This is no Space Alert. Let’s get that out of the way really quickly. Every time I start talking about Fuse and its 10 minute timer, the comparisons immediately start. I would like to state for the record that normally I am a little hesitant to play a timed game, especially a coop game. If one player is slow or not paying attention, it can ruin the experience. (Actually this is true of all games – phones down – pay attention – you’re here to play games).
Ok, so back to Fuse. So…I love this game! I have now played it with 2, 3 and 5 players, and I like it with any number of players but so far 5 has been the best. So what’s this game about? Bombs. Defusing bombs. How do you do this? Dice, of course.
Gameplay: Every player starts with two bomb cards in front of them, with symbols representing what type of dice you need to defuse each bomb. Each turn the current player will grab a number of dice equal to the number of players and roll them. Every player must take one, and only one die to satisfy one of the conditions on their bomb cards. If everyone can, great. If not you have to roll the ones that weren’t used and remove dice that match either the number or color rolled. When you defuse one of your cards grab another from the middle – no more in the middle? Awesome. Timer runs out first? Splosion!
And that’s it. Pretty simple, right? Except that you have multiple people you need that yellow 4 you just rolled, and nobody can use that red 4, and I was sooooo close to defusing that card…
What makes this game is the tension. Everybody plays at once, they have to. Everybody lives and dies with each roll of the dice, and let me tell you that 10 minutes goes really fast. The first game you play with a new group is almost always lost badly (except for that one time we inadvertently cheated). But surprisingly the second time through, usually right after the first, is always either a team win or really, really close. No steep learning curve here.
So, let’s recap. 10 minute game. Fantastic tension. Relatively easy to learn. What’s not to love? Price? Nope that’s good too – at between $18 and $25. Components? Nope they’re good quality too.
The only possible negative thing I could say about Fuse is that it’s probably not for everyone. It’s a filler, not a main event game. If you’re looking for a slow paced methodical strategy game, this game is not for you. Also the symbols take a minute to get used to, especially when they are combined with a math equation. But that’s all I could come up with.
I love this game.