The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Button Men is a cool little game from those lovable folks at Cheapass Games. The story? There's these Button Men, see, and, ummm... they like to fight. Ok, so it's not much of a story. What Button Men, does have, however, is a neat concept that (surprise!) actually has a lot of replay value. Cheapass has been accused, and rightly so, of producing "one note" games. Button Men proves that they can produce games with some "meat" on them as well.

So, what do you get for your $4.50? You get two buttons and rules in a small ziplock bag. Since both the rules and the fighters are available on Cheapass' web site, you could easily play the game without the buttons. Since the buttons are so cool, though, you'll want to pick them all up (I did).

Each button depicts a fighter and the dice they use to do battle. For instance, there's Hammer, who swings a big hammer (who woulda thunk it?), and has 5 values printed next to his portrait (6,12,20,20,X). Paired with him in the same package was Avis, a small Asian woman (4,4,10,12,X). Whenever he fights a battle, Hammer would use a 6-sided die, a 12-sided die, 2 20-sided dice, and a "swing die" (explained below).

To battle, each player first chooses his "swing die". Any fighter that has an "X" printed in place of a number may choose to use any type of die. Once each player has chosen his swing die, each player rolls all of their dice. Whoever has the lowest single die goes first. The goal is to capture all of your opponent's dice. On your turn, you can attack the other player's dice in one of two ways – either using a Power Attack or a Skill Attack. To use a Power Attack, you need only have a die that is showing equal to or higher than one of your opponents dice. You capture your opponents die and re-roll your own. Thus, a 4-sider could capture a 20-sider if the player is unlucky enough to roll a 4 or less.

You can also use a Skill Attack. To do so, you must have a number of dice that add up to exactly the number shown on the target opponents die. You capture that die, and re-roll all of the dice used in the skill attack.

Play continues back and forth, with each player making one attack per turn. If you can attack, you must. The catch is the scoring system. Once one player has lost all of his dice, the round ends and each player totals his score. A captured die is worth points equal to it's number of sides, and each die you have that hasn't been captured is worth half of it's sides in points.

Two things make the game interesting – the swing die and the re-rolling of the dice. When choosing your swing die, do you go for a low die and hope to go first? Or do you pick a big die and hope to overwhelm the opponent with big numbers? If you take 6 siders, you have a better chance of rolling low and you give away less points, but you might get creamed, unable to take any of your opponent's dice. Taking high swing dice reverses that position. Since you need to re-roll any dice you use to capture, no die is safe - that 20-sider showing "18" can suddenly turn into a "3", making an easy 10 points for your opponent!

All in all, Button Men is quite an enjoyable little game. You can spend hours experimenting with the combinations. The graphics on the buttons are quite nice, and since they can be worn they make for a nice little "ice breaker" at conventions and gatherings. I would recommend grabbing them all – you won't regret it.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Button Men
Author: James & Earnest Category: Dice game Company/Publisher: Cheapass Games Line: Button Men Cost: $4.50 Page count: n/a Playtest Review by Ron Olszewski on 06/08/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Science_fiction	Button Men is a cool little game from those lovable folks at Cheapass Games. The story? There's these Button Men, see, and, ummm... they like to fight. Ok, so it's not much of a story. What Button Men, does have, however, is a neat concept that (surprise!) actually has a lot of replay value. Cheapass has been accused, and rightly so, of producing "one note" games. Button Men proves that they can produce games with some "meat" on them as well. So, what do you get for your $4.50? You get two buttons and rules in a small ziplock bag. Since both the rules and the fighters are available on Cheapass' web site, you could easily play the game without the buttons. Since the buttons are so cool, though, you'll want to pick them all up (I did). Each button depicts a fighter and the dice they use to do battle. For instance, there's Hammer, who swings a big hammer (who woulda thunk it?), and has 5 values printed next to his portrait (6,12,20,20,X). Paired with him in the same package was Avis, a small Asian woman (4,4,10,12,X). Whenever he fights a battle, Hammer would use a 6-sided die, a 12-sided die, 2 20-sided dice, and a "swing die" (explained below). To battle, each player first chooses his "swing die". Any fighter that has an "X" printed in place of a number may choose to use any type of die. Once each player has chosen his swing die, each player rolls all of their dice. Whoever has the lowest single die goes first. The goal is to capture all of your opponent's dice. On your turn, you can attack the other player's dice in one of two ways – either using a Power Attack or a Skill Attack. To use a Power Attack, you need only have a die that is showing equal to or higher than one of your opponents dice. You capture your opponents die and re-roll your own. Thus, a 4-sider could capture a 20-sider if the player is unlucky enough to roll a 4 or less. You can also use a Skill Attack. To do so, you must have a number of dice that add up to exactly the number shown on the target opponents die. You capture that die, and re-roll all of the dice used in the skill attack. Play continues back and forth, with each player making one attack per turn. If you can attack, you must. The catch is the scoring system. Once one player has lost all of his dice, the round ends and each player totals his score. A captured die is worth points equal to it's number of sides, and each die you have that hasn't been captured is worth half of it's sides in points. Two things make the game interesting – the swing die and the re-rolling of the dice. When choosing your swing die, do you go for a low die and hope to go first? Or do you pick a big die and hope to overwhelm the opponent with big numbers? If you take 6 siders, you have a better chance of rolling low and you give away less points, but you might get creamed, unable to take any of your opponent's dice. Taking high swing dice reverses that position. Since you need to re-roll any dice you use to capture, no die is safe - that 20-sider showing "18" can suddenly turn into a "3", making an easy 10 points for your opponent! All in all, Button Men is quite an enjoyable little game. You can spend hours experimenting with the combinations. The graphics on the buttons are quite nice, and since they can be worn they make for a nice little "ice breaker" at conventions and gatherings. I would recommend grabbing them all – you won't regret it. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)