3-5 player game
Players ages 17+
Game Length 40-60 minutes
Includes 214 cards, 30 Duty markers and a Rule Book
From the creators of Barbarossa and El Alamein, Japanime Games presents Dynamite Nurse! This popular deck-builder card game will be released in English and French versions mid-2017 and is a fantastic addition to the deck-building genre. Dynamite Nurse immerses you in a unique fantasy world where you’re the head nurse and your objective is to cure the wounded adventurers admitted to your hospital. As you successfully cure patients, you build your reputation in hopes of securing your title as the best healer. However, other nurses also strive to be the best healer and will try and sabotaging you as you are treating your patients.
Pros:
– Great for players new and old
Whether this is your first board game or your thousandth board game, Dynamite Nurse will leave you wanting more because it is designed for players of all skill and experience levels. Thanks to the game’s clear set of rules and its core deck-builder mechanic of building your deck as you play, Dynamite Nurse makes it very easy for beginners to start playing and catch onto the game.
– Light in complexity
Although the rulebook is a tad bit long, the rules are pretty straight forward and the complexity of the game is light. The rules walk you through each phase of gameplay in a way that is easy to follow and understand.
– Low downtime
This game is meant to be fast. Unless it’s your first time playing, turns should be going by relatively quickly and you shouldn’t have a lot of time to just sit around waiting.
-New mechanics
There are several new and unique mechanics seen in Dynamite Nurse. One of them is the buy or heal mechanic. During your turn, you are forced to decide between purchasing cards from the town or healing your patients. Leaving you patients untreated for too long will result in them entering critical condition and putting them that much closer to death. Another second new mechanic is transport and patient assignment. Each turn during a player’s transport phase, they are given the option of assigning a patient in transport to one of the players in the game. After the patient has been assigned, if the player that was assigned the patient isn’t able to admit and care for them in time then the patient will die, resulting in the assigned player earning a deathmark. Having too many deathmarks is bad and will negatively affect your point total at the end of the game. Keep in mind that assigning patients to your rivals isn’t always a good idea. If they are able to cure the patients that you send their way, then you’re just handing them more points.
– Lots of variation in gameplay and strategy
In addition to the handful of new mechanics, something else that really sets this game apart from other deck-builders is the fact that the game is more about managing the challenges that are thrown your way by other players than it is just about building up your deck and earning points. One player can completely ruin your strategy in matter of seconds, causing you to have to rethink how it is that you are going to play the game on your next turn. This causes a great deal of variation in gameplay and in strategies, despite the base cards used in play never changing. There is almost no way of predicting what is going to happen each turn.
– Very light-hearted and great for laughs
One thing that Japanime games does best is making games that are fun, with a high replay value. It’s virtually impossible to get through a game without laughing or cracking a smile. Even the artwork and quirky flavor-texts are hilarious. This game was made to be fun, make people laugh and be played time and time again.
Cons:
– High level of luck
One of the biggest downsides to any game in the deck-builder genre is the level of luck present in the game. A close game can be decided by whoever gets a lucky hand. Dynamite Nurse however has luck present in more areas then just the card draw phase of a player’s turn. Additionally, luck plays a part in deciding which patient from the adventurer pile will go into transport and which nurse a player will draw after they’ve successfully cured a patient.
– High level of politics
Player interaction plays a big role during gameplay. The game is set up in such a way that players can easily gang up on one another. You could potentially find yourself in a 1 v 4 situation and that’s no fun.
– Not good for competitive gaming
Dynamite Nurse is fun and can be competitive between friends, but it is not a game that we will be seeing played at a competitive level anytime soon. The level of luck and politics are too high for the game to be focused on serious tactical gameplay on a competitive level.
– Could use some more balancing
There are just certain points during the game where it feels like certain cards or abilities aren’t very well balanced. One example of this is with the deathmark totals at the end of the game. After a player kills 6 patients and reaches 6 deathmarks, any additional deathmarks no longer impact their end game score and players are no longer punished for killing additional patients. Some of the cards in the event pile also seem like they are pretty broken and give players an unfair advantage just for obtaining the card.
Final Thoughts:
Dynamite Nurse is a fun game and would make a great addition to anyone’s board game collection. I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Japanime Games or games in the deck-builder genre. I will definitely be playing more Dynamite Nurse in the future and I believe that it is going to be one of the most highly-anticipated board games of 2017.
