Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
If you’ve wondered what Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Becky Lynch might look like, but as a dexterity-based dice flicking game… boy, do I have the game for you.
In the world of professional wrestling, few match types are more iconic than the steel cage match. The ring is surrounded on all four sides by a menacing steel cage structure, while two or more competitors are locked inside of it. To win, wrestlers must either beat their opponent(s)… or escape their metal prison. Legends like Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, and Ric Flair have put it all on the line inside the cage. Now, you can bring the experience of the cage match home in the form of a competitive, brutal, unforgiving… dice flicking game.
Steel Nerves
WWE Cage Battle is a dice-flicking dexterity game, putting it in the same bloodline as classics like Catacombs, Crokinole, and Terror in Meeple City. The gameplay takes place inside the “steel cage”, which is to say, it takes place inside the game box. The game comes with an insert for the game box that fits snugly along the top of it, creating a flat platform for the flicking. Each corner of the box has a hole in it, and you want to knock your opponent’s dice into the corner, effectively “pinning” the opponent and knocking them out for the round.
There are two primary game modes included with WWE Cage Battle. The first is the traditional battle mode, where each player goes head to head with a team of four WWE superstars. The stars available make very little difference on the gameplay itself, but each has its own custom set of dice to make them easily identifiable. Stone Cold Steve Austin has black dice with white skulls on them, Sasha Banks has purple dice to match her hair, and ironically, you can’t NOT see John Cena’s loud, lime green dice.
Depending on which icon is showing on the dice, you’re restricted as to how you can use each superstar. If you have their special icon showing you can pick them up and flick the die from anywhere along the edge of the board. But they could also be stunned for the round, or only available to flick from the middle of the board. Each superstar on your team will also have a special power to help you manipulate the match, such as temporarily removing an opponent’s die, or being able to place a die where you want instead of flicking it. The last team standing wins the round, and play proceeds with alternating turns where you each try to knock the other’s pieces out of the game.
The second mode included in the base game is the “points battle” mode, where you try to score 21 points before your opponent does. This works almost the exact same way as the “cage battle” mode, except that instead of the last team standing winning the round, you tally up the points shown by each team. A special icon is worth five points, the ropes icon is worth four, three other basic move icons are worth three, and being stunned is only worth two points. The player with the higher total score earns points equal to the difference between the scores for the round, and the first player to reach 21 points is declared the victor.
Thematic Troubles
As far as dexterity games though, this is dead simple. There’s a lot of window dressing with the pretty custom dice and plethora of character options, but in terms of gameplay, they don’t change much. The theme of the game doesn’t quite translate, as the structure of the game has nothing to do with a cage match and instead feels better suited to a traditional professional wrestling match in a four-sided ring. However, the target audience for this game won’t care about any of that.
This is a great game to play with your niece or nephew who wants to flick dice and let out a roar as they act like Becky Lynch or Roman Reigns, or whoever their favorite WWE superstar might be. As simple as the game turned out to be, it has hit the table multiple times as a lightweight filler game for my group. Maybe it’s the simplicity of the design, or maybe it’s just satisfying to nail the perfect flick and ruin John Cena’s 17th world title reign.
WWE Cage Battle details
- Designer: Charlie Price
- Artists: N/A
- Publishers:
- Release Date: 2020
- Player count : 2 - 4
- Age range : 10+
- Time range : 10 minutes
- Mechanism(s): Flicking
- BGG Geek Rating: - converted to Meeple Mountain scale: .
- More articles about WWE Cage Battle.
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