Robot Quest Arena Review: A Pillow fight in a Phone Booth

Tom, Roy & Joey take a look at Robot Quest Arena!

0:00 Intro
0:59 Overview
5:20 Final Thoughts

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[graptakular]

I backed this and didn't realize shipping is happening soon. What a great surprise!

[thebluemeeple]

Awesome! Glad I kickstarter it way back. Now my kids are approaching that intended age. Sounds like the wait is worth it.

[Bynx]

One thing they forgot to mention with the 2-player variant of this game...each player controls TWO robots, but only uses ONE deck for both robots. This game is a great Dual game and can get quite competitive.

[DanTheMeek]

Played it 3 times now, 3 player game and a pair of 2 player games. All of the 7 robots were used at least once. So early review from me, but not just a single game review:

Overall: 9.0

Components - 9 : Cards feel good, boards are thick, tiles are thick, minis are well painted, and extremely durable and weighty. Only real complaint is the box to store everything in leaves the robots loose and packs the victory point in a little overly tight.
Accessibility - 9 : My family (me, 5 year old daughter, and wife) were playing within minutes of opening the box and everyone seemed to grasp it. Only real complaint was constantly needing to look up tiles effects, and if you get the expansion or KS tiles (which I did) those extra tiles aren't explained in the manual so your constantly cycling through different places trying to find the place the tile is explained. That said, for the most part it was pretty obvious which were good tiles and which were bad just from the apperance alone, so you only needed to look them up if some one ended up on one.
Fun Factor - 10 : I'm not sure my daughter has ever enjoyed a game as much as this one. I and my wife enjoyed it too, but legit, my daughter lost her mind with joy in that first game. I don't think she's had as positive a first experience in a game since Quest Kids.

Depth - 10: I actually think this game b rings more depth then a Star Realms (which I also love) because of needing to choose between using your currency to buy cards, move your robot, and or push other robots. Knowing when to shove some one off a key tile, move onto one of your own, move in so you can start smashing face, or buy stuff is not always obvious, and because there's a limited number of robot KOs before the game ends, its really easy to build the perfect deck just to realize it was all a waste because the girl with a handful of 1-2 cards and her starting cards has too large of a VP lead for you to make up.

Cons - Aside from the the aforementioned issues with the box and needing to look up tile effects, the biggest one is the end of game condition. This is an issue because this is a "highest points win" game where everyone's current points are on display like ascension (except there at least some of your points are hidden in your deck if they weren't writing everything down), so its been really easy to reach a point in the game before the game is actually over where its clear there's no realistic way for you to catch up with out KOing too many robots and thus ending the game before you bridge the gap. I really wish there was something a person in the lead had to do to actively end the game so I wouldn't feel so disincentivized to attack when I'm behind and the blue cube count is low. Since there isn't, your options at that point are basically to concede, or try to stall while collecting non-damage Victory Point generating cards, which is both annoying for everyone and generally unlikely to work out. That said, there are lots of games which end in conceding more often then they do in actual conclusions, so its not inherently bad, just not my preference. I will also note I feel like the go first advantage in this game is a bit much. Unlike their realms games, there is not only no penalty to your opening hand size for going first, you ALSO get first dibs on your initial spawn point which depending on how the boards tiles have been laid out, can be extremely valuable. Not that big a deal if your just using it as a family/party game, but could limit the games competitive potential.


Minor Disappointment - Unlike Hero Realms, robots don't have unique decks. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but it does make the robots feel a little less distinct from each other.

Final Thoughts : If you can get the game at KS prices, this is a no brainer pick up, but cost of material has gone up quite a bit since the KS (the base game is now 80 USD) so if you like deck builders but your on a tight budget, I'd stick to Star Realms / Hero Realms, or at least get them first as they are much more budget friendly and still hold up to this day. That said, RQA does offer a surprisingly unique experience from those, while clearly leveraging the years of experience making deck builders the developer now has, so if your not put off by the price, RQA is a great entry point as well. It's also easily the best if you want to play with 3-7 players as the Realms games are really at their best in 2 player. That said, even in 1v1 RQA still shines, and is easily the most kid friendly imagery of anything Wise Wizards Games has made, short of maybe Kapow, while not feeling too childish either. Just be aware your having robots hit each other with hammers and saws and acid and what not, so if you don't like any pretend violence, even robot on robot violence, you might still stay away.

[azizmandar]

During the Kickstarter the company talked about approving the robots. The stepped on them, slammed them on the table and tried to break them. The redesigned them to not break that easy next time. And the robots are amazingly sturdy for this type of game. And they are still cute figures

[GlorifiedGutsyGaming]

Preordered this one right after getting home from Dice Tower East. My favorite game there this year

[kumanight]

I loved the look and vibe of this game ever since the KS. I'm excited for it to hit store shelves so I can pick one up!

[lincolnhoppe]

I agree. This game is great. Just played for the first time yesterday with my wife we’re teaching our kids today

[c.w.]

9:56 “I’m really in the mood these days sometimes just to blow people up” - Tom Vasel, 2023. 😂

[Bynx]

I love this game. I love deckbuilding and the board and tactical gameplay adds a great addition to the deckbuilding formula. I would highly recommend giving each player some sprt of screen or opaque bag to keep victory points hidden, adds a great layer to the game.

[albertdommer]

I played this yesterday. So much fun! My friend and I previewed this in 2022 at DTW, and we both immediately late backed it.

[pluvia]

Note about 2-player games, each player is supposed to control two robots when doing that so each player still has two targets just like in a 3-player game.

[lukeerikdavis]

I have been dying for this review. Happy to hear y’all liked it. I can now feel good about opening my Kickstarter copy. 😂

[celinalemky]

This looks amazing! Can't wait to get it for the family! Please review Animo the card game!!! 😊

[Rufiy]

I just love art, kinda reminds me of Megaman

[mrbastos]

got my copy last week. It is exactly what I expected it to be a quick and light deck building robot fighting game

[andrewmoldovan]

I read the title of this video and thought, oof, that doesn't sound like a good thing. 😂 Glad to hear that it's a fun game. I get my copy in 2 days, can't wait!

[nickforlizzi]

My copy is coming tomorrow..can't wait!

[CaptainParatos]

I am very happy with this game. It's nice and direct, and it does play very quickly.

Hoping it does well and gets some fun, and innovative expansions!

[Groovebotk]

I played it with my group the other day and I can't wait to bust it out again... for me this deck builder is sitting right beside Cubitos.