Today I want to share a bit more about crimefighting in Super Squad High. The game is structured into three times of day, Morning, Afternoon, and Night. In each time of day, Crimes can appear in any of the four neighborhoods in the city. Players must use actions to stop a Crime before the current time of day ends, or the villain succeeds and furthers their scheme.
Each Crime has two tasks that must be completed to stop it. Each task requires an action, which means either a single player gives up all of their time for one part of the day, or two players must work together to stop the Crime! Simply spending the action completes the task, but of course, things are never that easy for our heroes. After taking an action to fight crime, a player must roll Danger dice to see what unexpected complications develop.
Dangers come in four types – Time, Bruises, Classmate, and Location. Heroes can take a few Bruises, and losing Time means it takes longer to mop up the bad guys than expected.When a Classmate or Location is in danger, they could be eliminated from the game as a resource for the players. But never fear, heroes in Excelsior City are equipped with Costume cards and Powers they can use to defeat Dangers.
After rolling Dangers, the player can then play Costume cards from their hand, either playing symbols specific to the Dangers rolled to defeat them, or by playing a matching symbol for the type of task (Punch, Shield, Zap, or Magnifying Glass). They can also use their Power abilities to either alter the dice or enhance their cards, depending on the Power. For instance, Super Strength allows a player to spend a Like to double the number of Punch symbols on a card. Particle Beam allows a player to spend a Like to stop a Bruise, Classmate, or Location Danger with a Zap symbol, regardless the type of task.
The real challenge to crimefighting is managing a limited number of both Costume cards and actions each day. Any Costume cards played to defeat Dangers go into the player’s Laundry, a discard pile that does not refresh until the end of a day. However, players have two options that allow them to work together and manage their time and resources more efficiently.
First, any player that has already fought crime in a neighborhood for that day has learned the “lay of the land” and can help out other heroes that fight crime in that neighborhood. Action tokens (meeples) of players that stop a Crime are moved to the rooftops of the neighborhood when the Crime card is discarded. If you have a meeple in a neighborhood where another player is fighting crime, you can play your Costume cards to defeat Dangers they roll and use your Powers to enhance either you or them. Planning who will complete which Crime tasks is a key strategic element of the game, as you can coordinate assists among players.
Second, a player can choose to Patrol in a neighborhood instead of fighting crime. Patrolling places your meeple in the rooftops, allowing you to assist other heroes in the neightborhood. It also allows you to refresh two Costume cards from your Laundry back into your hand, prepping for teamwork with other heroes as you scout the rooftops.
Crimefighting makes up one of the meatier parts of Super Squad High, without veering too far in complexity. You have a lot of little decisions to make that accumulate into bigger strategies across a full round of play. Adventure games often rely on rolling for success to create tension. I think the game stands out in the way it inverts that approach. Both your success and your resources are certain when you fight crime, but the consequences are uncertain. Like Spider-Man choosing between rescuing a Mary Jane or a bus full of citizens, heroes in Super Squad High must often choose between stopping on Danger in favor of another! It’s a great source of tension and puts the story that emerges from gameplay in the hands of the players.
Thanks for reading along today. We’ll be taking a break from mechanics tomorrow to look at the artwork for the game, as well as an interview with our lead illustrator, Tan Ganguly!