Once the table’s cleared this Thanksgiving, gather your family and friends around for “Thanksgaming” with a pair of new offerings from Funko Games.
First up is The Goonies: Under the Goondocks. Under the Goondocks is the first expansion to Funko Games’s The Goonies: Never Say Die. Yes, you will need the core game in order to play the expansion. Under the Goondocks adds three new Adventures that bring Brand, Andy, and Stef into the game, along with nemesis Troy. Each character has its own miniature, character placard, and in Andy’s case a new ability card. Also included in the expansion are an Adventure Tile, new foes with bases and abilities, and a number of cards, tokens, and… something more for when you finish the final adventure in the Guide.
As with the core game, Under the Goondocks is rated 12+ and earns that rating by being a “D&D-lite” tabletop adventure that benefits from playing through the entire Adventure Guide in order from the beginning to get the full story. The game continues to reward players as they get familiar with the mechanics of the game and the specifics of how their character can be the most useful to the party and when to rely on others to help cover up certain weaknesses. Communication is essential if players want to survive the pitfalls and perils on the way to securing One Eyed Willie’s treasure from those looking to gain it for their own nefarious purposes.
While gameplay length averages about 50 minutes per Adventure, my regular play group likes to take its time and really get into the game, which you can hear in our Friday, November 12th episode of the Pop Goes the Culture Podcast where we played through the first Adventure in the Guide.
The Goonies: Never Say Die base game retails for $34.99 and is most widely available at Target and at Target.com. The Goonies: Under the Goondocks retails for $14.99. Pick up one or both and put together your own adventure party this Thanksgaming.
Our second game from Funko Games is The Rocketeer: Fate of the Future, adapted from the 1991 film. Beautifully evoking the art deco style of the film, this two player game pits our heroes led by Cliff Secord, Jenny Blake, and Peevy Peabody against the villainous Neville Sinclair, Eddie Valentine, and Lothar. Using guile, our heroes must attempt to keep the rocket jet-pack plans from falling into the villains’s hands. Action moves back and forth as the Luxembourg Zeppelin works its way toward Los Angeles, where the player with the most accumulated points wins.
Fate of the Future comes with the Game Board, Zeppelin Board, character and zeppelin miniatures, Character Boards, and a number of Tokens, Hero Cards, Villain Cards, Current Event Cards, Finale Cards, 3 Plans Cards, and more. Each piece is a work of art in its own right. With that many moving parts to juggle, the game can appear and be overwhelming at first, but becomes easier to manage as players get accustomed to the ways that the heroes and villains interact with one another in the cat-and-mouse playstyle.
Rated for players 12+, Fate of the Future is a fairly complex game that rewards players who spend the time over repeated sessions getting a feel for the game mechanics and the ways that both the heroes and the villains can employ their abilities. Think chess, not checkers when it comes to Fate of the Future. With that in mind, new and younger players may find it difficult to pick up at first, but once they fall into their comfort zone, the game rewards them for having put in the time. The more comfortable and competitive the players, the more exciting and unpredictable the gameplay, which makes Fate of the Future not only fun to play, but enjoyable to sit back and watch others play as well.
Average game time for a session of Fate of the Future is 45 minutes. Expect the gameplay to run a little longer in the beginning as players get accustomed to the game. Once both players are in their grooves, 45 minutes is probably doable, though in my house we tend to take a little longer as players try to map out their strategies and moves. The Rocketeer: Fate of the Future retails for $24.99.
Disclaimer: Review copies of both of the games featured were provided by Funko Games.
