Stranger Things Upside Down Board Game - Cooperative Play with Detailed Miniatures, Two Seasons of Gameplay, Strategy Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 12+, 2-4 Players, 60 Minute Playtime, Made by CMON

Bought as a gift for an avid board gamer. Took a little be to learn but fun to play.

This is a really fun game to play. My teenage son got into the Netflix show over the summer and really enjoyed it. So we decided to get this for his Birthday.. he was excited, because he didn't know the game was even a thing. The game takes the perfect amount of time.. not too long or short. Definitely take your time reading the instructions before starting, so you don't have to stop during game play to check the paperwork. This was perfect for his age and would recommend to any Stranger Things fan.

I honestly thought it was going to be a bit of a random mess of game, but was very happy I was wrong. For the most part you don't know what numbers are going to be in those piles of chits, so we do our best in either deciding to go for the average or play it safe and go for whatever the most it could be (numbers range from 0-5 with more in the 2's and 3's)It can be detrimental if you lose by a very high number, luckily there things in the game to make these check chances more likely to be successfully or at least not lose by such a wide margin. Part of the game is a press your luck mechanic in making that decision to risk it or not. The game also runs on a card timer of sorts and you have to be careful not to waste too many cards on certain actionsThe game fits the theme extremely well and can get very intense, especially if you have the Stranger Things soundtrack going in the background.Two games in one! The board is double sided and other than a couple of minor changes, the game play is similar enough to not be a painful shift in rules, but also different enough to be a newly welcomed challenge (I personally felt that the season 1 side was more difficult and intense than season 2.)For us, it is more of a mid to light level game and one of the better cooperatives we have played together. Always having several viable choices each turn, players generally made their own decisions with welcomed advise from others. Unlike other co-op games that sometimes create a bullying player that tells everybody what to do on their turn (cough, me.) Everybody seems to settle into a job specialty during gameplay or at least become well rounded in a couple of things.A One Star negative reviewer stated that it is possible to negate the scene card mechanic entirely. This is absolutely not correct and would make the game too easy. You will always draw 1-3 scene cards per turn (depending on what round it is) unless you randomly draw the reshuffle card. The Lab (and similar ally card) only help with the hazard symbols on the action cards that you play, not with the scene cards you draw at the end of the turn.I've played this single player using 2 characters, in addition to 2 players, 3 players and 4 players. The higher the player count the tougher it gets. At 3-4 player counts, we have won about half the games we played, so a nice even challenge for us.Possible tips if too difficult: Focus on using the Eleven power to get rid of one of the vans on the 1st round of turns. Having 2 vans running around the board is awful. Also, never waste your cards challenging the remaining van, just work around it.

This game is pretty fun and fairly well thought out, however the rules are extremely complicated. The reason for 4 stars is because finding out how to play by reading the directions is extremely confusing and difficult. I had to spend several hours watching videos online in order to understand the gameplay. If it weren't for nostalgia, I probably wouldn't have had the patience to push through and learn the rules. Everything fits in the box perfectly, which I like. One of the reasons I got this was for my daughter who likes the show. She didn't seem to care for it too much, though.

If you enjoy Stranger Things you’ll enjoy this game. My kids and I have fun with this. Easy to learn and sturdy.

The game has a system that is easy to learn.Setup and tear down time is quick and easy so getting it to the table won't be hard.The game can be challenging but is good time.

My granddaughter who is 12 y/o enjoys reading, she loves these books.

I was really hoping for this to be a fun game for me to play with my family. Something comparable to Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle which we love to play together. Unfortunately, this didn't fit the bill. The main reason is that the game is just too easy.There are scene cards in the game that are meant to pose conflict on each turn, similar to the dark arts event cards in Hogwarts Battle, but if you prioritize Investigating the Lab, it's possible to negate the scene cards mechanic entirely. This gets rid of the main source of conflict in the game making it way too easy.I also didn't like the use of numbered cards and tokens to complete actions. Each player has a hand of cards each with a number 1-4 on them. To complete an action you must play cards equal to or greater than the number shown on a stack of tokens for that action. The top token is sometimes revealed, but the bottom tokens in the stack are unknown. It's not too difficult to figure out if you'll be able to successfully perform an action or not. For instance, if an action has only two tokens in its stack and the top one is revealed to be a 1, you now know that you only need to play cards adding up to 5 to have a 100% chance to perform that action, since the most that the bottom token can be is a 4. If you go around only completing actions you know that you can succeed at, or at least have a high chance of succeeding, then you can avoid a lot of risk in the game. If there's a stack with a top token showing 4 and with more than one token underneath, you can just save your high-numbered cards for a later turn when you have a hand that gives you good odds of succeeding. This just makes the game too easy for my tastes.I want more challenge than this in my games. I'm bummed that this game of one of my favorite IPs turned out like this. If you're looking to play this with small children or people who don't optimize for the best strategy, then maybe this game will suit you. If you take gaming very seriously and are looking for something with a good challenge then I would pass on this one.