So one aspect of Band Room Blitz that I'm not afraid to point out is that there isn't a lot of meat to it. It's a party game akin to Cards Against Humanity, Joking Hazard, Jackbox, and Music Trivia. And while that simplicity makes it easy to pick up and play, it lacks the depth that someone into Gloomhaven or Scythe might want.
All that being said, Band Room Blitz still has a degree of strategy that might surprise you. I'm going to outline a few tips and tricks I've found useful over the course of playtesting. Note that most of these are for when you're playing in the two harder difficulty levels of the game.
The True Purposes of the Modify Cards
At face value the modify cards simply add another requirement to the band name players submit to the band leader. But they can help you out in a few situations.
Bonus Point Blocker
Firstly, In the difficulty level On-Tour you get the opportunity for bonus points by being the first to shout a band name that fits the card in play. Thing is when you've been put on the spot that band name might end up on the tip of your tongue and you start sputtering, snapping your fingers, hitting the table, trying to get that bands name out of whatever deep memory file folder its in. This is a prime opportunity for someone to ruin your bonus point.
As soon as you see someone struggling to get a band name out that is your cue to get a modify card down. By adding a genre requirement, swapping a category out, adding a third, or any other modify effect you could prevent your opponent from getting that bonus point.
I Need More Time!
In Blitz Mode the 1 minute time limit really piles the pressure on. If the band leader happens to have played a particularly difficult combination of cards you can use one handy rule to buy yourself more time.
"If a modify card is played at any time within the round the 1 minute time limit resets."
That means you can deliberately hold off playing a modify card specifically to buy yourself more time to think. The added benefit is typically nobody will want to further complicate an already difficult round, but you already know what modify card you're going to play. You have an advantage.
Bonus Points for Me, but Not for Thee
Ok, now this one I've pulled a few times and usually it gets you a large dose of side-eye but its worth it. If you end up with the modify cards Categroy Swap, Anything Goes, or Encore hold on to that bad boy until you get one of the really common Category cards (or in the case of Encore, the card ends up in the discard pile). These are Color, Animal, Noun, Adjective, Number, Place, and Topography. These Categories represent more real band names than any other cards in the game. Once you have one of these Modify Cards and one of the common Categories loaded just bide your time. Eventually a Category will pop up that will go well with one of these common categories. Then simply play your modify card, get the common Category in play and immediately declare an existing band for a bonus point before anyone has even had time to process whats happened.
That's all for today. I'll have more strategy posts coming down the pipe as we travel down the road to launch. To keep up to date make sure you follow Analog Universe on our various social media accounts.