Year: 2017 | Players: 1-4 | Minutes: 30+ | Ages: 8+
This Flip Ships review was made after playing the game six times.
What is Flip Ships?
Flip Ships is a cooperative dexterity game in which you’re attempting to flip your ships so they take out enemy ships and, hopefully, the Mothership!
Flip Ships is published by Renegade Game Studios and was designed by Kane Klenko.
Flip Ships Gameplay
To set up a game of Flip Ships, you’ll connect the six Battle Zone tiles. These tiles contain the atmosphere and space sections on the left side, and the health tracks of your city and the Mothership on the right. You’ll also place 10 enemy ship cards at the top of the Battle Zone and the Mothership behind the back row of ship cards.
During each turn, players attempt to flick or flip their ships to take out the enemies. You can use the edge of the table or the included Launch Pad (we always use the Launch Pad). You’re attempting to either land on the ship cards to take them out or land inside of the Mothership to reduce its health. Usually it just takes one hit to take out an enemy, but some of them shield the ships around them while others require two hits to be destroyed.
Each player will have his or her own ships. There are three levels of ships, each of which has its own unique special abilities. Some of these abilities include getting extra flips at the Mothership, using the Targeting Computer Card to hit enemies a certain distance away from you, and healing your city. You gain new ships each time the health marker lands on or passes a ship icon; this represents reinforcements coming in as the battle gets tougher.
After all players have taken their turns, the enemies fight back. Each enemy card shows the speed it moves toward the city and the amount of damage it inflicts. Any enemy that makes it into the atmosphere deals damage and then gets shuffled back into the enemy deck.
After a round is over, you’ll fill in the back two rows with more enemy ships. If there are six or fewer ships left on the table, the enemy ships will do double the amount of damage at the end of the round if they aren’t destroyed. If you survive that final round, the Final Assault takes place and you will attempt to bring the Mothership down to zero health.
You’ll win the game if you destroy the Mothership and all enemy ships. You’ll lose if the city’s health meter reaches zero or if the Mothership survives the Final Assault.
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Pros and Cons
Pros
- Flip Ships’ theme comes through well. The artwork definitely helps, but it’s really the ships flying through the air and the enemies rushing in that make it work.
- It’s very satisfying flicking your ships and hitting the enemies. Oh, and it’s a pretty great feeling when you make it into the Mothership.
- It’s really cool that each player gets his or her own set of ships with unique powers.
- The ship discs are of very high quality. I see zero wear on them after many flips and flicks, so I think they’ll last a while.
- There’s no quarterbacking in Flip Ships since everyone gets to take their own shots.
- This is a very easy game to learn and teach.
Cons
- Like many other dexterity games, Flip Ships could go stale pretty quickly. You really do see everything the game has to offer in the first couple of playthroughs, which could make it a “fun and done” game for some folks.
- Some people will not be able to help the team as much as others. One person in our group had a very tough time getting solid flicks and she rarely hit anything in the back rows. Obviously if you’re not helping the team, you’re not going to have as much fun as everyone else.
- Potential finger/nail injuries for people who aren’t used to making this type of flicking motion.
Final Thoughts
My group has had a lot of fun playing Flip Ships. The theme works well and it’s extremely satisfying to take out some baddies with the flick of a finger. Dungeon Fighter is still our favorite cooperative dexterity game, but Flip Ships isn’t too far behind.
I have a feeling Flip Ships will be a great convention game for years to come, but not necessary one people will regularly play at home or at their game nights. However, I do think most people would be happy to keep it on their shelves since it works well as a party board game and it provides a unique experience.
Flip Ships Links
BGG | Amazon | CoolStuffInc | eBay
Thanks for taking the time to read our Flip Ships review!
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