Firefly: The Game

Though an extremely card heavy game (like 13+ decks!), the Firefly board game is an absolute blast! It's thought provoking, creative, and thrilling. It's also competitive, but easy for anyone (and I mean EVERYONE) to get a hang of. Play times are long, but the game doesn't try to hide that. Actually, the challenge card (stating the objectives of that particular game) tell you the estimated play time right on them — usually between an hour and two. Expect your first few games to be a bit longer (our first was 4+ and we didn't even finish!). Reading the entire manual (don't worry, it's not at all dry!) before hand will help speed up the process and you'll learn to how to move the game along faster between turns. And make sure, especially if the first game is played just between a husband and a wife, that both parties read the rules to avoid extreme frustration! (If not both, at least make sure the wife is the one who knows them =P). As the wife in my situation, I can say with confidence that this is a valuable tip for your marriage! The rules are plenty and sometimes a challenge; there are some minor, rare situations that my husband and I still aren't clear about handling. But at that point, we just establish a house rule!Also, as a female, I recognize that a lot of women (not all) aren't into strategic board games. A few of the girls in our group of friends are definitely like that. But this game has proven an exception, especially if someone has watched Firefly and Serenity! Comparing the Firefly game to other intense board games I've played, these are some of the main points: it's more mentally stimulating than Risk but you don't need to have a mind for war tactics to win; it's more exciting that Settlers and you don't depend so much on luck; there's a lot more going on than in Small World, but it's not just about fighting the other players to win — it's more about beating the game; a race to win the challenge first. You can be a passive or an aggressive person, a peace-keeper or combat-oriented, yin or yang — I haven't yet found someone who didn't enjoy this game!I bought it for my husband for Christmas and we played almost every night for nearly a month! Really, this is so much fun. You'll find yourself searching for some of the best (or your favorite) characters from the show just to make the most amazing crew. There is some element of luck, but as I said earlier, MUCH less than most games; really, luck only comes into play for your dice roles and drawing cards. The game is much more about efficiency and knowing how to work your jobs. Before long, you'll be working the 'Verse like you've been doing it for year! A great party game for an evening in--I can't wait to get the expansion!Be sure to buy a plastic dinosaur with the game! And definitely go online and print off some sheets of Firefly's Chinese profanity!

My husband and I had been wanting a good two-player game, so we were excited to find Firefly: The Game, as we both enjoyed the show. So far we have really enjoyed the game! It seems to work well with just two players, but is also fun with more.The pros:-Nice quality board, cool money, sturdy cardboard tokens (the ships themselves are only so-so quality, but adequate). You can tell just by the weight and quality of the box that it's a nice game.-Each game is different. The scenario cards change things up (the base game comes with six scenario cards, incl. solo-play card), though ultimately you are doing the same things in each of them-- taking shipping, crime, smuggling, or transport jobs; making money; buying cargo, selling cargo; buying gear; upgrading your ship. Admittedly, after playing through most of these we were getting a little tired of the game and started to feel like we had it figured out, but then we downloaded the "Niska's Holiday" scenario card from the game website and found that more challenging and fun. I believe we spent four hours on that game!-The game has lots of features. Even though the basic gameplay, once you've mastered the rather thick rule book, is somewhat repetitive, different features add exciting twists to the game, such as getting caught by the Reaver or the Alliance cruiser, which sometimes results in dead crew or lost cargo. There are also expansions, which add even more features.-Good variety. The cards present a nice variety of jobs, crew, gear, etc. and again upgrades will add even greater variety, as well as different classes of ships (basic game comes with four firefly class ships).-Fun! Its many features combine to make for a lot of exciting gameplay and fans of Firefly will find many of the quotes and gear amusing.The Cons:-The solo play. Naturally, playing games with other people is more fun, but it's neat that this game can be played alone. I just felt that the rules were a little buggy and not completely clear. Without going into a LOT of detail I can't really explain my qualms here, I just think the solo game really doesn't flow well, and leaves a lot to be assumed. Plus, it's really easy to rig the game to win because in addition to picking a captain as you do in the multi-player game, you may also choose up to four crew members... all you have to do is choose Simon and River because River gets a HUGE bonus if you have Simon as well, which makes it pretty much possible to cheat. At least in the regular game play, you have to work a lot harder to hire the brother-sister duo. Plus, you don't have to pay River for jobs. In the end you make out like a bandit and the solo run looses most of its challenge. At least, that was the feeling I got after a couple solo plays.-The game requires a LOT of space. This is not a con per se, but something people should be aware of. I think it's great that there is so much to the game that you need a big table just to play it, but setting up can be quite a challenge, plus finding space for your personal ship and crew cards, money, upgrades, etc.!Update:After owning Firefly: The Game for about a year we still play it on a weekly basis and have even gotten many family members into it! We have added nearly all available boosters and expansions which changes the game up and makes it much more challenging-- which is a good thing for us. It seems to work best with 2-4 players, but we have played with as many as 8! That game took 11 hours... Next time we had a lot of players we broke it up into multiple games, tournament style, and that worked much better. A standard game between me and my husband lasts an hour or less. The bottom line is: I'm still not sick of this game! It has lots of "replayability". Also, you don't have to be a Firefly fan to play it, many of my family members who have never seen the show still enjoy playing. If you think you would like this game and don't mind a game lasting more than thirty minutes, then you will probably love it and you should buy it right now! You won't regret it. Burn the land, boil the sea, this is still the game for me.