Jaws: The Board Game
Jaws is a board game from Prospero Hall & Ravensburger (the same company behind Horrified) based on the 1975 classic film. Across two acts, up to three players control Quint, Hooper, and Chief Brody as they work to take down one other player- the one who controls the deadly shark.
Components
The game comes with a double sided game board, 4 decks of cards, 4 character boards, 4 board clips, 6 character movers, 3 dice, a pad of paper for the shark, 8 boat tiles, a rulebook, and 40 assorted tokens. Of the 40 tokens, 16 are swimmers, 8 are barrels, 6 are resurface tokens, 4 are shark power tokens, 3 are targets, 1 fish finder, 1 binoculars, and 1 beach closing token. The four decks are Amity Event cards, Shark Ability cards, Crew Gear cards, and Resurface cards.
Two of the character movers are boats, one for Quint and one for Hooper. They are unnecessary but delightful.
I don’t fully understand the inside of the box. The insert is nice but the division of space is strange. There are three compartments, but aside from the cards and the character boards, everything can fit in one of the smaller compartments. Maybe they expect you to divide the tokens up more? The folded game board is just slightly smaller than the box, and it doesn’t look like the game needs that extra space. I think Ravensburger might just have a standard game box size that they use for all games, since my copies of other Ravensburger games are about the same size. Even so, it still feels like they didn’t use the space efficiently.
Act One Gameplay
In act one, the shark is roaming the waters of Amity Island, trying to eat as many swimmers as possible, while Quint, Hopper, and Chief Brody are trying to find the shark. The rounds move in phases. In phase 1, players draw a card from the Amity Event deck, which tells them how many swimmers to place and at which beaches, along with any other special effects. Phase 2 is the shark’s turn. The shark player may take up to three actions in secret, marking their movements from shore to shore on their notepad, and eating swimmers along the way. In phase 3, Quint, Hooper, and Brody go on the hunt. Each character plays differently. Chief Brody moves around on the island, closing beaches and using his binoculars to try and spot the shark. He also ferries barrels from the store to the docks, where they can be picked up by Quint and Hooper. Quint sails around the island in his boat, trying to launch barrels at the shark. If he guesses correctly and hits the shark, the barrel attaches. If he’s wrong, the barrel stays in the water as a motion detector. When the shark has two barrels attached to them, the game moves into act two. Hooper can’t use the barrels, but he can pass them off to Quint. He can use his fish finder to see if the shark is nearby, and his boat is faster than Quint’s so he can move two spaces for the price of one.
Act Two Gameplay
In act two, Quint, Hooper, and Brody are on the boat fighting the shark. After flipping the board and setting it up for act two, the crew and the shark are given a number of gear and ability cards based on how well the shark did in act one. First, the players reveal three resurface cards, each with a possible location for the shark to strike. Then the shark chooses where to atack. Next, the crew members prepare to fight, choosing what to attack the shark with and where the shark might be. Then the shark reveals their choice and combat begins. The crew attacks first, then the shark. The shark can attack either the boat or a crew member who is in the water. Each boat space has a certain amount of damage it can take before it is damaged or destroyed. When it is damaged or destroyed, all crew members on that space are knocked off of the boat. The shark gets to roll a small bonus attack against any nearby crew members in the water, and then the next round begins. The game is over when either the shark is dead, all of the crew members are dead, or the boat is completely destroyed.
Thoughts
The game is very well balanced, partly because there will always be three shark hunters versus one shark, whether you’re only playing with the minimum of two or maximum of four players. All the games we played felt very close. However, the game can feel overwhelming to new players, since there are a lot of steps and things to keep track of.
The theme is implemented very well; the mechanics reflect the film and the attention to detail is great. All of the Amity event cards have art of moments from the film, along with flavor text with quotes from the film. Even the game’s insert is themed; it’s the same pattern as the mayor’s suit in the scene where Brody and Hooper are trying to convince him to close the beaches for the fourth of July weekend.
If you don’t have time to play both acts, or if the gameplay of one act is more fun to you than the other, the game includes rules for playing each act as a standalone game. These are less necessary for act one than act two. The rules for act one are just “end the game sooner,” but the rules for act two explain how to set it up without a previous act to work from.
Verdict
I give this game five out of five cthulhus. It’s a fun game that nails its theme perfectly. If you’re a fan of the film, and like board games, you should definitely give it a try. You can check it out at the Amazon links below, but remember that we are an Amazon affiliate and if you buy anything from those links we will get some $ back.
(5 / 5)
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Continuing with video games I got to try out at PAX East, I was delighted to demo Let’s! Revolution! the debut game by developer and publisher BUCK. BUCK has historically been an animation and design studio, notably having worked on Into the Spiderverse and Love, Death, & Robots. Let’s! Revolution! marks their first foray into the world of video game development. I found this so interesting, I spoke to the Creative Director for Let’s! Revolution! on his career and how BUCK navigated that transition (find it here).
Let’s! Revolution! is a roguelike puzzle game inspired by the classic game Minesweeper. In it, you play as one of six heroes fighting their way along the dangerous roads to the capital city. Once there, you can defeat the tyrannical king and save the kingdom from his reign. Released in July of 2023, the game has been met with high praise. Unsurprisingly, this includes the game’s artistic and musical direction (by the team at Antfood), which is both stylistic and beautiful.
Watch the console reveal trailer here for a taste of the delightful animation and music:
I had the opportunity to play a 20 minute demo of Let’s! Revolution! on the PAX East show floor. I played alongside the Creative Director and other people who worked on the game. It’s important to note that this wasn’t long enough to get a feel for all the characters or the replayability of the game. But, it was definitely long enough to be enchanted by the game and the passion of the people who made it.
The core mechanics are inspired by Minesweeper. The player must use the power of deduction to uncover procedurally generated maze pathways to the exit. However, enemies are hidden along the way and can defeat the player before they reach their goal. Each character has their own special abilities that can help. Items and general abilities can also be bought or discovered to make your hero more powerful. All of these are limited in some way either by energy (your action currency) or limited uses per run.
From what I played, the gameplay is relatively simple with a mix of chance and strategy. I liked the cozy atmosphere, especially when combined with the ‘high stakes’ mechanics associated with Minesweeper. The UI was easy to understand and interact with while still being cohesive with the storytelling. And of course, the character design is exquisite and narratively driven, with many of the characters presenting as queer.
Having released on consoles earlier this month (April 2024), Let’s! Revolution! is even easier to access than ever. Let’s! Revolution! is a perfect game for those who love cozy roguelites and beautiful (queer) aesthetics. I definitely recommend it for fans of roguelites looking to try something fresh. Look for it anywhere you game!
(4.5 / 5)
Check out my other PAX posts here!
