Cheapass Games has launched a new Kickstarter for Button Men, a strategic dice rolling game. This is technically a reprint as the game was previously released. The difference, however, is that its previous release was actually on a series of pinback buttons. The Kickstarter campaign is for a version of the game to be printed on playing cards.
Button Men was first released in 1999. It was a successful release as well. It was awards two different prizes: The award for Best Abstract Board Game and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board Game. The game has had dozens of different expansions that have added up to over 300 different characters!
This new version of the game, Button Mean: Beat People Up, is set in Fight City, a 1950’s gangster town. Players control a team of button men from one of four different factions. Each of the factions use a different core gameplay mechanic to help keep things interesting.
- Downtown (The Core)
- The West Side
- The Delta
- The Hill (Uptown)
The good news is that the rules have not changed. All of the original characters will be compatible with the new edition.
Gameplay
Button Men is straight forward. Players each select a single character card and then roll all of the dice indicated on the card. They then take turns using their dive to capture their opponents dice. Players score based on the size of the dice that they capture (and keep). The winner is the player with the most points. There are several different rules variations (as one would expect from a game that has been around this long) that helps keep things exciting as you continue to play the game.
The Conclusion
The campaign has already been funded so this is essentially a preorder at this point. We don’t have any experience with the game itself, but this is a relatively inexpensive game that has won awards in the past. You can’t really fault the pedigree either.
