by huffa2
1. What is it?DCDBG is a game in the growing Cryptozoic family of deck-builders in which each player begins with identical ten-card decks and plays cards with "power" and various special actions to either: add cards to their deck from the main display ("line up"), affect the play of other players, or to defeat a super-villain card. The game will end when either: there are no more cards left in the main deck to collect, or, all the super-villains are defeated. The player with the most points denoted by all the cards collected into their decks is the winner.
2. How does it work?
This game is a deck-builder. In the interests of space I will assume readers understand this term (but if not, check out Dominion as the first and most well-known example of such a game) but it is definitely a more concise version of a deck-builder. There are only ever five cards to "buy" at a time, and these refresh randomly from the main deck. (Not counting a few cards that are always available.) There are also eight super-villains placed in their own deck to be gathered with "power" as any other card. These villains change each game and attack all players upon arrival. Another difference is that each player has a character card giving them a certain ability for the entire game, a la Pandemic and many other games. These give some variability to play and strategy.
3. How much fun is it?
I have now played this ten times and my group and I really enjoy it. Why? I think it's due to the game's simple rules, quick set-up and play. It is easy to scratch the deck-building itch (if you have one) with this game. Because it is quick, you can easily start again and try it with a different starting hero or with a change of strategy. This game is light enough to be viewed as a fun filler, but can very easily lead into a longer gaming session when a few games are strung together.
4. What it isn't...
Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game. I am not even going to debate it. Even if DC rocks (which it does), you can't blame a comics company for the licensed games that are developed for it and vice versa. DCDB, however, is lots of fun. I have not yet cared that it doesn't take 90 minutes and cause me to sweat profusely - that is not what this game is about. It's a fun romp with lots of pretty pictures and I love it for what it is.
Componentry: 4/5
Enjoyability: 4/5
Replayability: 4/5 (for a time, then I think it will drop, at least until my kids are older. PS: expansions coming!)
My BGG rating: 8
At the end of the day I am so happy to have this game in my collection. It's a gateway game, a filler game and a deck-builder all rolled into one!