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Rampage (Terror in Meeple City) Board Game Review and Rules

Rampage (Terror in Meeple City) Board Game Review and Rules
How to Play | Review | Final Verdict | Comments

How to Play

Objective

To score the most points by causing the most destruction throughout the city.

Setup

Place the gameboard in the middle of the table. Start assembling the buildings by randomly selecting different colored meeples. For each floor of the building one random meeple is placed in each corner. Each building includes three floor tiles with the top tile being turned to the roof side with a meeple being placed in the center of the tile. Any extra meeples are placed in the stadium.

Setup for Rampage Board Game

Here is a picture showing how to setup the gameboard by constructing the buildings, and putting the vehicles and monsters in the correct positions.

Place each vehicle on the gameboard on top of the matching color vehicle.

Choose which side of the runaway board you are going to put face up (side A or B).

Each player takes a creature screen, monster body, and monster paw disc of the same color. The monster body is placed on top of the monster paw disc and is placed in the corner closest to the player. Each player then takes four monster teeth cards and places them on the appropriate spaces on the front of their monster screen.

Shuffle each deck of cards separately. Each player takes one of each type of card. They turn their character and power card face up so all of the other players can see them. Each player tells the other players what character and power card they drew and what each card does. The secret superpower card is kept a secret until the player decides to use the card.

The player who makes the most convincing monster imitation gets to play first.

Performing Actions

During a player’s turn they can perform two actions. They can choose two different actions presented below or they can perform the same action twice.

Move

Players remove the monster body from their paw disc. The player then flicks the disk to move their character to a different spot on the gameboard. When the paw disc has stopped moving you place the monster’s body back on top of the paws. If while moving the player shoots its’ paw disc off the gameboard they will lose one of their teeth (discarded from the game) and the monster moves to the starting space of the player’s choice. If the player has no teeth to lose, they need to get rid of two of the meeples that they have eaten.

Movement in Rampage

To move this monster the player would flick the disc and move their monster to the spot where the disc stops.

Demolish

This action can only be performed if the player’s paw token is touching the sidewalk next to a building. This action allows you to lift your monster’s body into the air and drop it onto the building that it is next to. When dropping the monster you must remain seated and your arm must be parallel to the table. Players can drop the monster from any height and on any area of the building. If the monster fails to hit the building the player loses one of their teeth (discarded). If they have no more teeth that can be removed, they lose two of their meeples that they have eaten (discarded)

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Demolish Action in Rampage

The green player has chosen to use the drop action. They lift up their monster and drop it onto the building that their paw disc is next to.

Toss A Vehicle

If your monster is in the same neighborhood as a vehicle you have the ability to toss it. Neighborhoods are the different colored sections of the board. To toss a vehicle the player places the vehicle on the top of their monster’s body and then flick it with their finger. If the vehicle is knocked off the gameboard, it is returned to its’ corresponding spot on the gameboard.

Throwing a Vehicle in Rampage

The blue player has chosen to throw one of the vehicles. The vehicle is placed on their head and it is flicked to cause damage to the city.

Breathe

The player places their chin on top of their monster’s body, takes a breath and blows as hard as they can in order to knock down buildings or other monsters.

Cards

At the beginning of the game each player gets three cards. The character card gives each player a special way to score additional points at the end of the game. The power card gives each player a special power that they can use like a normal action. These special abilities from a special power card can be used as often as the player wants. The secret superpower card stays face down until they are used. Each secret superpower card has only one use and is discarded after it is used. Using a secret superpower card does not count as an action.

Cards in Rampage

Here is a picture of the three cards a player got at the beginning of the game. The character card “Brawler” lets the player score four points for every tooth taken from another player. The power card “Boxer” lets the player take two teeth from a player that they knock over during a move action. The secret superpower card “Invisibility” lets a player remove their monster from the board until their next turn and then place it into the neighborhood of their choice.

City Damage

After performing an action, a building or another monster could be damaged.

Destroying A Floor

If after destroying part of a building, there is a floor of the building that no longer has anything on it (meeples, monsters, vehicles, or other floors) the monster whose turn it is claims the floor and puts it behind their screen. This floor is worth points at the end of the game.

Eating Floors in Rampage

The roof tile of this building was knocked down. The current player eats the floor which is worth points at the end of the game.

Knocking Down Another Monster

If during an action you knock down another monster, you get to take one of their teeth and put it behind your screen which will be worth points at the end of the game. If that player has no removable teeth remaining, they must give two meeples to that player. The monster is only considered knocked down if it is lying on one of its’ sides. The knocked down monster is placed back on its’ paw token on that players next turn.

Monster Knocked Down Rampage

The blue monster has been knocked over. The player that knocked them over gets to take one of their teeth.

