Reveiw The Manhattan Project: Chain Reaction

Hello there,

Another day, another review. Thank you sir for dropping by on my blog to get the opinion of a man who has yet to define where he fits in the universe. Or we all do not fit it in... Anyway, let talk about another game from Kickstarter. The Manhattan Project: Chain Reaction

Game Title: The Manhattan Project: Chain Reaction
Designer: James Mathe
Publisher: Minion Games (2016)
Player Count: 1-5 players
Time: 20-30 minutes
BGG Rating: 1,752 as of Dec 2016

Firstly, I have yet to played the first game in The Manhattan Project due to the fact I feel intimidated by it. Thus, I am unable to view nor compare the similarities of the two. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. Before jumping to gun, here's a brief low down on how the game is played. The game ends when a player collects 10 points of Bombs. Then, everyone gets one more turn and points are counted. Whoever has the highest wins.

So, how do you play The Manhattan Project: Chain Reaction. Everyone starts with 5 cards and on each card there are personnel available on the left, Output of the card on the bottom and the cost to activate the card. With the 5 cards in hand you will be trying to activate your workers (Labourers,Scientist and Engineer) to make Yellowcake which is then needed to create Uranium which is then needed to get the Bomb Plans to win the game. It is a card combo game which is ludicrously fun.

If you have not noticed already, I enjoy playing this game a lot. It is quite genius that a single card will have duel function which makes it a challenge when on deciding whether to use them for the personnel available or to get the output. How badly do I want to get the Yellowcake? If I use personnel for this card I might have just enough to get the Uranium from this card? Where are the freaking scientist cards? These are some of the questions you will be asking yourself. Player interaction is just enough to not make it a confrontation game which I am not a fan of. There are a number of cards that causes other players to discard card and when your on the receiving end, it hurts the combo you were planning I have with me that comes with tokens that are beautiful to have to represent the Yellowcake and Uranium. I have yet to play it solo as I am writing this, but will definitely give it a try.

Now, cons. There are not any that I can think of. It is a solid 30 minutes game which provide just the right amount fun and thinking at the same time. If I had to nip pick, it would the box. The standard comes in like a deck box which will definitely not let you sleeve up. My deluxe version fits my sleeve cards only after removing the inserts. I am not from the game publishing industry, but I would really appreciate if designers put some though in to their inserts. There are people like me who love for their game to last till the end of time via sleeving. Thats just a small matter.

Conclusion
This is a game that will probably be on my shelf for quite some time. It'll be the game I'll bring out when waiting for people to show on Game Night or when I'm just hanging out with friends. Definitely, a must have for those who enjoy small games in a box.

9/10