Beastie Bash! (2014)

Beastie Bash! isn’t just a card game for kids, it’s outside-the-box thinking -- in a box.

WHAT IS BEASTIE BASH
Beastie Bash! is a silly character creation game for 1-4 players. It’s 20 minutes of family fun created by children’s book author/illustrator, Eric Wight.

OBJECT OF THE GAME
Combine the highest scoring HEAD card with a BODY card to win the cards for that round. The game winner is the player who collects the most Beasties.

WHO IS BEASTIE BASH! FOR?
Beastie Bash! is for kids with wild imaginations. For families who prefer silly to serious. For parents & educators who think the world needs innovators, not fill-in-the-bubblers.

THE BIRTH OF BEASTIE BASH!
The concept for Beastie Bash! was inspired by Eric Wight’s experiences as both a parent and a children’s book author. His favorite hobby is playing games with his kids. So he thought it would be fun to create a game they could all play together. But that was just the beginning.

“This past year, my daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia. As I was designing Beastie Bash! I realized that this game could also be a fun tool to help her improve her reading and math skills. We can play it for hours and it doesn’t feel like homework to her. Plus, by mixing up the cards, the text is continually changing.”

As an author, Eric has the opportunity to travel around the world teaching kids what it’s like to create stories for a living. At these events, students brainstorm ideas for new adventures, which Eric illustrates on the spot.

“The kids always have so many cool ideas that it’s tough to choose just one. So I thought it would be fun to mash a few together. I could never have predicted how much it made the students and teachers laugh. I realized I was onto something, and set out to create a game that captured that same creative, unpredictable humor.”

RULES OF PLAY

SET UP
2 - 4 players. Shuffle the deck. Evenly divide the cards face down to each player. No peeking!

HOW TO PLAY
Each player draws 5 cards from their pile. Pair a HEAD and BODY combination to make the highest score possible and place it in front of you. A color match earns an additional +5 points, a MEGA-MATCH earns +10 points and a "TRUE MATCH" (i.e.: the original head and body combination) earns double points.

POWER PRIZES
Once everyone has revealed their Beastie, players may improve their chance of winning by using a POWER PRIZE card if they possess one. Begin with the player who has the lowest scoring Beastie and continue clockwise. The player with the highest scoring Beastie wins all of the Beasties from this round. Discard the used POWER PRIZE cards.

THE BOOM! CARD
The BOOM! card is very powerful and may be played at any time. When a player uses a BOOM! card, it scares away all of the Beasties. Everyone's cards are discarded no matter what their point value is or what POWER PRIZE cards are being used. Bummer!

TIE-BREAKER
If at the end of the round the score is tied, players may draw enough cards to refill their hand and play another Beastie. Repeat until the tie is broken.

NO PAIRS
If you are unable to make a pair with your cards, you must:

1. Discard 2 cards from your hand.

2a. Use the top 2 cards from your collected Beastie pile.

OR

2b. Draw 2 cards from your unused deck. If you draw two cards from your unused deck, you must discard all 5 cards AND lose your turn. At the beginning of the next round you may draw 5 new cards.

ENDING THE GAME
The game ends when the first player runs out of cards. Count how many Beasties you collected. The player with the most wins!

ALTERNATE GAME PLAY
1-player: Similar to a traditional match game. Place all the cards face down. The object is to find the Power Prizes before you find the Boom! cards. Turn them over two at a time to find Power Prizes. Once you find a character match, it can be removed from the board. If you flip over 4 Boom! cards, you lose.

LEVEL-UP WITH LEARNING
Beastie Bash! isn’t just fun to play, it’s also a great tool for learning both at home and in the classroom.

READING: Each card contains funny flavor text that brings the characters to life. With each new match, the text changes, creating countless new reading experiences.

MATH: Kids practice addition skills as they play each round of the game. Older kids can multiply instead of add to make the math more challenging.

WRITING: Create your own adventures using the mix-and-match cards as writing prompts.