Colossal Arena is a card game based around fantastic gladiatorial combat. As one of 2-5 players, you will gamble on the outcome of arena fights between various creatures, including Cyclops, Dragon, and Troll.
The game takes place over five rounds of gambling, and at the end of each round one of the gladiators will be eliminated. In each round players may place bets on which creatures they think will survive. Only one player may back a creature in each round. Players then places cards against each creature. Low score cards are placed against those your opponents are backing, higher scores are places against your favoured combatants. A higher or lower scoring card for a creature can be placed on top of an existing card to keep that creature alive, or kill off your opponents’ favourites.
As these are fantasy gladiators, they all come with special abilities they grant to their current backer. These abilities allow you to take cards from your opponents, re-arrange cards in play, and more.
The winner of the game is the player with the most points after the five rounds are concluded. Earlier bets are worth more points, but if your creature doesn’t survive, your bets are worthless! The game begins with 8 creatures so after five rounds only three will be left, so choose wisely!
Colossal Arena is suitable for players 8 and up, and takes 30-60 minutes to play through. Bets are represented with plastic counters, colour-coded for each player. Everything else is represented by cards. Colossal Arena comes from games designer Reiner Knizia, who has designed many club favourite games. A copy is available in the LXG club library.
If you enjoyed this review, you may also enjoy our reviews of:
