It’s time to choose your side in Vampire vs Unicorns: Floor War!
Will you lead the fierce blood snob vampires or perhaps throw down with a herd of obnoxious Unicorns
Vampire vs Unicorns: Floor War is a hilariously fun throwing cards game with unexpected results! It’s up to you to find the best throwing technique to destroy your opponent’s floor tiles, but, like, Beware! As not all tiles are the same!
It’s Horn vs. Tooth
Setup
When setting up Vampire vs Unicorns: Floor War each player sets up their Floor Tiles. Four tiles at the top, then two and the castle; you can increase or decrease the distance to change the difficulty.
Each player then takes either the vampire deck or the unicorn deck and stands behind the corresponding castle.
Gameplay
Each player stands behind their own castle. On their turn, a player will reveal the top card of their deck. If there is no special ability, the player will throw the card at the opposing player’s floor tiles. If the card has a special ability; the player will follow the instructions on the card
When a card lands on an opponent’s floor tile, the tile will be either damaged or removed from the game. There are three levels of floor tiles:
- Level 1: These four floor tiles are the ones farthest away from your castle. If an opponent’s card lands on top of one of these tiles; even partially, the tile is removed from the game.
- Level 2: These are the two tiles closest to your castle. These tiles take two hits to remove. If an opponent’s card lands on top of one of these tiles, even partially; the tile is then flipped to its opposite side and considered damaged. As soon as another card lands, even partially, on the damaged tile, it is removed from the game.
- Castle: Your castle can only be removed from the game if a card lands completely on top of it; not protruding from any of the edges. Alternatively, if all of your other tiles have been removed; your castle is no longer protected and is flipped to its opposite side. When this happens, it is treated as a level 1 tile.
End Game
There are two conditions that end the game:
- When a player successfully removes their opponents castle, they win the game.
- If a player runs out of cards in their deck, they automatically lose the game.
Vampire vs Unicorns: Floor War is a very different game to what I expected. I knew it was a dexterity game, but I the size of this game is massive. There are seven 20cm by 20cm squares for each team; laid out in a reverse pyramid pattern. 4 tiles at the top, then 2 and 1 and we played with a 3 feet gap between the tiles. Which meant our game was 2 feet wide by 7-foot-long; while adjusting the distance between the pyramid, makes the game harder. This just lengthens that game to even more insane proportions.
We originally played this game in a garage on his Table tennis table at a friends BBQ. This was the only thing we could find that was big enough so that we didn’t play it on the floor. Yes, I’m aware it is called Floor Wars but we were lazy and didn’t want to bend down and pick the tiles or card off the floor. That being said, we suck at throwing cards and other than the tiles; we still had to pick up about 90% of the cards of the floor.
In a social, adult environment (Drinking responsibly of course), this game is a lot of fun. It kind of feels like a stunning version of Beer Pong. We had 2 teams of 2 playing most of the night, flicking cards, killing Vampires and Unicorns, blowing up castles; we had a lot of fun.
That being said, there is very little to the gameplay of this game; like Beer pong, it is throwing cards to try and land on a tile. Granted there are a few cards that allow you to through multiple cards a turn; but that is about it. The gameplay is pretty much-throwing cards, hit a tile and knock it out of the game.
I really wanted to love this game; as the art is quite possibly the best I have ever seen in a game. Featuring fantastic hand painted tile art by Travis Lampe and Travis Louie; that belongs in a gallery not on a board game. The Unicorns carts and tiles look like they have come straight from the canvas of Salvador Dali. The art just screams surrealist and I love it; could also be I’m a massive fan of Salvador Dali. While the Vampires are the exact opposite as the surreal and colour Unicorns. They are black and grey; part macabre, part Edwardian, part 20’s freak show vibe in their art styling but just as stunning as the Unicorn.
It is a very different combination to put together; with the black and grey on one side of the table and this surreal rainbow of colour; yet for some reason, it works. The contrast of dark and light help make the battle seem more important.
Vampire vs Unicorns: Floor War isn’t a game for everyone. It was a lot of fun while we played it; but it was a bit of a novelty and not a game I would play regularly. For me, it is a stunning game but the considerable lack of gameplay just misses the mark for me; and not one I would purchase.
That being said, If you are looking for a fun party game; then I think this would be a good purchase. If you want something more challenging, I would give this one a miss.
