Back to Miami with the Funkoverse Strategy Game: Golden Girls
Form dueling teams of iconic personalities like Dorothy, Sophia, Blanche, and Rose with the Funkoverse Strategy Game.
There has never been a question that one of my favorite shows of all time is The Golden Girls. When my husband got the matching sets for the Funkoverse Strategy Game, I was quite excited! Yet I never found a reason to get the game to the table, particularly since it requires multihanded play to work solo. Still, where else can you celebrate a cheesecake?!
Game Overview
Game Name: Funkoverse Strategy Game
Publication Year: 2019
Designer: Prospero Hall
Artist: Uncredited
Publisher: Funko Games
Solo Mode: None (Multihanded)
With all sorts of character packs to find, there so many team and map combinations! A scenario provides the framework for points, and unique abilities offer ways to strategize. It’s certainly not designed for solo, yet playing both sides is possible for some nostalgic and thematic fun!
First Play
January 23, 2022
Complexity
2
Latest Play
January 23, 2022
Expansions
2
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
1
Play Time
40 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
30" x 24"
Low Score
N/A
Mother-Daughter Duo
Without question, I had to have Dorothy and Sophia on the same team! I liked the general idea behind the unique abilities, although this was a lot of text to understand.
I was initially thrown off by Dorothy’s dark outfit. Florida in the 80s and 90s was colorful all the time, and even though Dorothy wore some dark hues, it happened rarely.
Sophia looked more recognizable, particularly with her iconic purse! I really should see if can find one for myself…
All in all, I thought the rules and specific character abilities amounted to a lot of initial overhead and learning.
Best Ladies Around
Blanche and Rose offered up a more colorful duo! Again, though, I was a little thrown off by these outfit choices. The bright, overly colorful prints were missing!
While Sophia carried her purse, I decided that Blanche could hold the cheesecake. Now that was thematic!
For some reason, though, I felt an odd disconnect. I have plenty of Golden Girls odds-and-ends, including some silhouettes. Those felt more in line with the series.
I was still struggling with the lengthy rulebook that seemed to be describing a set of simple rules. Hopefully.
Fancy Meeting You Here
The scenario was one of capturing flags, or making it into specific zones. It looked like there were simply common types across all expansions… Not so thematic, though.
I enjoy skirmish-based games and team battles in a lot of settings. Sadly, this didn’t turn out to be one of them.
There were some laughs as Blanche looked like she wanted to threaten Dorothy with the cheesecake, but I strongly disliked tipping the ladies over in combat.
Simple tokens also had to act as stand-ins to round out the recommended 3-character teams. Lifeguard?
Merging Nostalgic Memories with Modern Fun
Perhaps I was simply looking for a lot more than what I found. Yet I also have so many memories of this show. I rewatch the entire series every year or so. There are old home videos where you can hear it running in the background when it actually aired! All the same, I was hoping to see my favorite characters get some well-deserved recognition.
Also… Where is Stan?! The added tokens allowed for full teams, but seemed so vague and bland. I still had a little bit of fun, yet there was an odd mix of convoluted rules and unexpected frustration over the components. I was stunned. Just stunned! But as I lamented, I figured the game had a quote for me: “Have I given you any indication that I care?”
I think there is a place for this game with the right audience, though. I might simply be someone who cares too much about fictional characters and all of their charms. Southern charm, that is. Ha ha! With other battle games that I enjoy more, this system likely won’t hold onto a place in my collection. It was nice to revisit a little nostalgia in the process!
Picture It…
This didn’t hit for me as a solo game, and probably won’t turn into a multiplayer game. There are plenty of 2-player asymmetric titles that I’ve always enjoyed more.
Such a shame! I was hoping to love these sets and the scenarios, but nothing else really drew me in.
I set Sophia near the ocean to ponder things. And maybe have her own scenario where she looked for swimmers coming out of the ocean… You know the episode!
All in all, I can see the appeal of creating all sorts of teams with some favorite cultural icons. Alas, it’s not for me!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1
Expansion 1: Golden Girls 100
Expansion 2: Golden Girls 101
Solo Mode: None (Multihanded)
Play Details: Dorothy and Sophia vs. Blanche and Rose
Outcome: 11-7
The points flew back and forth, but Dorothy and Sophia just edged out the competition when they made their final moves! Constantly relying on the luck of the dice didn’t help matters, but again, I had some fun moments and hope this is a fun experience for the right audience!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
5
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
5
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
4
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
3
+ Pros (Positives)
- Some fun nostalgia can be found in the character abilities and reminders of their famous phrases or scenes.
- Each set includes a double-sided board and multiple scenarios to change the goals and overall flow of play.
- Multiple ways to score victory points provide different paths, particularly for characters not suited to battles.
- Action selection is clear and available as open information so it’s easy to understand the different options.
- The cooldown track works very well to limit powerful abilities and allow for the perfect timing of battles.
- Once the rules are understood, gameplay is generally simple and not too difficult to advance through quickly.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Many successes boil down to simple rolls of the dice with few to no ways to mitigate poor rolls or outcomes.
- The system works, but doesn’t necessarily tie into different themes with scenarios that can feel too generic.
- All of the rules take some time to understand since they’re very lengthy and a bit convoluted to read through.
- Gameplay offers some fun moments, yet can drag on if the dice results consistently favor the defenders.
Victory Conditions
None (Multihanded)
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Complete the Florida Boardwalk Flags Scenario.
Continue the Conversation
Have you had a chance to play the Funkoverse Strategy Game? What are your thoughts about it? I wasn’t expecting a solo experience, but had hoped that multihanded play would be a little more interesting. Maybe I’m just spoiled by all of my other games! I enjoyed a short trip down memory lane… And now I might have to watch The Golden Girls again!
Maybe it would work better if they were fighting Harry Potter or Jaws, which I think is a thing you can do with these sets?
Two strikes against these for me: the big one is that I find the figure style unpleasant to look at, and the small one is that I’m not a huge fan of any of the shows they’ve got the licences for (indeed I’ve never seen this one; yeah yeah I know). So it could be the best game in the world and it would still have an uphill struggle to get my attention.
I think mixing the sets would be lots of fun! Problem is that I didn’t enjoy the overall system, so investing in more is likely a recipe for disaster.
Understandable about your issues! I think having a connection with the characters is important, as is enjoying the general visual style. I’m still oddly upset about how most of the ladies are pretty generic and key parts of the show are missing entirely. Guess it’s just not something for either of us!