Eating Meeples

Once you have performed both of your actions, you can eat meeples. Monsters can only eat meeples that are in their current neighborhood and are not supporting any other game elements. If a meeple is completely on a sidewalk or ruin tile, they aren’t considered to be in any neighborhood and can’t be eaten. If your monster’s paw disc is in two neighborhoods the monster can choose to eat meeples from one of the two neighbors but can’t eat from both.

Eating Meeples in Rampage

Since the green monster is in two neighborhoods they can choose which neighborhood they want to eat from. They can eat from the yellow/orange neighborhood and eat the green, blue, and gray meeple. They couldn’t eat the green meeple on the sidewalk or any of the meeples in the ruins. Otherwise they could eat from the blue neighborhood and eat the yellow, blue, red, gray, and black meeple.

Each monster can eat as many meeples as they have teeth. The monster has two permanent teeth and four removable teeth.

Teeth in Rampage

The green monster has four teeth remaining which means the green monster can eat up to four meeples on their turn.

Runaway Meeples

As the city is being destroyed it is very likely that some meeples will fly off the gameboard. These meeples are considered to have fled the city. These meeples are placed on the runaway board. What happens depends on which side of the runaway board was placed face up.

Side A

For side A each meeple that runs away is placed on the next empty meeple space starting at the top of the board. When all of the spots on a row have been filled in, the monster who caused the last meeple to run away receives a punishment based on which line was filled in. Monsters could trigger multiple lines at the same time.

  • Lines 1 and 4: The monster loses one tooth and the next player to play puts that monster in the neighborhood of their choice.

    Runaway Board A from Rampage

    The first line of runaway board A has been filled in. The player who added the last meeple to the board loses one of their teeth and the player to their left gets to put the monster into any neighborhood of their choice.

  • Lines 2 and 5: The monster loses one tooth and all of the other players get three actions during their next turn.
  • Line 3: The monster loses two teeth.
  • Line 6: The game ends immediately. The player who filled up the last line automatically loses the game even if they would have otherwise won.

    Filling Up Runaway Board A in Rampage

    The runaway board has been completely filled in. The game ends immediately and the player who added the last meeple to the board loses.

Side B

With side B meeples are put into rows matching their color. When a monster fills up one of the rows they suffer the penalty associated with that row. Players can fill multiple rows at the same time and suffer the punishment of all of the rows that were filled up.

  • Red: Lose one tooth and return four meeples from their stomach to the gamebox.

    Runaway Board in Rampage

    The current monster has filled up the red row of the runaway board. The current monster loses one tooth and has to put four of their eaten meeples into the game box.

  • Blue: Lose one tooth and discard one of your cards.
  • Green: Lose two teeth.
  • Yellow: Lose one tooth and every other player gets one additional action during their next turn.
  • Black: Lose one tooth and the next player to play gets to pick which neighborhood to put the monster in.
  • Gray: Gray meeples don’t affect any player when they escape.

End of Game

The game ends in two different ways.

  • If the sixth line is filled in when the runaway board side A is used.
  • The last floor is ate by a monster or is knocked off the board.

In the situation where the last floor is removed from the board, every other player gets one last turn before the game ends. Players then tally up their points. Players score points as follows:

  • 10 points for each set of all six colors of meeples eaten by the monster.
  • 1 points for each floor eaten by the monster.
  • 2 points for each tooth taken from other monsters.
  • If a player fulfills the conditions of their monster card they receive the corresponding number of points.
Scoring in Rampage

This monster scored 35 points: two teeth (4 points), five floors (5 points), two complete sets of meeples (20 points), and special ability (6 points).

The player who scores the most points wins the game. If there is a tie the player who ate the most meeples will win the game.

Review

Growing up I loved playing the video game Rampage. In the video game you played as various monsters whose goal was to cause as much destruction as possible. Loving the Rampage video game, I was excited when I found a copy of the Rampage board game for cheap. The Rampage board game shares a lot in common with the video game as your goal is to destroy and terrorize a meeple city. Rampage has nothing to do with the video game though which was confirmed when the title of the game was changed to Terror in Meeple City likely due to legal reasons. Other than a name change Rampage and Terror in Meeple City are basically the same game. While it is not going to appeal to everyone, if you take joy in destroying a cardboard city you will love Rampage.

Pros

Rampage is a great game for one reason. It is really fun. It is so much fun destroying the city. It is fun dropping your character on buildings and seeing them crumble. It is fun seeing vehicles fly through the air destroying building and knocking down other creatures. Other than the breath action all of the mechanics in the game are fun. If you ever wanted a board game that simulates city destruction, the Rampage board game is the game you are looking for.

Other than just being a fun game to play, you have to give the designers a lot of credit for creating an interesting/innovative concept for a board game. While I wish the monsters had a few more abilities, the actions you can take in the game are well designed that make sense thematically but are also fun. After playing a game of Rampage you have to wonder why no one came up with concept for a board game earlier.

