Castle Panic 2nd Edition | Cooperative Board Game for Adults and Family | Ages 8+ | for 1 to 6 Players | Average Playtime 45 Minutes | Made by Fireside Games

This is one of my favorite board games! It is easy to learn and great to play in a mixed-age group. It is a cooperative game where the players are working together to defeat all the monsters (ogres, trolls, etc.) before their castle is destroyed. I’ve both won and lost several times, and you can adjust the difficulty level to fit your group. Everything came in good condition and it was easy to assemble a few pieces that had two parts. The cards and pieces are high quality and have detailed illustrations, and I can tell the game will last a long time. This is a great game for team-building or a fun family game night!

We love this co-op game. It is such a nice change from competitive games. If you have a child or children that have difficulty with competitive games, this game is a winner. It allows all players to partake in decisions and strategies. In essence, a great team building and strategy game. We have played the game nearly every night since opening, and have plans to get the expansion packs.The game in general is very good quality. Thick cardboard tokens/pieces that should last a long time under normal wear. The board, cards and tokens are printed clearly and the colors are aesthetically pleasing. I will say, I am worried about the thickness of the cards as they are thin (I wish they had the thickness of One Piece TCG cards). When first starting it will take longer than an hour for first play through- your still learning the mechanics and rules. Once you have mastered the rules and mechanics it is roughly a 60-90 minute game. The age range on the game states starting at age 8, but I feel if my child it would have been difficult to partake and understand the game.What is great about this game is that each play-through isn’t the same, and the outcomes can be completely different. For example, our last game, we had one tower standing with zero walls. The only saving grace was to pull a barbarian card (which was already in the discard pile). We had nothing in anyone’s hand to kill the orc that was one move away from entering the castle ring and destroying our lone tower. We had all come to terms with a defeat for this play-through. Lo and behold, our child draws a special card called Scavenger that allows the player to look through the discard pile for any card of his/her choice. In excitement, our child immediately finds the Barbarian and throws the final blow. Our lone tower still standing, and our child throwing the winning blow for a game we thought for sure was a loss - It was a very epic ending.

Have recently taken this out of the closet after not playing for a long time. My 5-year-old was curious about it, and we've had a lot of fun playing around (with simplified rules). Gotta say, this was my first co-op board game and it's pretty good!

This is a perfect family game! It's challenging enough that my husband and I enjoy it, but also easy enough that our 7 year old has mastered it. And we all enjoy that it is cooperative so we are working together against the monsters - usually we win, but not always!! We really enjoy playing it together, and once it got to be a bit repetitive (after playing probably about 50 times), we bought one of the expansion packs which has completely livened it up again. Highly recommend this for anyone looking for cooperative games to play with kids that are also fun for adults!

Love playing this game with my 4 yr old up to teenage grands as well as adults! builds community and you get to share strategies

I like to read about a game before purchasing, and I researched Castle Panic before I bought and I knew what I was getting into.To start, this game absolutely meet all of my hopes. I wanted something light and fun - check. A game that didn't take a long time - check. And I wanted it to be re-playable - check.Light and fun - the rules are not complex which is nice because I sometimes play with my 5 and 8 year old nephews and they were both able to catch on quickly through repetition of the steps you take on your turn. I will say the 5 y.o. did want to jump ahead to his turn and draw and play cards, but after a couple of games, he was more understanding of the process and more willing to wait his turn. The 8 y.o. didn't have any problems except with a couple items like why discarding might be helpful and what a couple words meant, no biggie. Everyone enjoys the co-op aspect and again it keeps the game light. You can use the scoring option if you want to add a bit of competitiveness. The fun comes in when you wipe the board clean of monsters only to have the hoard come rampaging through again... do you have enough left to beat them back? Win or lose, each game played has been fun.Games don't last long. The game ends when all the monster tiles have been resolved and you still have at least 1 tower remaining (you win) OR the monsters have overrun the castle and all towers have been destroyed (you lose). It takes about 45 minutes to an hour depending on number of players. A bit of bad luck can end the game sooner. That's the risk you take when dealing with monsters.You can play solo. There is a solo player option or you can play "multi player" by yourself. I have done both, still found the game to be very fun and didn't have to argue over best strategy with anyone :).The game is re-playable. Since you are dealing with a lot of chance, drawing cards, monster tokens, & rolling dice, outcomes are unpredictable. You can get a run of good or bad luck, sometimes both in the same game. No two games will be the same and that is fun, fun, fun.Some minor drawbacks do exist. When playing with adults, the game can seem childish. The artwork and theme lead to that, but if the adults in the room can get past that, there is enough tension in the game to keep adults on the edge of their seats. If a harder game is needed, try a more difficult variation or add an expansion.Also, if you are someone, or play with others who dislike chance and randomness in games, then this game may be less enjoyable.The drawbacks aren't enough to turn me off, this game is fun and I've purchased an expansion (Wizards Tower) which added more fun (and difficulty). I might even go play right now.

Played this game with my wife and 2 sons (5 and 8). Easy to learn and quick enough game time that it kept both boys' attention. Challenging for our 8 year old yet easy enough that our 5 year old could do his turn independently. Fun trying to beat back the monsters as they tried to storm the castle. We will definitely look into the expansions for added challenge, but the base game as is has good replayability.

This was a gift. I have never seen it.