Keepers: Grave Robbers From Outer Space

Keepers: Grave Robbers From Outer Space

Mar 19

I haven’t talked about games in awhile, but I’ve recently realized that of all the games I own, a few get regular play, which suggests to me that they’re something that even a non-hardcore gamer should think about picking up and having on hand.

Possibly the best – it’s relatively inexpensive, it’s self-contained and easy to store, and it’s endlessly fun – is Grave Robbers From Outer Space. I’ve played this game hundreds of times, at home and out at a friends, and it still never ceases to amuse.

Basically, it’s a card game where you’re attempting to build a horror/sci-fi movie. You use the cards in your hand to pick locations, stars, special effects, etc – each adds to the value of your movie. Meanwhile, you can send monsters out at your opponents, which can take out their cards, weakening their movie. Highest valued movie when the Last Reel card is played wins.

Now, I know that’s very simplified, but the game is built to be a giant reference/homage machine. Each card is a nod to an existing movie. Each card has quotes that are hilarious. And each card helps build something that actually feels like a legitimate, cheesy genre film.

But best of all, each card has a word on it – before the game starts, cards are used to randomly draw some of those words, which everyone mix-and-matches into a movie title. Just for fun, and a few random points at the end (you may have those words/cards in your movie at the end, which gives you bonus points), but it’s possibly the best part of the game.

For example, a friend started cataloging each title as he played with his family;

Curse of the Cyborg: Alien Grasp on the Mysterious Mausoleum
Escape from the Curse of the Forbidden Tentacle-Man Cult
Damned in Space: Story of the Carnivorous Alien Eyeball
Haunted Cauldron: Sin of the Demonic Space Mummy

And my favourite;

Sewer Violence: Carnivorous Monsters of the Secret Ocean

Yes. Sewer = Secret Ocean. Awesome!

Several additional packs were produced, each dealing with other movie genre, like Westerns and Kung-Fu flicks. On their own, they’re kind of fun. And they can be added together, but then it’s too muddied – it’s loses its sharp humor. There is an exception however – Skippy’s Revenge.

Skippy is a character, a dog, from the first pack, who is undead and back for retribution in the second pack. The Skippy pack is more sci-fi/horror, so the additional cards blend in nicely.

My only recommendation – invest in a card shuffler. They’re like ten bucks, cheap, and they are invaluable at shuffling a game that demands randomness, but has 100+ cards.

WikiWikiWhack: Grave Robbers From Outer Space.