Hero Realms* is a fantasy card game for 2-4 players, originally funded through Kickstarter raising over $500,000. It is a deck building game, meaning you buy and discard cards to build a deck of cards that you hope is stronger than your opponents. It has an average score of 7.7 from 4,500 ratings on Board Game Geek. The game suggests it is suitable for ages 12 years and older. However, my 9 year old daughter loves playing it, and even my 6 year old son has played it.
I'm keeping a note of the games I play this year as I was intrigued by a challenge on Board Game Geek to play 10 games 10 times in a year. And Hero Realms is the first game that I've played on ten days.
Why I've played it on 10 days
Graph showing the frequency of plays of Hero Realms to get to 10 plays in a year. It took two months.
I find it funny this is the first game I've played on 10 days because we owned it for about 6 months before we played it for the first time. However, once we tried it we became hooked for two reasons:
I was eager to show I could win a game - I can win Star Realms which is very similar, but it took many plays for me to get my first win of Hero Realms
our 9 year old daughter, B, frequently asked to play it
In reality, B is the main driver for playing this game so many times (fortunately she agrees it is much more interesting than Top Trumps*). She particuarly loves that she can beat me most of the time and unfortunately not because I let her win. I don't understand how she does it.
Do I recommend Hero Realms?
Yes. I really enjoy it because it is
quick to set up
simple mechanism so quick to learn
game is based on strategy not luck or turn of the cards
it is not a forgone conclusion - the person who looks like they're winning can change quickly with one strong hand
game plays differently each time, as you don't know which cards will come up and whether you can afford to buy them
family game - my 9 year old daughter asks to play this. My 6 year old has played it with some help but prefers to watch
expansions sets* are available but are not needed (we haven't got any yet)
I suspect I will play Hero Realms many more times before the end of the year. Maybe I'll reach 20 times and maybe I'll win a few more games. What is your favourite game so far this year?
*Disclosure - this is an affiliate linking meaning if you buy something after following the link I will earn a percentage of the value, but it will not cost you any extra. All thoughts and comments are my own.