vary depending on releases and game style. Some games will be tabletop, some will be handheld card games, etc. One of the great benefits of owning both Mutant Mudds Deluxe and Super Challenge is you can double your player count to up to 8, and make bigger boards to play with. Another benefit of the Dynamic Board Game System!
Tell us a little more about the Mini-Games and what they entail – the first one is described as “a fun platforming challenge”.
Mini-Games are played to the side of the main game, and the outcome affects the player’s point scores. Every Mini-Game included in each Game Decks is unique. For Mutant Mudds Deluxe, it’s a free-for-all where players must toss their included Player Cards at 2 randomly drawn platform cards, trying to land on them to gain points. But be careful! If a player lands on a Spike card it can actually take points away!
As for Super Challenge’s Mini-Game, it’s a 1 vs. 3 game where the 3 players must find the special Secret CD Card that the other player has hidden. It’s very fun!
You’re debuting with Atooi’s Mutant Mudds games. How did that collaboration begin? What’s it been like working with Atooi on this project?
Working with Atooi has been an absolute dream come true. We at Game Decks are huge fans of “Nindies”, and Atooi has released some absolute classics over the last decade. We reached out to them and they were super supportive and excited to collaborate on debuting our platform.
Tell us a little about the hand-painted artwork on the cards. Does that come from Atooi and your other partners?
All of Game Decks’ art is done in-house. Our art team is devoted to creating something special for each release, all while working with the game creator’s feedback! Also, because games will have the option to crossover with other games, we think it’s important (and awesome) to have a signature art style to bring games together.
You say that the Mini-Games are cross-compatible between the different Game Decks – does this mean players will be able to create gaming crossovers with future decks?
Absolutely! Mini-Games will be in every release, so anytime a Mini-Game is triggered, players have the option to choose from any game they have in their supply. As for actual full-gameplay crossovers, we are currently in the midst of creating amazing crossovers with franchises you never thought would be possible. We can’t wait to announce these!
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
We would absolutely love to hear from your readers what game franchise they’d want Game Decks to produce. Go wild! Anything is possible. Please follow us @playGameDecks for more info about our upcoming releases!
The deluxe Gold Edition of 001 is included in the Atooi Collection Collector’s Edition for 3DS from Limited Run for $69.99, while the standalone Game Decks will retail for $19.99.
Looking forward to getting your hands on these? What other gaming series would you like to see get the Game Decks treatment? Let us know below.
Comments 17
Always down for a good card game, so I'll have to look into this more. That said, if this website's patrons are any indication this won't have much of a market. Card games are the original procedural generation, and we all know what lazy, inferior game design that is...
I like mutant muds, but this does not interest me.
Yes yes yes yes yes!!! This is amazing and I can’t wait to see what other Indies get this treatment. I’ll be looking forward to this!
So this is where my chicken wiggle Kickstarter money went. 🙄🙄🙄
Not to sound mean but as a board game designer that has worked with 2 video game IPs this game feels very tone deaf to where the board game industry is currently.
To give an illustration, saying they have a 'Dynamic Board Game System' with a modular board is like saying you just invented the wheel in 2020. It's really important to do your due diligence before entering a certain market you aren't really experienced in and update yourself on where the board game industry is at currently because they're so far ahead of this it isn't even funny. Roll-and-move games are generally viewed in the board game industry like maze games in video games, a dead genre, and a game that uses components to randomize the board is called a modular board, which in itself is 30+ year old concept in the board game industry.
This looks awesome! I saw one of these as part of the Atooi Collection Collector’s Edition. Can’t wait to try this out!
@MrGlubGlub this one is themed around Mutant Mudds though, a franchise as big as zelda or metroid judging from the amount of attention it's given on this website...😂
I’m more excited for the Atooi Collection finally getting its 3DS Limited Run release (a year late). Seems likely to be the last 3DS cart release!
@MrGlubGlub Betrayal at House on the Hill is still the best recent board game. (For a card game, grab Codenames or Exploding Kittens, because Unstable Unicorns' length and mechanics combined cause issues.)
