Robot Quest Arena

While at Gen Con in Indianapolis, I met with Wise Wizard Games to take a look at their new release Robot Quest Arena. Robot Quest Arena is what I like to call “deck-building plus”, a deck-building game plus some other board game. In this case, that plus is a Battle Bots style combat game.

If you’ve played games like Star Realms or Hero Realms, you’ll be familiar with the deck-building aspect of the game. All players start with the same cards and will develop different decks through purchasing cards from the market.

Energy cards grant you purchasing power to buy cards or move your robot in the arena. This feels like a great way to make use of left over energy after purchasing cards.

When moving in the arena, you can push opposing robots. Sometimes pushing them onto obstacle tiles that will deal damage.

Damage depletes a robot’s health and earns the attacking player victory points. Delivering the final knockout gives you the blue health cube worth double points.

Not to worry though, there is no player elimination in Robot Quest Arena. Destroyed robots automatically respawn on a yellow tile at the start of their turn with no penalty.

In addition to basic melee attacks that reach adjacent squares, there are ranged attacks that can hit opponents in line of sight within the number of spaces on the card. Obstacles in the arena, such as wall, can block line of sight.

The 4 included robots are pretty cute themselves, but if that isn’t enough, there are several expansion packs available. They include a new robot with different special abilities, and introduce new types of shop cards.

Robot Quest Arena is created by James McDonald and designed by Paul Waite and Rob Dougherty. Read the full rulebook and listen to the Robot Quest Arena theme song on the Wise Wizard Games page.