Review: THE GOONIES: NEVER SAY DIE Offers a Fun Board Game Experience to Feel a Part of the Group
The Goonies: Never Say Die is a new board game from Prospero Hall and Funko Games. It allows fans of the classic ‘80s film to take part in adventures similar to what happens in the movie. It’s designed for 2-5 players and is available now from Target. Funko Games was kind enough to send me a copy of the game and my in-laws are huge Goonies fans, so I had to play it with them. If you’re a fan of the film, you’ll really want to consider this game.
Embark on a perilous adventure full of dangerous booby traps and treacherous treasure-filled caverns! One player is the Goondocks Master, controlling fearsome foes, from the outlaw family, the Fratellis, to the legendary pirate, One-Eyed Willie. The other players take on the role of the Goonies — Mikey, Mouth, Chunk, Data, and Sloth — overcoming cryptic puzzles and deadly challenges with teamwork, strategy, and Data’s clever contraptions! Will the Goonies discover the legendary riches that will save their homes, or will they follow the fate of Chester Copperpot… and never see the light of day?
In the game, one player takes on the role of the Goondocks Master while the other player(s) play as the characters. The Goondocks Master serves as the narrator and is competing against the other players who are working together to reach an objective. You’ll be able to send enemies like the Fratellis, rats, and bats after the heroes as well as block their paths with rubble, flood the rooms, and more. Meanwhile, players are exploring the caverns and trying to reach whatever objective the adventure has. The game comes with nine adventures that can be done in order to create one cohesive story, or you can jump around and play your favorites.
The artwork for the game is really good. The board looks great, the cards are fantastic, and the character cards are very accurate. I do want to note that some items may be slightly different because of what I assume are copyright issues. For instance, there is no Baby Ruth card, but there is a Candy Bar card. You also get eight fantastic miniatures for the five characters, the Fratellis, One-Eyed Willie, and the Giant Octopus from the famous deleted scene. The custom dice are also a nice touch.
As far as gameplay goes, it’s rather simple, and a single adventure shouldn’t last more than an hour. Different characters have different abilities to help in various ways such as Mikey being able to give inspirational speeches and Data having his inventions. The first adventure is a fantastic way to get introduced to the game and how it works. Goonies are looking for treasure, and there isn’t a boss to deal with.
My one big complaint about the game is that the GM seems a bit too powerful. I recognize that in games like this, the scales should be tipped in the GM’s favor, but in the case of Never Say Die, I feel like it’s tipped a bit too much in the GM’s favor. In the games that I played, the GM always admitted to taking it easy on the Goonies, and even then, the heroes always felt like they got by on the skin of their teeth. As it stands, the GM can play one card for free on their turn, plus additional cards for any GM tokens that they use. The cards can also be used in a reactionary measure though and GM tokens aren’t rare. There’s a symbol on each die that if rolled gives the GM a GM token. That means there is some luck involved, but in the games I played, the GM always got a ton of tokens. I think something that would’ve made it feel a bit better is limiting the GM to a number of cards equal to the number of Goonies.
That being said, I played with some huge Goonies fans, and they loved how faithful everything felt. They felt like they got to live the movie a little and absolutely loved the miniatures. If you’re a fan of The Goonies, this is a great game to pick up.