Pandemic and Arkham Horror just cross the borderline on having too many moving parts of which to keep track (not that it's impossible, just can be forgotten or misapplied too easily), Ticket to Ride is a mind-numbingly boring concept, and Cosmic Encounter is merely a rough draft of what could be the undisputed modern #1 Mario Kart-frantic board game (retool it to where Alien Powers are temporary buffs and the art needs to "Keep It Simple"). Walking through the aisles of board game outlets leaves a person drowning in games with pretentious art that represent parodies or off-brand versions of infinitely better media franchises half of the time and gameplay explanations that make filing your taxes look like an appealing alternative.
So, if a maker wants to keep things just a bit more on the simple side while also using well-known and fittingly-applied IP's (if they're unable or not inspired to make their own), I really don't care if it's considered "archaic" or "unoriginal" because I know I'll have fun.
I have reservations from the description of this game and Mutant Mudds isn't exactly "put together" or "polished" as franchises go (compared to Mario, Sonic, etc.), but, it's a better starting point than getting kicked from/losing the game and waiting for three hours with visuals that remind me that I could have just watched a movie, instead.
@KingBowser86 Yes! This is literally exactly my thoughts
It's too bad none of the Virtual Boy games were ever ported to 3DS or Switch.
Maybe if team Jools focused all their attention on getting Chicken Wiggle Workshop (or whatever it's called now) out instead of doing this other stuff, the game would not have been delayed for 2 YEARS!!!
@MrGlubGlub Something you may want to take away from this, is that there is still a market for old things being presented in a fresh, new way. You see it in video games, but nobody would call it tone deaf. Panzer Paladin is a recent example. One could say: “They are just recycling graphics from the 8-bit era, they are being tone deaf to graphical enhancements.” No, they are catering to people who like that stuff.
Heck, my martial arts style that I train dates back to the 1400’s in Korea. Is my style also tone deaf because I’m not having my fighters participate in all these stupid cage matches everyone is obsessed with nowadays?
I’m sure you’re really in tune with your job, but again, some of us like old (or even ancient) things lmao!
@KingBowser86 I was actually surprised at the amount of polish Mutant Mudds presented, and that was back when it was an iPhone game. It’s really well put together, my only complaint was that for the gameplay cycle they had going, I found the game to be too long. It didn’t mix anything up enough to justify its length, and would have been better if it were more “bite-sized,” if you will. Other than that it’s actually really solid.
@TG16_IS_BAE That's fine, but I'm talking about the franchise conceptually. This is on the same level as Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Monster Party, or any one of WayForward's original franchises (except their Shantae powerhouse) — fun to hear about for a little bit, but that's as far as most will go.
@MrGlubGlub I think you are entirely correct. I was wondering if this was a roll-and-move game when I saw the dice and the setup in the picture, and you confirmed it. It's sad to think that the board game industry has evolved so far beyond Monopoly in the last twenty years but Limited Run is unaware of this fact.
For what it's worth, I'm also surprised that @KingBowser86 has such strong feelings about modern board games--especially h/er observation that their themes and art appear as "off-brand versions" of "infinitely better" IPs. I would suggest a glance at Root by Leder Games, or Raiders of the North Sea by Garphill Games, or Spirit Island by Greater than Game to quickly put that notion to rest. By the way, I've found that Betrayal at House on the Hill entirely depends on the group you are playing with--and more often than not the experience and the haunt simply do not work.
There are a lot of people who are video game and board game enthusiasts at the same time. Both hobbies deserve deep exploration and are worthy of being taken seriously. Cross-overs can also hold tremendous appeal--like the recent Bloodborne game that smashed its Kickstarter goals.
@MajoraSmash He (though you've got me thinking that I could make a Bowsette alt for April Fool's). The harsh description of modern board games is a generalization, of course, but definitely one I've developed after many sadly empty-handed shopping attempts. I'll keep those in mind the next time I'm in Madness Games and Comics. Friend group keeps/kept bugging me to play various board games, but my excuse is that I'm busy hosting when the truth is that the games are just BORING. And, like RTS and Sim video games, involved board games will be someone's cup of tea. I note 'Betrayal' specifically because it has held up to many personality types (even our resident "Competitive Strategist") over the recent years.
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