photo(1)When I first heard about Say Bye to the Villains I was immediately interested. It’s a cooperative card game where players take on the role of “Vanquishers” to stop evil villains, all with a brilliant Japanese theme.

First off let me say that this game is beautiful. Everything from the quality of the cards, the artwork,  and the card layout are just top notch. It all adds to the wonderful theme of the game. Second, the game is really easy to learn, and super simple to dive in and play. Every player gets a Vanquisher and a hand of 7 cards. An equal number of villains to the heroes is laid out on the table, with a line of face down situation cards (denoted on their card.) The players now have 10 “hours” to defeat the villains. Every action a Vanquisher takes costs a certain amount of hours. Once they reach 10, they must target a villain to fight. After all the players have targeted a villain, the situation cards from that villain are revealed, stats are calculated, and the battle decided.

There can be several outcomes to the battle. The Vanquisher dies, the villain dies, both the Vanquisher and villain die, or neither die. If all the villains are defeated, it’s a player win.

Simple. Elegant. Enjoyable.

I played with  my kids and they’re already begging to play more so they can try out different Vanquishers.

Seiji Kanai designed the game, who you may also know from the huge hit, Love Letter. The game is put out by Kanai Factory and not super easy to find, but if you do find it I highly recommend you snag it.

A copy of Say Bye to the Villains was provided free for review by Kanai Factory