A puff is the Dutch name for a small herring-like fish that is often caught as a by-catch of herring. These small fish are delicious fried and eaten as a kind of snack – similar to the Spanish boquerones fritos, a dish where small anchovies are deliciously fried so tender that they can be eaten with bones and all. Battle Pufs is not about small fish duking it out (’there is always a bigger fish’), but about hairy dust like balls similar to the ones that ‘miraculously’ appear under your bed if you fail to vacuum your room for several months. They attack each other with different types of attacks and this game is stuffed to the brim with puffy hilarity. Battle Pufs will be released on Kickstarter soon, but I can already give you a little preview.
Battle Pufs is a smooth card game where each player gets a small army of character fluff balls. Each puff has a special appearance and backstory. Sometimes the pufs have a pinch of puns and the other puf is fun pop culture reference. Some pufs even have special powers. More on that later. Each player gets three of these spheres and places them in front of them. All players then get their hands on a number of battle cards and the battle can begin.
On his or her turn, a player may attack another player’s puff with one of the puffs. The active player must play an attack card to do this. Some attack cards are puff-bound and stronger if the correct puff uses this card. The attacked player, may defend if this player has defense cards. If a player cannot defend anymore then this puff is defeated. As soon as a player has no more pufs, this player is out of the game. Last puff standing wins. In addition to defense cards and attack cards, there are also power cards, which allow players to help themselves or star other players.
Battle Pufs is a take-that card game. What do I mean by that? It’s a card game that focuses on taking each other out with action cards and reacting with reaction cards. Think for example of Uno (in its simplest form) or especially Exploding Kittens or even a bit of Munchkin. The main game principle is therefore to save effect cards for use at the right time. On some powers it is indicated how many cards there are in the deck, which makes planning a bit easier. Because it is a take-that game, the course of the game largely depends on the players’ cards on hand and the luck of the draw. As a result, luck plays a central role but is this is very short and fast game that is fitting. Battle Pufs is a fast-paced game with humor for those shorter playing sessions. Highly recommended for fans of Exploding Kittens.
