Solo Mine: Final Girl
Alex walks through the Solo board game Final girl, does a product review and short fiction all in one.
Like I've done in my previous posts, this one is going to double as a story-generation-engine and a game. However, I'm also going to bake in a bit of a how-to and a review all in a single post. That is to say, this is going to be a mess. Let's dive in!
A Solo Board Game For Horror Fans
I love the premise behind Final Girl. For those unfamiliar, "Final Girl" is a trope common to horror movies. It's basically "the only character left at the end of the movie to face the killer". It's usually a woman (though not always) and they usually survive (though not always). Ripley from the Aliens Franchise is a Final Girl. Ash Williams from the Evil Dead is also Final Girl.
The TV Tropes rabbit hole awaits you.
Van Rider games takes the trope and turns it into an entertaining solo board game with a sub-hour playtime (after you've internalized the rules).
Initial Impressions and Packaging
Final Girl has some of the most interesting packaging I've encountered. The game comes in at least two boxes: The Core Box and "Feature Film" boxes. You need one copy of the core box and at least one Feature Film box in order to play. They sell the core box on its own, as well as in a "starter kit" bundled with the Happy Trails Horror feature film box (which is a take on the "slasher at camp" category of movie).
For my play through, I used the "Carnage at the Carnival" feature film. The premise is that Geppetto is a murderer, and he uses horrific human puppets to brutally murder survivors at a carnival. Nice.
The Core box itself is packaged very well. It comes with a nice plastic tray and a cover for said tray so that the game board's pieces don't go everywhere. Otherwise it's pretty standard.
The Feature Film box is where the packaging gets super interesting. It's designed in such a way that the covers are held on by magnets and both sides detach to form the game boards. So, you get both the map and the killer boards from those covers. The interior packaging is similar to the core box: there's a nice plastic cover for each of the boxes.
Setup And Gameplay
Setup is a 15 (16ish?) step process to set up the board. It took me about 10 minutes to read the rules carefully on my first go around, but subsequent plays are faster. Likewise, since each Feature Film has specific rules, you'll want to read those before setting up. Don't make my mistake: I had to reread Geppetto's rules three times before I realized how the puppets work on the first turn.
At the beginning of my game, this is how the board looked:
The Final Girl, Charlie, is the purple meeple. Geppetto is red, and that white meeple is Charlie's little sister, who spawned because of the event card I drew.
Play proceeds in 5 phases, which cycle between you taking a turn using the cards you purchased last round, purchasing new cards, the killer taking a turn, survivors doing what they do in horror movies (dumb things), and then an upkeep phase (which I didn't have to do this go around?).
Gameplay is fairly simple: play a card, do what the card says, and then roll some dice to see how well that action goes. The number of dice you roll is determined by the "horror track" which goes up or down depending on your actions or the killer's.
The killer acts procedurally. On their turn, they'll take a scripted action, and then you draw the Terror card and see what else happens. For me, it was a lot.
Let's get into the actual play section and get into it. I'll narrate the first full turn, and then skip to the last turn.
Charlie vs Geppetto - Blood in the Big Top
It was supposed to be a nice evening out. The carnival was in town, and the advertisements promised a "night of wonder and mystery". Charlie was never much for spectacle or "magic" but a night away from her family was a welcome distraction. Plus, her friends said they'd be attending, might as well. Right?
As dusk fell, Charlie and a crowd of other attendees sat under the big top, waiting for the show to begin. Her friends had yet to appear, and the show was about to begin. Maybe they'd ditched again. It wasn't unlike them to change plans unexpectedly. Just as Charlie was getting up to leave, she felt a tug on the edge of the flannel shirt she was using like a jacket.
"Hey Charlie! Mom and Dad said I should come sit with you so you won't be lonely." It was Elise, her younger sister. "And...um...I really wanted to see the lions."
"Elise! I thought you were going to let me have a night to myself? Why do you always do this?" Charlie groaned, as the lights dimmed and a loud voice boomed over the loudspeaker.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS, CREATURES AND MONSTERS. It is my pleasure to invite you to this evening's festivities!"
With a flash, the spotlights came on, illuminating two spots at the middle of the big top. In each one of them was a person, strung up like a marionette. Their limbs were mangled, twisted in unnatural positions. There was blood dripping from their eyes down their cheeks giving the impression that they were sobbing.
"It's a night you won't forget, should you survive. Good luck."
There was silence in the big top, the small crowd that had gathered didn't seem to understand that they were in serious danger. A few people clapped.
"Ummm. Sis? What kind of show is this?" Elise said, gripping Charlie's arm tighter.
