HomeGame Reviews“Mangaka” Review: The Fast & Furious Game of Drawing Comics

“Mangaka” Review: The Fast & Furious Game of Drawing Comics

Mangaka is a competitive drawing game in which you quickly draw frames of comics that reflect your assigned artist themes and trends that change from round to round.

 

Mangaka Stats:

Players: 1-8

Time: 30-60 minutes

Ages: 12+

By: Jason Bradley Thompson

Suggested Retail Price: $40

Categories: Drawing, Family, Party, Manga, Comics

 

How to Play Mangaka:

 

Deal 3 Theme Cards to each player. These Themes represent each player’s Obsessions as an artist. Players try to include these Themes in their comic each round in order to earn points called “Fame.”

 

There are 4 timed rounds of drawing in the game. Depending on the players’ chosen difficulty level, they may have 5-8 minutes to draw each round. Every round, the amount of time players have to draw stays the same, but the number of panels they have to draw increases.

 

After each round, players read aloud their comic, score Fame and draw Trend Cards. Trend Cards come into play after the first round. For each round, draw an increasing number of Trend Cards and  get rid of last round’s Trends. Trend Cards are drawn face-up and the player with the least Fame gets to choose one Trend to discard.

 

Fame is how you win the game! There are 4 ways to earn Fame each round.

#1. Include your Themes in your comic (1 Fame Token per Theme included- max 3)

#2. Use no more than 3 Word Balloons (2 Fame Tokens)

#3. Draw something in each panel (2 Fame Tokens)

#4. Include Trends in your comic (rounds 2-4 only; Fame Tokens vary)

You win by having the most Fame at the end of round 4!

 

 

Mangaka Review:

 

This is an easy game to have loads of fun with whether you are good at drawing or not! The game is balanced in such a way that it puts artists and stick figure stylists on an even playing field. If you are not laughing at the combinations of cards, you will be laughing at what comics are created from them.

 

You can control many variables in the game to set it up to your liking. It says 1-8 players, but you can play with more by putting inexperienced players in teams. Teams are also a way to include children younger than 12. You can put younger children in teams with adults. This makes Mangaka a fun family or party game inspiring creativity in all that play it. The time limit can be controlled by choosing to play 5, 6, or 8 minute rounds. In addition to that, there are variant rules for a “Marathon Game” or a “Solo Game.”

 

Theme Cards and Trend Cards make the game! When you receive your Theme Cards, you often have a challenging combination of entertaining elements to include in your comic. This aids in creating hilarious situations in your story that everyone can enjoy. Trend Cards add more ideas making the game increasingly challenging and entertaining. With 135 Theme Cards and 52 Trend Cards, there is no shortage of replay ability.

 

There are a few other notable features of the game. The game comes with 64 Comic Pages and a website where you can print off more pages for free. There is a Fame Meter inside the Rule book, so you can see how good of a Mangaka player you are according to your Fame score. Lastly, the game also features outstanding anime-style art on all of the cards!

 

If you are interested, you can visit www.childsplaygames.com and click on the “Item Request” tab to order your copy of Mangaka today for $40 with tax already included.

 

Review By: Sarah Childs, Owner of Childs’ Play: Games & Geekery

www.childsplaygames.com

 

Examples from Game:

 

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