Matthew BaileyGame 7# of the “Now & Then Summer Marathon 2024” is “Battle Royale: Last One Standing”. Played with Jack(9) and Toby(6). (Game with just Toby(6) pictured here.
“Battle Royale: Last One Standing” is a light strategy game from “Identity Games” that has a very cool toyetic mechanism, adding to the appeal of the game.
To set up the game, you place all the pieces together and use the insert on the underside to keep the Eliminator under a specific square. Each player places one warrior from their army on each tile. If you are playing with two players, you also put two warriors in a third colour on the middle nine tiles.
Each turn consists of two phases: Movement and Doom. In the movement phase, you play a card which denotes the number of warriors and how many spaces you can move them. After using the card, you then draw back up to your normal hand size. The key movement mechanic is that each tile can only hold five warriors in a three-player game or six warriors in a four-player game. When a tile exceeds this limit, a warrior of your choice is pushed off the square in the direction you are travelling, which can cause a chain reaction. This can result in warriors being pushed into gaps in the board or off the edge, thus eliminating them.
By the end of the game, you aim to have the most players on the safe middle square. During the Doom phase, you roll the Doom dice and perform the described action. If the dice lands on the “Battle Royale” symbol, you remove a warrior from each tile with the least amount of warriors. You may also roll the “Move the Eliminator” side, which allows you to move the Eliminator. If you land on the explosion, you get to press the Eliminator, ejecting one of the squares and throwing everyone on that square into the air. Interestingly, if these pieces land on another square, they get to stay; however, if they fall off the edge of the board or into a hole, they are eliminated.
If enough tiles are destroyed, cutting off an area of the board from the centre square, all the warriors on those tiles are automatically eliminated. The game ends when either there is only one colour left or there is only the centre tile left. In this case, the player with the most warriors wins.
There are also special action cards that allow you to perform various special actions on your turn.
“Battle Royale: Last One Standing” is a light strategy game, but we all really enjoyed playing it. The level of strategy required is quite reasonable, and deciding which area to escape from was quite compelling. The game itself is a bit plasticky, and I’m not a big fan of the artwork on the front of the box. However, the toyetic nature of the Eliminator is very cool, and the kids absolutely loved playing with it. Sure, this whole thing could have been done with cardboard tiles, but the physical element of pieces being blown into the air and sometimes surviving is quite exciting. We had one situation where only a few squares were left, and I was sure I would win until Toby’s piece flew through the air and landed directly on the middle tile, essentially winning the final game for him.
There is quite a bit of confusion about this game. Firstly, to make it very confusing, this game is called “Battle Royale: Last One Standing.” There is another completely separate game called “Last One Standing: Battle Royale.” This version is actually published by “Tomy,” and when I spoke to them at the UK Games Expo, they said they were keen to get into the slightly more hobbyist market and were using “Identity Games” as a way to not put the “Tomy” brand on products that traditionally wouldn’t get a second thought from the hobbyist market. Interestingly, there is a version coming soon published by “Kosmos” with the same components but very different, and in my opinion, better box art. I have reached out to “Tomy” a couple of times considering they kindly gave me this copy to review, but no one has gotten back to me with any clarification of the licensing rights for this. I can only assume that this version is available in the UK, and the “Kosmos” version is available in other parts of Europe and potentially North America. Currently, as of writing this, the game is exclusive to “Zatu,” which I have mixed feelings about.
We really enjoyed “Battle Royale: Last One Standing,” and the kids absolutely loved using the Eliminator (which I think I have mistakenly called the Detonator and then had to rewrite every single time in this review). Even as an adult, the relatively light strategy game is good fun.
Some of its weird licensing issues aside, I would recommend this game, especially for kids who might need a slightly more toyish nature to get them interested.
Disclaimer: A copy of “Battle Royale: Last One Standing” was kindly provided by “Tomy” for the purpose of this review. All of our thoughts and opinions are our own, and the retail price has been taken into account when making my recommendation.
