Review – Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game

Line: Transformers * Manufacturer: Parker Brothers * Year: 1997

I know, we just looked at a game last week (Zaxxon Board Game review here) and battlegrip.com is supposed to be about toys and not games. Art, sure, but not games. Well, I hope you guys will forgive me but I just had to get this Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game onto the site because it’s both awful and awesome in a single package. And since it’s a Transformers game from the nineties I didn’t think anyone would complain too much about me spending a little time showing off the game.

Published in 1997, I grabbed my copy of the Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game* on clearance at a Target — I wanna say it was early in 1998 — and in the decade plus that I’ve owned the game I’ve only played it three or four times. It’s far too simple of a game to keep me entertained, but I remember when the game was released and its history is far more fun than the game’s actual value as a game.

In 1996 I remember hitting the internet and searching for Transformers information. At the time I thought a Transformers roleplaying game would be a lot of fun and in searching for information on what could already be out there I ran across a fan-devised CCG, Transformers Battlecards. Unfortunately, the game never happened but elements of it surfaced in this Beast Wars card game. What really sucks is that I can’t find any concrete information online about this transition from fan work to professionally published game. This webpage of Transformers info has a zip file of the older game and this note:

Transformers Battlecards – A TF-themed collectible trading card game (CCG) developed by Richard Garner and JuQuan Williams. This ZIP file contains an old set of the cards and rules so you can print out a deck and play with your friends. While the “Beast Wars Mutating Card Game” and the “Armada” board/card game that were released by Hasbro were based on some of the ideas in Battlecards, the original Battlecards game was sadly never officially released.

And that’s all that I can find about the older game. Kinda sucks, but I remember being excited to see the work of some dedicated fans make it into an official, professional game and it gave me hope that with a bit of work I could even get my own game ideas into print. I had been self-publishing before then, and even done some freelance work for larger publishers, but for some reason the Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game sticks with me today as an inspirational work in my past. It shouldn’t, because it isn’t really a very good game, but we can’t control our minds and I’ve learned to accept that my own idiotic thought processes ranks this game much higher in my rank of inspirational games than it should. Have I mentioned how stupid I can be?

The Review

And before you shout “bait-n-switch” at me for rambling so long, here’s an actual short review of the game.

Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game is a two-player game in which players take turns moving their cards across a gridded gameboard and attacking adjacent, enemy Transformers. Combat is resolved through a simple card deck and comparing numbers; higher number wins. The loser is pushed one square in the opposite direction and the goal is to push opponents off of the board.

It’s actually more complicated than that — but not by much! — so see this page at the Transformers Wiki and the game’s BoardGameGeek page for more information and a better overview of the game’s play.

I’ll just sit here and keep trying to figure out how to rewire my brain so that it’s not quite so stupid. Wish me luck.

Philip Reed is happy that he has kept this game for so long. It’s not at all great, but it has some real sentimental value to him. He knows that sounds stupid, but he doesn’t care.