Designed by: Scott Frisco,Steven Strumpf
Inspired by the simple (and fun!) stacking game Rhino Hero, Rhino Hero: Super Battle takes the stacking to a new level, creating paper-based constructions two or three feet high!
Three bases showing build points are laid out on the table, and each player takes a playing piece (Super Rhino etc) as well as three floors. Each floor shows a combination of walls, and on your turn you place the wall or wall as prescribed by your chosen floor, then place the floor on top of them. If your floor also shows a monkey, you must hang a monkey off the side of it too. These don’t do much, but they do contribute to the slightly surreal vibe – and can be placed to hinder other players.
Having placed the floor you now roll a die that will tell you how many – if at all – levels your superhero can move up the growing building. If you end up on the same floor as another hero, there is a super-hero battle: both players roll a die to determine who stays, and who has to move down a level.
The highest superhero holds a superhero token (until ousted) and when the floors and walls run out, or the building collapses, the player holding the token wins – unless they collapsed the building themselves of course, in which case everyone else does!
RH Super Battle looks good on the table, but beyond that I'd prefer to play the original. Neither are hugely strategic, but the original has a bit of the tension of Pass the Bomb or Perudo, where you just want to survive your turn and hand on the responsibility. In this game, the winning condition removes that tension for all but the player who's currently at the top of the heap. But it is a children's game, and the spectacle alone would make it a big hit at a party - you could play in teams to support a larger player count.
A fair bit, although it's more about the luck of the roll than any malice from an opponent.
Very low. Even when it's not your turn, it's the kind of game you don't mind watching. And turns are pretty rapid.
Non-existent.
The building ensures variety and the dice ensure some randomness. It's also visually quite spectacular.
2-6
Players
6+
Years
15-30
Mins
Sam says
The madcap creation of a tower that somehow stays up despite its crazy angles and non-building-regulated construction is a blast - as tangibly enjoyable for adults as it is kids. What is disappointing to me (and those I played with) is how under-developed the movement rules feel in comparison. You're just rolling a die, so in essence the win or lose element of Super Battle almost functions as a separate game, and one that might have been invented forty years ago. Because the building is so good, the very old-school die-rolling feels comparatively disappointing. But having said that, I would also add it's not a game where winning is really the primary focus - it's more of an event, and as such even outdoes its popular predecessor, Rhino Hero.