Penny Arcade: Rumble in R’lyeh is the second Penny Arcade Deck Building Game
Title: Penny Arcade The Game: Rumble in R’lyeh
Year Published: 2011
Designer: Mike Donais, Paul Sottosanti
Publisher: Cryptozoic
Players: 2-4
Game Time: 30+ Mins
Set-up Time: >5 Mins
Ages: 16+
Theme: The Penny Arcade World
Mechanic: Deck Building
How to win: Score the most Victory Points
Game Description
Just when you thought it was safe to pick up the controller…just when it seemed the time for cardboard tubes was at an end…the dread elder god Cthulhu rises from his slumber in the sunken city of R’lyeh, and he’s not playing games!
Penny Arcade: Rumble in R’lyeh Set Up
Set up is the same as Penny Arcade: Gamers vs Evil with the exception of placing the Gold boss. You also randomly select 1 Gold card stack for each of the 3 different costs.
Game Play + End Game
Game Play and the End Game is also the same as Penny Arcade: Gamers vs Evil with Gold cards being slightly different. They count as both red and green. Their total cost is the combined cost of the number of Power or Quarters they need. You need to pay both Power AND Quarters to get one.
Round-Up
It’s still basic, but different.
If you start getting the 12 points from a Gold boss you win… it’s that simple. Especially if no one else is able to pick some of them up.
The Gold cards do add a good element but it’s still a very basic deck-building game.
Penny Arcade: Rumble in R’lyeh Rating
I give this 5/10
Fave 5 Penny Arcade: Rumble in R’lyeh Cards
I looked at my Fave 5 cards from Penny Arcade: Gamers vs Evil
Now I’m going to do the same for the standalone expansion and unsurprisingly it’s dominated by the new Gold cards.
5 – Spectral Worm
+2 Power, draw a card. Nice when you combo a few of these in a turn.
4 – MagiQuest Merchant
+3 Tokens is great, but then you get to delete a card from your hand or discard pile!
Deleting is HUGE in this game and getting to do it as a passive ability is awesome.
3 – Diabolus
This is a cheap card, just 3 of each colour. So gaining 1 of each colour when played is cool.
So being able to draw a card after you play it is very strong and you can start to chain them like Spectral Worm, or even WITH Spectral Worm.
He is the Onyx Obelisk
2 – Mage Fish
As with Diabolus, this is a cheap card that gives you one of each back but then allows you to draw a card.
But because you MAY delete the top card of your deck this makes it even better. You get to look at it and decide if you want it. Then maybe play a Spectral Worm/Diabolus to draw it up.
He is Endlessly Oceanic
1 – Gabe’s Gross Mouth
It costs 4 of each colour so it was expensive… But being able to delete a card AFTER YOU PLAY IT is awesome! Usually, you have to ditch a crappy card but this card lets you get 1 Token from that Quarter before deleting it. Very good card.
Fave 5 Penny Arcade: Rumble in R’lyeh Characters
I looked at my Fave 5 Characters from Penny Arcade: Gamers vs Evil.
Now I’m going to do the same for the standalone expansion, Rumble in R’Lyeh.
5 – Nutsy
Nutsy starts the game with the card “Puppy Cuddles” in the deck. This is a PVP attack that gives each opponent a Pax Pox if the top card of their deck costs 1 or more.
It gives you plus +2 Power which is cool and those Pax Poxes start to slow your opponents down.
A very good character and you get to give Puppy Cuddles 🙂
4 – Warsun Gabe
Warsun Gabe lets you draw an extra card the first time a card tells you to draw a card each turn.
On its own, that’s not great really but eventually, it turns into an extra card each turn. It could be the difference between buying a Boss Loot and not.
3 – Tranquil Tycho
If you reveal your hand to show you don’t have any Cardboard Tubes, you get +2 tokens. You only start with 4 so after you delete 1 or 2 you can start to gain +2 tokens every turn!
It does mean you HAVE to go Green and the board set-up might make it hard to win but if the set-up is in your favour you will have a very very enjoyable game.
2 – Frank
The first non-Boss Loot you buy each turn that costs 4 or less can be put on top of your deck.
This means that the awesome card you bought the first turn can be played on the second turn!
Not THAT great late game but you get off to a flying start!
1 – Karapyss the Crabomancer
You start the game with the “Staff of Karapyss” card in your deck. This lets you copy a face-up Green card on the board as long as it costs 5 or less.
The flexibility this card gives you means you can start to buy expensive cards early in the game and later copy a card that deletes or draws… whatever you need.
Jesta ThaRogue