We’re kicking off a new feature here at Pop Goes the Culture — Funko Fridays — where we’ll take a look at a recent tabletop game release from our friends at Funko Games. We’re starting by going all the way back to the Old West with Disney Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the tabletop game inspired by the theme park ride of the same name. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is for 2 to 4 players ages 9 and up. Gameplay averages around 45 minutes per session.
The object of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is to work your way through the mountain mining gold and ore in an effort to score the most points at the end of the game. Along the way, players will build up their mining operation by converting what they mine into cash to purchase new cards for their hand that will allow them to fill their mine cart more easily while dealing with the inevitable flooded mine shaft and Fate itself. Included in the box are the Mine Tray, Mine Cover, and Mountain Peak, the 4-piece game board, 23 marbles, 4 Mine Carts, 4 Locomotives, and 4 Player Mats, the Supplies Mat, 18 Upgrade Tiles, 20 Town Tokens, 62 Supplies Cards, 15 Town Shares Cards, 10 Fate Cards, 4 Reference Cards, and the instructions.
In playing Big Thunder Mountain Railroad myself and watching our testers play through the game, the first part of the game — whether it’s veteran players or relative newbies playing — tends to be focused heavily on obtaining upgrades and building the player’s preferred deck. This part of the game tends to be a little slower and more strategic. Once players have purchased the upgrades they want (or settled for what’s left, in some cases) the action picks up as players turns to mining as much water, ore, and gold as possible and converting those resources into points to advance the players’s locomotives toward the end of the game board. Colored marbles are stored in the Mine Tray and released into the mine shafts by turning the Mountain Peak. The marbles roll randomly down the Mine Tray until they settle into one of the shafts where they can be collected. The color of the marble denotes what type of resource it is — blue for water, brown for ore, yellow for gold, and red for the Fate marble, which immediately causes one of a number of statuses or events for our players.
Our play testers had a lot of fun with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The dynamic of turning the Mountain Peak and watching the marbles roll down the Mine Tray was a big hit. Our players did wish for more variety in the Fate cards, as they did get a bit repetitive over time. Additional marbles would have been nice as well; marbles turned into the town go back into the mountain and there were times when our players were turning in what were the only marbles in the mountain, so there was no mystery about what was coming out of the mountain on the next turn of the Mountain Peak.
Disney Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is available online for an MSRP of $29.99.
Disclaimer: A copy of Disney Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was provided for review purposes. All opinions are our own. Purchases made through the links above help support Pop Goes the Culture.