For a simple dexterity game, Rampage has a lot of replay value. While it isn’t a game that I would play for hours at a time, the game has enough variability that you shouldn’t get sick of the game quickly. The game includes 48 monster cards so it is unlikely that you will ever play the same monster twice. The special abilities actually impact how you play the game so you won’t play the game the same way each time.

While some people don’t seem to like the scoring system, I actually like it quite a bit. Scoring points for destroying floors and hitting the other monsters makes sense thematically and makes players try to cause destruction to score more points. The game has punishments for causing too much destruction though so you need to put some thought into the damage you cause. Scoring with sets of meeples is also a good idea in my opinion. Having to collect different colored meeples adds strategy to the game since you can’t just go for quantity. This means that you need to think strategically about which buildings you destroy and where you want to move on the gameboard. The only issue I have with the scoring is with the character cards since some seem to be much easier to score from than others.

The final thing I have to compliment is the quality of the components. While the initial setup takes quite a while I have to say the components are otherwise really good. The artwork in the game is fantastic. The details put into the city board and the different floor tiles is really well done with some cool little details that add a lot of charm to the game. Otherwise the components are really sturdy which is key for a game like this. Over time the components will get damaged but they should last quite a while especially for a game where pieces are flung all over the board.

Cons

Being a dexterity game, Rampage/Terror in Meeple City is not going to be for everyone. Like most dexterity games, there is a lot luck in the game. While some players are going to be better or worse at the game, luck will play a part in who ends up winning the game. You kind of have to expect luck in a game where you are flinging things around the board since there is no way you can fully predict how the city is going to be destroyed. If you don’t like dexterity games that require quite a bit of luck you might not like Rampage/Terror in Meeple City.

The area where luck comes most into play is with placement on the board. The key to winning the game is to eat as many different colored meeples as possible. Since you can only eat meeples in your current neighborhood, where your monster is situated at the end of your turn is key. If you are in a neighborhood with a lot of meeples you can eat a lot of them. If you are stuck in a neighborhood with few meeples you won’t be able to eat many. While you can somewhat direct where the meeples will fall after a building falls, the meeples tend to fly all over the board. You could destroy a building and send meeples into another player’s neighborhood which they can then eat on their turn.

At times it is more important to get your monster in the right neighborhood rather than destroying buildings. The problem is that it is sometimes pretty hard to move around the city. The paths between neighborhoods are kind of narrow at certain points which means it could take several flicks just to get to your desired neighborhood. The players who get special abilities that help with movement have a pretty big advantage in the game.

This gets me to another problem with Rampage in that the power cards are not really balanced. Some of the powers are much better than others. Abilities that let you move easier or destroy buildings easier give you an advantage in the game. The bonus points from character cards also seem kind of unbalanced. Some seem much easier to score points from than others. This might annoy players that wish that all of the players have the same chance at winning based on their skill level.

While the mechanics are really fun, I found the breath action to be kind of pointless. The breath action doesn’t do a lot of damage and I don’t see much point to using it. The only time I think it could do any damage would be if your monster is really close to another monster or a building. The breath action also has some concerns with spreading germs/damaging components since you are directly breathing on the components after all.

The game also requires you to move around the table quite a bit. Unless you stay in the area of the city where you are sitting, you will have to walk around the table in order to be able to actually perform your actions. While this doesn’t ruin the game, it is kind of annoying having to get up all of the time and move around the board while players are trying to hide the contents that are behind their mouth screens.

The final complaint I have with Rampage is with the length. The game does take a while to set up especially the first time you play the game since there is a decent amount of assembly. Assembly of the gameboard each round is easy but it takes some time. The game probably takes around five minutes to set up. The other problem I have with the length is the game is actually too short in my opinion. The game takes around 30-45 minutes to play. It is nice that the game is short but at the same time it seems to end kind of abruptly. I think I would have preferred the game to last another 15-30 minutes with the city being a little larger with more buildings to destroy.

Final Verdict

Based on looking at the length of the pro and con sections you might not think that Rampage is that great of game. Well Rampage is a great game. It is just hard to describe how fun it is to destroy the city. The game’s mechanics are really well designed to be accessible for kids/non-gamers but still engaging enough to keep gamers interested. Other than the pointless breath action, a little too much reliance on luck, and a little too long of setup time; there really isn’t much to complain about.

If you hate dexterity games or games that rely a lot on luck, you might not like Rampage/Terror in Meeple City. If the idea of destroying a city appeals to you though I think you will love Rampage and I highly recommend picking up the game.

if you would like to purchase Rampage or Terror in Meeple City you can find them on Amazon. Rampage, Terror in Meeple City