Backstage Pass adds 60 new cards to the mix. Unlike some expansions for other games, it doesn't just include more cards of the same types. Many cards include new mechanics that add an additional level of strategy and game play to the original.
First Opinions
The new cards all have more of Dan Smith's great artwork that gives both Battle of the Bands and Backstage Pass that great cartoon pop feel. The sense of humor found in the original is still fully intact from the extremely funny flavor text to the situations you can create for your band. While this game is fun for everyone, anyone who has ever been in a band or in "the industry" will get an extra level of enjoyment as Smith has once again perfectly captured the happy insanity that is the music business.
Band Members
First, there are two new "Me" cards in the deck. This allows you to play with two additional players for a total of six. Backstage Pass also includes eleven new band members: Ace (the brawling Australian), Kitten and Pussycat (nods to a famous cartoon band), Dee Struction (the blonde heavy metal star a'la Lita Ford), Mr. Cuddles (the adorable kitten), Urple (the infamous "Purple People Eater"), Myoshi (the Japanese pop star), Booties (the "funkadelic" R&B star with props to George Clinton), K'tulu (a reference to H.P. Lovecraft's famous monster), The Donnette (an homage to the do-wop girl groups of the 60's), and The Geezer (a very Keith Richardsesque antique rocker).
In the original Battle of the Bands deck, certain band members received bonuses with specific types of instruments. Backstage Pass takes that one step further as musicians can now provide your band with greater bonuses or become stronger in certain combinations. For instance: Ace hates to lose and if you lose a gig he will quit your band (taking all your musicians with him), with The Geezer in your band you're automatically signed, The Donnette gains 4 "hip points" if she's in an all-girl band, and so on. In the original Battle of the Bands, what mainly mattered was the "hip points" of each musician. Now, you have an incentive to carefully piece together your band.
Reputation
There are six new reputation cards included in Backstage Pass and all are right on the money with their commentary. If you try to be hip, you either come off as cool or a fool. Androgyny can make you wild or confused. If you think you're multitalented, you become a movie star or are seen as unfocused.
The "Prodigy" reputation adds a new twist as it allows a musician to have two instruments. Should your reputation take a turn for the negative, however, your musician is left with no instruments. This makes it a powerful card that can work amazingly well for you or devastatingly against you. It provides an ability for players to "risk it all" for an extra edge which is not only fun but also very much in keeping with the theme of the game.
Instruments
There are 13 new instruments and while Battle of the Bands offered a mix of relatively traditional instruments, this expansion offers some very interesting choices. While there are some "normal" instruments such as the zither, cowbell, and turntables, Backstage Pass allows your musicians to play the candy box, the toy guitar, a fog machine, and a bottle of chocolate syrup. There is a good mix of instrument types (percussion, stringed, etc.) and overall the "hip points" of the new instruments are well balanced. In a new twist, the Cell Phone is classified as both a wind and techno instrument giving you an extra chance to score a bonus if your band contains a musician that excels on either of those two instrument types.
Music Biz
The seven new Music Biz cards included in Backstage Pass are much like the original, but a few can be pretty powerful in certain situations. Two Biz cards can help protect your cards from other players - Theme Song guards one of your Hit Singles from other Biz cards and Nepotism protects one of your musicians in the same manner.
Gender Specific is a really interesting new card that forces a player to keep only musicians of their gender in the band. If you happened to play the Androgyny reputation card, that musician is considered to be of the opposite sex. It is this kind of cool interconnection within the new Backstage Pass cards that really spice up the game for fans of the original.
Gigs
Of the new gigs in the deck (Pay Per View, Children's Party, Cruise Ship, and Tuesday Night Live), only one is a signed gig. There are also no Contract cards in the Backstage Pass expansion at all. This is actually a good thing as it makes them a little harder to come by and is more in line with the theme of the game. Don't worry, though - between Battle of the Bands and Backstage Pass there are a total of five contracts (six if you count the automatic signing that The Geezer gives your band) and three signed gigs so there are still plenty to go around even in a six-player game.
Monkey Wrench
There are 12 new Monkey Wrench cards that you can use to wreak havoc during gigs. As with the other card types in Backstage Pass, several of the new Monkey Wrenches include interesting twists on the original. Encore, for example, doubles the value of the gig if the band wins and also protects it from any Music Biz cards. The most interesting new Monkey Wrench is "Destroy All Instruments" which gives you a whopping +6 bonus but requires you to trash all your instruments after the gig is over.
Hit Single
The Hit Singles are the only cards in Backstage Pass that do not introduce some new element of game play. My favorite of the five is the Parody since it includes a tribute to "Weird Al" ("It's your favorite tune, but now it's about food!") The other singles are the Love Song, the Concept Album, the Immortal Song, and the Instrumental.
Negatives
There is only one negative thing I can say about this expansion. The cards in Backstage Pass have a slightly different feel to them and are slightly off in size to the original. According to the publisher, this is because they changed printers between the original and the expansion. The new printer did do a great job (the colors are even more vibrant and the cards feel more like traditional playing cards), but for people that are really uptight about such things (like me) it can be a little distracting. All is not lost, however. The second edition of Battle of the Bands (tentatively titled "Battle of the Bands: Encore") will be produced by the new printer and will match the expansion exactly.
This is a very, very minor nitpick, however. This expansion is still an enormously fun to play and wonderfully complements the original set. (Other game publishers take note - this is how expansions are supposed to be done).
Final Thoughts
Dan Smith has completely outdone himself with this new addition to Battle of the Bands. He managed to maintain everything that was great about the original while adding a new layer of game play.
If you're a fan of the original, Backstage Pass is a must have for your game collection! If you've never played Battle of the Bands, do yourself a favor and pick up the original and the expansion together.
One final note - as of this writing, Origin Award nominations were just announced for Battle of the Bands (Best Traditional Card Game) and Backstage Pass (Best Card Game Expansion or Supplement). Both of these games fully deserve the honor!
