I feel like I am showing my age the title of this game review, but Prisma Arena really made me think of my sister’s colorforms when we were kids. Colorforms are flexible vinyl stickers you can use to dress up characters.
And what does this have to do with Prisma Arena? Well Prisma Arena let’s players personalize their heroes with reusable stickers in much that same fashion as Colorforms.
Prisma Arena is a new board game from Hub Games. Prisma Arena is for 2-4 players, ages 10 and up, and takes 30-60 minutes to play.
What’s in the box?
The box is a standard sized game box – 9″ x 9″ x 3″. Inside you get:
- A two sided game board
- 4 Hero Standees
- 8 Mo’kon Standees
- 8 Action Dials
- 1 Advantage Token
- 12 Standee Bases
- 12 Obstacles
- 36 Combo cards
- 4 Hero Cards
- 4 Guest Hero Cards
- 8 Mo’kon Cards
- 50 Prisma Power Cards
- 4 Hero Sticker Sheets
- 4 Hero Lockers
- 4 Hero Storage Bags
- 4 Player Aids
- 4 Score Trackers
- & 64 Hit Tokens
How does Prisma Arena Play
Prisma Arena feels like a mosh of an arena game, a legacy game, Pokemon and Colorforms. Each player gets a hero and a pet (Mo’kon). Each player also gets a Locker and a sheet of removable stickers. Then each player dresses up their heroes any way they want.
You train your heroes against your opponents heroes in the Prisma Arena. Prisma is your inner light – kind of like Chakra in Naruto, or Ki in Dragon Ball Z. You and your opponent then spar in the arena like a typical arena board game:
- You have limited movements each turn
- You have close combat attacks
- You have ranged attacks
- You have combo attacks
- Your characters have Hit Points, and Level Ups
- Your pets have unique powers to assist you in the Arena.
After you have battled a few times, your heroes will level up and you can unlock new attacks, and you have access to cooler clothing/gear for your hero from your sticker locker.
Likes, Dislikes and Final Thoughts
Likes
- Dressing up your heroes is fairly unique to board games. I can’t think of too many games where you do this. Sure, people paint their minis/heroes for some games, but that is usually permanent. In Prisma Arena, you can change your outfit for every match
- There is a legacy aspect to this game. Each player can keep their heroes for an entire campaign. You can level up and gain access to stronger powers. You even gain leveling points if you played poorly in a match.
- Adults might like this game. The theme here is kiddie, but Prisma Arena is a solid combat game at heart.
- Heroes don’t die or get knocked out. They get “bounced” out of the arena. And the heroes come right back to battle.
- Each pet has unique powers, which can change the dynamics from game to game.
- The box is well designed. There is a molded plastic insert that holds all the cards and standees perfectly.
Dislikes
- The one thing that puzzles me the most here is that Prisma Arena appears to be a game really geared towards kids, but the game seems too hard for most kids to learn without help from a very knowledgeable adult. The rulebook is 24 pages long, and pretty complex. I know my wife would look at the rulebook and say, “Well, I ain’t reading that”, and toss it right back at me. If you have played games like Arcadia Quest, Zombicide, Dungeons and Dragons, Heroscape, etc., then you will already know typical line of site attacks, and close-combat attacks. But if you are new to arena combat, then this rulebook could be a little overwhelming.
Final Thoughts on Prisma Arena
There is a lot going on here: Dress Up, Leveling Up, Short Ranged Attacks, Long Ranged Attacks, Using Pets, Keeping Track of Health Points, Using Action Dials, Using Power Cards, Using Combo cards, etc. My fear is that Prisma Arena might be too difficult to learn for newbie gamer families. I think the rulebook could be intimidating to them, and scare them away.
But if you are a gamer mom, or a gamer dad, and you understand these concepts from previous games you have played, then there is a whole lot game here for you and your kids. Be prepared though, you just might find your kids just using the game as a Colorforms playset: Just dressing up the heroes, and using the Arena as a stage. And I would be totally fine with that!