Thunderstone – a great adventure for teen boys

Thunderstone achieved a very high status in our family – Jaden calls it his favorite game. That’s saying quite a lot for a boy that loves to play a bunch of board games and card games. So what is it about Thunderstone that gets Jaden so excited? Take a look at his video review of Thunderstone to find out what he loves about it.

Of course, even with this being one of our longest video reviews, there’s still a lot we couldn’t cover. But Jaden does a good job of covering the basics to give you a taste of how the game plays and what’s involved.

Can the whole family enjoy Thunderstone?

Nope.
That may be a short answer, but it’s accurate. Thunderstone isn’t a card game for everyone in the family. But we’re guessing that there will be members of your family that will love it. If you have teenage boys in your family, or if there are members of your family that love fantasy adventures, then we believe they’ll take to it quite nicely.

In our family, mom and Brooke don’t show any interest in playing Thunderstone, but the boys all love it. Even Caleb – who is much younger than the recommended 12+ age – gets into Thunderstone and has even won! The first time we played, Caleb just watched from the sidelines as we thought it was just way too involved for him to grasp and keep track of all the things to pay attention to. But then he played his first game with us and pulled out a victory. We thought he was struggling for most of the game, but near the end he went on a spree and ended up with the most victory points. Of course, he’s hooked now.

Another thing to pay attention to is that this game is about battling monsters with heroes, weapons, and spells. So if you don’t feel comfortable with these elements in your home, then Thunderstone won’t be for you.

Do you have to like fantasy themes to enjoy Thunderstone?
While it may not be a requirement to like fantasy themes to enjoy Thunderstone, it certainly makes it more enjoyable. Let’s take dad for example: By no means would I consider myself a fantasy lover. I don’t get into all the fantasy novels and frankly think some people go way overboard about it all. I do enjoy a good fantasy adventure tale once in a while – like Lord of the Rings – but will pass on most of them.

So I wondered myself about how I would enjoy Thunderstone. And I’ll tell you what – I love it too!
I really enjoy working out the best options of building my card deck and battling the monsters. Maybe it’s the thinking, planning, and hoping for a good outcome that I enjoy, but pulling the deck building mechanics together with a real purpose for having a strong deck (to battle monsters) really appeals to me. I’ve found that I do get excited when my hand is full of heroes, weapons, and spells so I can head into the dungeon to take on a monster.

And the artwork is fantastic! The art on the cards does an amazing job in bringing the Thunderstone fantasy world to life. They’re all so richly designed that it’s hard not to get swallowed up in the fantasy adventure as you play.

What is deck building all about?
For those that may not be familiar with the term, I guess I should take a minute to clarify what a deck building card game is about. If you’ve seen our Dominion game review, or are familiar with Dominion, then you’ll already be familiar with a deck building card game. But essentially a deck building game is where you start out with a small deck of cards, take some into your hand each turn, then use the powers on the cards in your hand to purchase/acquire more cards for your deck. So as each round goes by, your deck gets bigger and bigger as you accumulate more cards and thus more card powers. And along the way some of those cards will also have victory points so at end of the game you can compare who has the most victory points to win.

How does Thunderstone score on the “Let’s Play Again” meter?
Thunderstone scores super high on our “Let’s Play Again” meter. First of all, the boys love the game and the theme. Secondly, there is a lot of re-playability because of the amount of card options in the game. You only play with a certain number of cards of each type every time you play. So every game you’ll get a different mix of powers and abilities and the challenge is in determining how to best use the combination of cards to achieve the most points. So playing once only whets the appetite to play again with a different mix of cards to select from.

And now we have to watch out because the Thunderstone expansions are calling out to us.

Update: AEG has updated the Thunderstone game family with a new iteration called Thunderstone Advance. Take a look at all the improvements. If you’re starting out with Thunderstone post 2012, then you’ll want to jump into Thunderstone Advance.

So if you’ve got teenage boys in your family – or soon to be teenagers – then we recommend picking up a copy of Thunderstone.

The Board Game Family Game Ratings
	Caleb
Has not played	Brooke
	Jaden
	Trevor
Has not played	Mom
	Dad
	Average

Pick up a copy!

Buy Thunderstone from Amazon

Interested in what others think of Thunderstone?
Check out these other opinions:
* Board Game Reviews by Josh Thunderstone review