In the tradition of
Cheapass games,
Placebo Press presents ultra low budget games.
Trailer Park Gods is another 'beer and pretzels' game in the style of Nuclear War and Plague and Pestilence. Trailer Park Gods places the player as a diety of a trailer park (whoo whooo) - with the goal of either being the last god standing, or producing four points of "High Falootinosity" (to get back to a positive rating - each player starts with -3 points).
Similar to the other games, there are cards to steal others' population, and attack them - that's not so new. Attack cards rate from "Brush Fire" to "Tsunami" (after all, we all know that tornadoes are drawn like a magnet to trailer parks...).
The thing that sets TPG apart from Nuclear War and Plague and Pestilence is in the multiple strategies that can be used, and even the multiple choice effects of single card that balances the game from a killing spree to something a tad bit more interesting.
- Build
- Each point of High Falootinosity is made from three of the component cards, and if they all happen to have the same image on them, then it's two points. The "Monster Truck Pull" is composed of "Billy's Got A Brand New Pickup", "Mudslide" and "Satellite TV" component cards. Building a point of High Falootinosity such as this not only brings you one step closer to victory, but also lets you have an extra card in your hand and causes the followers of others to flock to you (2 followers from each player for the first point, 4 for the second point, 6 for the third point).
This does have the disadvantage that each component card in front of you (as part of building a totem of the trailer park) causes you to lose one flower at the start of your turn. This is often offset by the flocking at the end and discard of the three cards, but it is not advised to go out on a limb.
- Attack!
- Tornado - I summon you, destroy these, my enemies and let me reign supreme!
Basically, this strategy is to follow the basic model of the games that preceded it - each card is played to maximize the pain of others. It's a good strategy - very effective. This is especially the case here, because the killer gets any cards and High Falootinosity that the victim had.
One sneaky tactic is to put component cards in front of other players causing them to lose a follower each turn - just avoid helping them complete a set for a "in your face" comeback.
The most common complaint about this game is that it has very poor quality. The cards are the product of heavy card stock and a Xerox machine - I kid you not. But then... what do you expect for about $5?
The game itself is quite amusing (it should be mandatory to read each card out loud as it is played) and the game design is very well done, in a way that distinguishes it from the predecessors of the genre and makes it much more interesting to the serious gamer.