Evil Babies Unite – A quick review

Evil Baby Orphanage – I recently received my Kickstarter version of Evil Baby Orphanage, and thought it'd be a good time to post up a review. Of course I only got the base version of the game at the moment with the rest of the rewards due in January. 

Upon opening the box I'm pretty happy with the quality of the cards. Not quite Magic card or casino quality but a nice heavy cardstock with a glossy coating. These should stand up to the rigors of play nicely. Of course I'll probably pick up some sleeves just to be sure they stay in perfect condition but it's not necessary.

The box itself leaves a little to be desired. It's the same quality cardboard Wyrd packs their Malifaux minis in which won't stand up to much in the way of openig and closing the box often. Speaking of opening the box, that was tricky. The tuck box flaps are almost the same size as the box so the flap doesn't release easily and if you're not EXTREMELY careful it will rip. I had to take a small rod to fish our the tuck flap to open the box without damaging it. Not a big deal since I'll have a special box come January, but still annoying.

The rules are simple and take up two pages on a nicely printed color sheet included in the box. Essentially you're trying to collect 10 points worth of evil baby in your orphanage. You do this by placating the little buggers with good toys which you draw from the deck. If you don't keep them happy with good toys they do bad things which typically pushes babies to your opponent.

Gameplay is pretty fast, and fun. The game is labeled as semi-educational as there are some brief notes about each of the historical characters on their card. My daughter got a kick out of reading each one and asking questions about who they are. History buffs will get a kick out of the babies presented.

If you're looking for a quick game you can play with the family or non hardcore gamers this fits the bill. With my first few playthroughs I didn't find and super deep strategy to the game other then playing the correct "screw you neighbor cards" at the right point to push babies out of their orphanage.

To be honest I didn't think I'd enjoy this as much as I did and Kickstarter it for the minis. I'm pleasantly surprised with the quality of the game and would suggest picking it up for a change of pace.