The Club

Two drunk disco dudes stumble into a club...

The Club combines simple tile pushing and matchmaking mechanics with distasteful art, cultural stereotypes, and a (mostly) luck-based scoring system.

In The Club players take turns pushing dancers onto the board and claiming couples from the center of the dance floor. Couples are scored based on the number of visible traits they have in common and the hidden traits on the back of their tiles. The player with the most matchmaking points at the end of the game is the winner.

Players can focus on creating the best possible couples based on visible and memorized traits, however, the hidden traits impact scoring so heavily that luck matters far more than skill. Doing well in The Club requires creating as many couples as possible (limited to one per turn), so players generally do not have the luxury of waiting to match the perfect couple with known traits. Tiles left in the center will often be taken or pushed aside by other players, which inhibits long term strategy.

Given the amount of unknown hidden traits present on the board, players are often forced to rely on luck. Memorizing the hidden traits of the tiles you place and all the tiles near the bar can be beneficial... but the effort hardly seems worth it. A more reasonable strategy is to simply remember a few good tiles and leave the rest entirely to chance.

The box, board, and tiles are made from durable materials. Unfortunately, The Club is marred by other design issues. The tiles stick together and do not stay in their lanes (constantly needing straightened >_<). The body size of the dancers (important for matching couples) is unclear. And, instead of simply indicating the dancer's gender on the tile, the game relies on using grotesquely exaggerated breasts.

Would adopting a more tasteful art style improve the game? Probably not. We found the art juvenile and unappealing, but it fits with the rest of the theme presented in The Club.

Can the overall theme be improved? Sure, but there isn't much that can be done about the failed satire without a complete overhaul of the game (and its 'large personality' ~_^).

Is it worth it? Maybe. Although inappropriate for children in its current state, completely reworking The Club with a child friendly theme and shortening its length could make it a good family and gateway game.

What can be done with the current game? A few things.

While the core mechanics and theme quickly wear thin, The Club can be improved by streamlining gameplay. Clearly indicating the gender (♂ or ♀) and body size (S, M, or L) directly on the tile would eliminate ambiguity. Using an itemized reference sheet for hidden traits (e.g. Roommate: +3 if match is a one night stand), instead of the included manual (too verbose) and spreadsheets (too many exceptions), would improve scoring.

Although it adds more luck to the game, we've found that rotating the board by ninety degrees each round and disallowing peeking at cards near the bar improves the gameplay. By moving players to a new side of the board each round they do not stagnate on their edge, completely at the mercy of the tiles they draw. And, without peeking, players can spike the dancer pool with negative traits, which would normally be revealed to any player on that side of the board.

I'm generally a fan of satire, pointed cultural criticisms, and dark humor, but The Club fell short in these categories (like a mildly derogatory slur packaged as a lame pun).

At its best, The Club is a light strategy game with a mildly interesting theme marred by tasteless art and poor humor. ~_~

Summary:

• 2-4 players, 60 minutes
• + interesting matchmaking theme
• + sturdy tiles and box
• • playing strategically requires lots of memorization
• - lots of luck involved
• - reliance on insulting stereotypes for humor
• - distasteful art style
• - tiles constantly need straightened on the board
• - ambiguous dancer traits
• - game mechanics make same sex couples inferior matches
• - easily offensive to many groups
• - becomes dull quickly

More information about The Club can be found at freddistribution.com/~/~product_id=101117 and Board Game Geek.