Killer Bunnies!

The reason for my continued absence...

In fact, I have no reason, not a good one anyway. I've just been... busy. I've been working out of town a lot, away from my PC, and it's hard to find time to blog. It's not high on my list of things to do. When I finally get a moment to myself, I'd rather read one of the four or five books in my 'to read' pile; or play my guitar; or watch an episode of the X-Files with Diane (we're almost done with season three); or watch an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with my brother (I've seen all seven seasons worth, but he's only midway through season one); or play any one of several board games I've acquired over the last year or so – Betrayal at House on the Hill, Pirate's Cove, The Big Idea, Citadels, Killer Bunnies, Zombies!!!, or even just a few hands of poker...

So given all of these other things to do, I just haven't had the urge to blog lately. What's different about today, you may ask? Maybe you didn't, you're unpredictable like that, but I'll tell you anyway. I have an hour lunch, and nowhere to be, and a new (to me) laptop. I've heard that there are wireless hotspots around Augusta, where you can go and soak up the internet for free, but I'm sitting in Quiznos, typing away to myself in the corner, with no internet. Perhaps tomorrow I'll go off in search of these mythical hotspots... Perhaps not, I'm unpredictable like that.

Since you asked, I'll tell you about Killer Bunnies. A few months ago, I posted some thoughts about Betrayal at House on the Hill, and I really intended to follow it up with semi-regular reviews of other games in my collection. That worked out well. Anyway, here's a rundown on Killer Bunnies and The Quest for the Magic Carrot.

Killer Bunnies is a non-collectible, expandable card Game for 2-8 people, aged 12 and up. The object of the game, as its full title implies, is to obtain the Magic Carrot. Unfortunately no one knows which carrot is the Magic Carrot until the end of the game, when there are no carrots left. So the strategy is to get as many carrots as you can in the hopes that one of them is the Magic one. You must have at least one Bunny alive at the end of the game to be eligible for victory. If all your bunnies are dead, then all your carrots go to the opponent with the most money.

I won't go through all the rules of the game as they are available on the Killer Bunnies website, but instead give you some of my impressions, having played it a few times.

The cards are fantastic. They seem to be pretty durable and I imagine they will last quite a long time. The artwork is terrific – from the Bunnies themselves, to the horrible ways in which they might be snuffed, and everything in between, the cards are extremely humorous, and a much appreciated aspect of the game.

The game play is fairly simple once you've played a turn or two. It utilizes an interesting card system which makes you obligate cards two turns in advance. It can really put you out of the game if you lose all your bunnies near the end. It takes two turns to get a bunny on the table and there's a pretty good chance that it won't stay alive very long.

At this point I've played one three-player game and two two-player games. I intend to introduce the game to a larger crowd tomorrow night, and I feel I'll have a better idea of the game at that point. So far it's been a very light, very fun game – great for the gamer and non-gamer alike.