We tried to to escape the monster chasing our Wonderland characters in Flee, the next game in our A-Z game shelf play-through.
Basic Info: Fast Forward: Flee
Players: 1-4
Time: 75-90 Minutes
Designer: Friedemann Friese
Artists: Harald Lieske
Publisher: Stronghold Games
Flee is a cooperative game where players are trying to keep Wonderland characters from being captured by the monster chasing them. The goal is to get through the entire deck of cards without getting caught, and then you win!
I won’t give away any spoilers beyond the first few cards of the game and the first batch of rules.
Flee is one of the “Fast Forward” series where the game rules come as you play the game. You sit down with the stack of cards and start playing with rules printed on the first card…and with additional rules that are added as the game continues.
Essentially, you play cards for each character on their turn, attempting to keep the monster from being in a particular character’s play area a the beginning of their turn. The game becomes a giant puzzle of figuring out the right time to play which card. If you fail, the game resets in a specific way, and you start all over again.
So…I liked the game the first time we played. I think we made it about halfway through the deck or so. And, I enjoyed it the second time. Perhaps the third and fourth time, too. We made it further and further, but couldn’t quite get to the end of the deck.
However, after that, I was about done with it, and we had to take a a break before I could face it again. In fact, I told my husband to go ahead and play without me if he wanted to, but he never got around to it. So, we picked it up again after a break, failed, and then needed another break. This last game was going to be my last game no matter the outcome, and fortunately we won!
It is a clever game – or puzzle, perhaps? But I became frustrated spending an hour (or more?) at a time only to fail at about the same point.
How is it as a 2-player game? Flee is a great 2-player game. I’m not sure how it would work with more players – there would be a lot more discussion, I expect, lengthening the game. With just one player, I think the game might be harder, since there might be solutions that a hive-mind will find more easily.
How about the art and component quality? The art is great – I’m not showing much here to avoid spoilers, but each card has it’s own Wonderland-themed art. There are no other components besides the cards, but they’re good quality.
Will this stay in my collection? Unlikely. Now that we’ve finished the game, I see little need to play it again. It will only stick around if Andrew wants to hang on to it.