Review: SMASH UP: DISNEY EDITION Is a Fun Addition of Disney Magic to a Great Tabletop Game
Last month, The Op and AEG released Smash Up: Disney Edition as part of the 10-year anniversary celebrations. The game is available now with an MSRP of $34.99 and brings eight new factions to the game based on popular Disney movies: The Lion King, Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Big Hero 6, Wreck-It Ralph, Aladdin, and Frozen. The Op was kind enough to supply me with a copy of the game to review, and my thoughts follow.
Join unlikely allies, create synergies, and dominate with teams of Disney characters of all kinds! Get started by choosing two decks, combine their powers, and play those abilities to their maximum potential to take over bases. Adapt characters from the eight Factions including Frozen, Aladdin, and Wreck-It Ralph to rule the kingdom- the first to earn 15+ Victory Points wins! The game even includes Power Counters and newly added enumerated Base Mats that make progress tracking a breeze.
First, I’m a huge fan of Smash Up. It’s one of my favorite tabletop games. The ability to take two (sometimes completely different) factions and combine them into a single strategy is a lot of fun. Heck, one of my favorite things about the game is how creative the parodying can get sometimes. That’s one reason why I struggle a little with these licensed versions of the game. Now that I’ve addressed that nitpick, let’s get on to the meat of the review.
I didn’t see any new rule additions or changes in Disney Edition. If you’ve played Smash Up before, you know exactly how to play, and this is a great thing. This means that it’s easy to incorporate this with other copies like Marvel, Munchkin, or any of the more core games/expansions. Already, a huge point in its favor. Another aspect that I appreciate about this edition is that they chose a variety of Disney films to highlight and didn’t narrow themselves to princess films or an era like the ‘90s. This helps bring a wider audience to the table.
The biggest bonus to Disney Edition, though, is the inclusion of enumerated Base Mats! I’ve been waiting for these since I first learned about the game many years ago. It’s a simple, thin cardboard/paper mat that has a space for you to put a base, labels to help indicate where players can put cards, and a numbered border where you can put included tokens to help keep track of the breakpoint of the base and the current power level. It’s so nice to have! Yes, I wish they were a little nicer (they feel a little flimsy), but I’m just so gosh darn happy to finally have them.
Each of the decks in Disney Edition are well themed and play well for the most part. There was some frustration with a card in the Nightmare Before Christmas deck as it prevented the player from adding cards to their hand during their turn which effectively shuts down most decks. There aren’t very many cards in this set that remove Character Modifiers so that was a part of the problem. We were also playing with only two players at the time, and I imagine it’s less of a problem with more people. Another frustrating aspect is that most if not all of the cards for The Lion King want you to have Mufasa in the discard pile, and many even help you put him there from play. However, there’s no way to search for him in the deck and I feel like that’s a real weak point for the deck. Other than those items, I really enjoyed the decks.
If you’re a fan of Disney, I highly recommend Disney Edition, even if you’ve never played Smash Up before. The game is not that hard but is a lot of fun. If you’re already a fan of the game, you’ll enjoy having eight more decks to throw into the mix. What if Mulan was aided by Sharks? You can now find out. If you’ve already been playing with Disney Edition, what’s your favorite deck and/or combination?
