Played Review: Minecraft Card Game?

A Christmas present to the Apprentice, the Minecraft Card Game? is a good family game.

Minecraft is a potent force in late-elementary these days, akin to marbles and Pokemon of the past. There is, of course, a lot of “stuff” associated with it, some “official,” some “unofficial.” This means there is a real range of quality in Minecraft ephemera, which is a long-winded justification to a bias against this game. The fact that my son insists that one of the formulas to make an axe is incorrect made me leering about playing this game with a kid who’s too “in universe.”* The use of a question mark at the end of the title is inexplicable and deeply troubling to the part of me that reviews grammar with first-year university students every year.

A 2-4 player game, it claims to be good for 8+ and makes no claim on the package about how long it takes to play a game. The game involves “mining” resources and then exchanging those resources for tools, like axes and shovels. The tools give you victory points and a special ability. In play, all the players are racing to break a victory point threshold that ends the game.

We played this as a family game, so Mom, Dad, Apprentice, and Junior Apprentice (who’s four) all played. The game was simple to get, corner rules (tool abilities, special cards) were intuitive and easily sourced from the rulebook in play. The cards are easy to read and well-designed, all keeping with the publisher, Mojang via Mattel’s, aesthetic of low-grade pixel art. No actual knowledge of Minecraft was needed to play.

After a turn everyone was on board and the game ran smoothly. Junior Apprentice lost interested after a few turns and needed more coaching, so the age description of 8+ is probably fair, though I could see younger kids staying the course and enjoying it in the 4+ range. Our game took 35 minutes or so, and was pleasurable. The only really slow part was the need to reshuffle the mining cards into five new piles when the discard pile was full. 

The special abilities were interesting, although they could become potentially abusive if someone in a group is prone to power-gaming or jerk-like play. That said, none totally block a player (you can only lose half a turn) and the ones that have milling effects on the card stacks don’t really benefit the player too much, so I think the game looks balanced. It was quick and fun. It could have replay value, but unlike other games we’ve tried this year (Forbidden Island, Castle Panic, Dominion) this didn’t produce a burning need to replay.

That said, this game is better than I expected it to be and won me over. If you have kids who like Minecraft, this is a nice way to get them at a table and a good, quick game. It's also playable without an adult and so is useful to kids beyond the "family" context of this review.

Two Stars

*like seeing a Star Wars, Star Trek, or Lord of the Rings film with me. I’m too “in universe” and so get grumpy about things some of the audience won’t care about. I’m still pissed about those elves showing up at Helm’s Deep.