If you ask any random person “what used to be your favourite game during gym class?”, 9times out of 10 Dutch person will probably say “monkey cages!” (or if this translation is a bit too literal, something along the lines of “the floor is lava and tag”). But I think the game at the centre of Challengers is sure to end up in many a top three. In Challengers, you play ‘capture the flag’ in tournament form. In several rounds (seven in total) you play a one-on-one match each time, after which the two best players have to fight it out in the finals of this gym/PE lesson classic.
There are four different mats in the box. These are the playing fields. With at least one player the game can already be played, then you play against a ‘robot’. You also play with this ‘robot’ when you play this game with an odd number of players. A maximum of eight players can join the tournament (a crazy amount!). Challengers is a sort of deck-building game. At the beginning of the game, everyone gets (the same) deck. Then, before each match starts, you take cards from the A, B, or C holder. The overview card shows how many cards can be taken from a holder and from which holder. This depends on the stage of the game. Each card shows what the power level (number) is, what special ability the card has and how often the card appears in the game. After choosing cards, cards may be discarded from the deck.
Now the competition begins and there is nothing left to choose or think about. Fate determines the order of the cards drawn. The player who starts discards the top card and thus wins the flag. The other player keeps discarding cards until they match the strength of the other player’s flag carrier. If that happens, the flag is won and the other player’s face-up cards go to the bank. The last card played by the player who has just captured the flag then carries the flag. The strength of that card therefore applies. This goes on until either a player has no cards left and it is his turn or the number of different cards sent to the bank becomes too large, leaving no room on the bank. So it is wise to build a balanced deck.
Just like the old days, you are trying to get fans. Whereas in the old days you might have been trying to become the most popular boy or girl in class (because you could do that with this kind of basic activity), now it ‘only’ earns you victory points. Fans you receive by winning the games, but some cards can also earn you fans.
I have to be honest, there was some scepticism before the game had even started properly. Isn’t the game too much based on luck? While the luck factor is certainly there, the deckbuilding phase is really based on strategy. If your chosen strategy then turns out to work (automatically), it is definitely a nice feeling.
The question that remains: besides monkey cages (or the floor is lave combined with tag) and capture the flag, which gym sport deserves a place in the top 3? As far as I am concerned, there is no possible debate about this: dodgeball.