"Not one we want to stick around for. Let's go."
Charlie grabbed Elise by the arm and started dragging her towards the exit.
"But, Charlie...", she whimpered.
"No buts! I've got a bad feeling about this." Charlie replied, looking down at Elise.
The screams started from the north, faint but distinct. Charlie picked up the pace along with the other few folks who had made the same decision. As she burst into a jog a short man about Charlie's age fell into pace with them.
"Charlie! Been looking all over for you. What the hell's going on?" the man said, between gasps of breath.
"Glenn! Good. Take Elise and run. The exit's right there." She pointed at the enormous "Exit" banner just down the way.
"But what about you?", he replied, taking Elise's hand.
"The others are in there, aren't they?"
"Well... yeah, I think they wanted to have a look at where they keep the animals. I came to find you."
Charlie clenched her fists, and looked to the north. "Go. Now." She then took off running down the path, until Glenn and Elise could no longer see her.
Right then, I realize I've done something dumb. I spent all of my time. I don't have any left to purchase cards, so the next round is going to be very killer-sided.
Let slip the Lions of the Carnival
Charlie comes running into the clearing, tents all around. A small group of people is huddled together, one girl stands out from the rest. She's tall, with raven black hair tied in a neat bun.
"Aya!" Charlie calls out, showing no signs of exertion.
"Charlie! What's going on? What are those screams?"
"I don't know Aya. Nothing good. Where are Kevin and Ian?"
"By the animal cages, last I saw. I hope they're okay."
Finally, every survivor panics. A bunch of them move to the exit, fortunately for me.
Over by the animal cages, the lions and tigers become more agitated by the second. Banging against their cages, yearning for freedom. One by one they get their wish as the chains barring their cages break, and each animal in turn jumps out. In a frenzy, they leap upon fleeing survivors. Blood splashes on the camera as they bite and tear.
Screams from the animal cages grow louder, Charlie and Aya start to move in that direction when a tiger leaps from behind a tent. Its mouth is covered in blood and it has Kevin's t-shirt between its jaws.
The small group screams and scatters, including Aya.
"Wait! Don't go off alone!" Charlie shouts at them, but her plea falls on deaf ears.
We need a Montage
A montage plays, Charlie escorts 4 more survivors to the exit, Geppetto gets all 3 of his puppets on the board.
Charlie finds a knife, baseball bat, and a gun hidden in a chest in the Forest of Horrors.
She steels herself, and heads to the Big Top to face Geppetto.
The Final Showdown
Charlie marched forward, unfazed, the red and white stripes of the giant tent growing larger at her approach. Standing in front of the tent, like a dark shadow was Geppetto himself. Alone now, no puppet to save him.
Charlie raised her right hand and cocked back the hammer of the old revolver. "Time to die, you piece of shit."
The bullet hit Geppetto squarely in the chest, causing him to flinch back ever so slightly. He lifted his head back and cackled maniacally. The laughter reached an ear-splitting crescendo. Blood dribbled from Charlie's ears, her jaw set firmly.
She charged, tossing the revolver to the side as she ran in. Knife held high in both hands above her head. The past several hours flashed in her mind as she lept towards Geppetto, ready to drive the knife into his icy heart.
Geppetto was ready. With a flick of his wrist, several wires that had been impossible to see before wrapped Charlie in their grasp, holding her in place just in front of him. With all of her strength she fought against the string as they cut into her arms. She plunged the knife into his chest. He smiled and tightened the threads.
Charlie's face is a mask of pain and defiance as her movement slows. The camera pans down to the ground, showing the growing pool of blood at her feet. One final sickening squish, and her legs go limp.
Geppetto Laughs. The screen fades to black
Final Thoughts and things I should have done
When I play a game for the first time, I am liable to make a bunch of mistakes. Here are my take aways from that session:
- I should have managed my time better, using a bunch of actions on round 1 that all have the potential to lose time was risky.
- I probably should have spent some more time looking for gear and/or reducing the terror level.
- Rushed to the end, I could have stayed away from Geppetto and likely missed most of the "Bad stuff" from the Terror cards.
- I did heal once right before the death showdown, but I probably should have hit-and-run some more.
Overall
That was a fun game, and I think I'll be playing some more of it during 30-60 minute down times now that I know how to set it up and play quickly. Well worth what I spent on it.
I think I'll pick up some of the other Feature Film packs to try out some other iterations on the game and see how it plays.
If you'd like a copy you can pick up the starter kit from Van Ryder Games directly.
The Core box, at the time of this writing, is sold out from Van Ryder directly but you can still pick it up on Amazon (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3V2tfp9