Image taken from https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8588924/hyperstar-run

Designer: Scott Almes
Publisher: Button Shy
Artist: Mary Buzanowa

Here’s the next installment in the solo Button Shy wallet games category. This is their most recent fulfillment and comes with a video game theme. While I’m not a huge video gamer (or really one at all), I was still intrigued to see how Scott Almes and Button Shy managed to make a compact card game into a video game experience, and I’m glad I gave it a go!

The main goal of Hyperstar Run is to complete a boss battling hero run by using buttons (like video game buttons) and card abilities. Each game starts with a line of facedown cards (number contingent on selected difficulty level) with the leftmost card face up. The hero starts above that face up card and the player has some of the unused cards and other equipment cards in hand.

Over the course of four runs, players can discard cards from their hand to use the printed buttons and/or “press” the cards they have passed in the level to beat bosses and advance through the level. One run ends when the player cannot advance any further, but all cards that got flipped face up during the previous run(s) remain face up. Also, before the next run, the player takes the leftmost card from the level and adds it to their hand to make the level shorter and to provide an extra card in hand. At the conclusion of the fourth run, if the player has not made it to the end of the level, they lose that game.

There are a few other small details that add to the excitement of this game. First, there are combo lines on some of the cards that allow you to essentially chain cards together and use fewer buttons to advance to the following cards in the level. Also, some cards have abilities that can be utilized by flipping a card in hand face down or discarding a face down card from hand. You do get to refresh flipped and/or discarded cards at the start of each run, but you lose the option to discard that card for its buttons.

That’s a pretty generic overview, but it covers the majority of the game: using cards, strategizing, and planning to defeat the enemies and make it to the end of the level. The mechanics are nice and straightforward, but despite my somewhat lackadaisical explanation of the game, there is actually a solid amount of strategic depth, and the design is truly very clever. I also greatly appreciate the surprising amount of thematic integration.

Not only do you have to balance when to discard a card to use the buttons, when to press button cards in the level, and when to utilize a card’s ability, but there is a weird amount of planning that is possible, and it can truly melt your brain a little. After that first run, the open knowledge of which cards come next and in which order is super useful, but it’s rather challenging to sit there and try to figure out the best way to maximize your hand and decipher which cards you will pass in the level and how to utilize them. And don’t forget to consider those abilities!! It’s honestly a lot to think about for such a smooth, easy-to-learn game, and I find that decision space quite unique.

For me, the card abilities are interesting and a wonderful addition to the game, but I haven’t used them a whole lot yet. I’ve found that focusing on the buttons is a little easier, but I commend the inclusion of the abilities and how they can significantly impact strategy. The abilities can be very useful but are difficult to manage due to the loss of those ever-important buttons (but I guess that’s part of the fun, right?!).

The combo options are also an intriguing inclusion that I haven’t had much luck experimenting with. When you’re able to successfully form a chain, it’s amazing and you feel like you’re cruising through the level, but there is a lot of luck and sacrifice to make them happen. For the theming and for the increased mechanical difficulty, it’s a really cool addition.

Besides all aforementioned, I also greatly respect the attention to replayability with this game. First off, there are four difficulty levels in the base game, plus there’s the natural randomness with the cards to create numerous different combinations. There are also four created achievements at the end of the base game rulebook that provide more variability in terms of game set up and goals. Additionally, there are two expansions that infinitely increase the replayability value. There’s a lot to discover in this small package!

Overall, I really enjoy both expansions. They are very different from each other but add a surprising amount of variety and mechanical twists with only a few cards. The “Equipment Drop” expansion provides four additional equipment cards that can be incorporated into the base game, and some of those have a different/altered mechanic to make things a little fresher and more unique.

The “Final Bosses” expansion provides three big bosses that can be added into a game to increase the difficulty and variability. The bosses provide clever challenges with varying degrees of difficulty and an interesting mechanical addition of bonuses when conquered and specific requirements for their defeat. On top of all of this, both expansions have additional achievements in their rulebooks making the number of possible game set ups/shake downs exponentially higher.

I find Hyperstar Run to present an exciting twist on a classic boss battler as well as familiar card games. The cards becoming open information as you advance through the levels is fascinating and creates planning capabilities while also lending to a serious mental puzzle. Then you have to consider the abilities, combos, the fact that you’ll gain the first card in the level, etc. and it’s a lot to think about.

I’m usually more of a cozy game person, so I had slightly lower expectations going into this one than I did with, say, A Nice Cuppa, but this has become a surprisingly enjoyable gaming experience for me. And truly, there’s not a lot I don’t like about it. While I wouldn’t claim I love it, it’s masterful design, fitting, thematic art, and quick, fun, easy game play with lots of replayability make it a solid addition to the collection, even if it weren’t in a tiny, compact package (but that’s always a bonus)!