Featured Image Flipships Box Art, photo taken by myself
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Flipships is a great game that combines the timeless fun of tiddlywinks with the fun of Space Invaders. Since writing my last post (Dexterity Board Games (the wow factor)) it has come up on sale on Amazon so I bought it for myself and I am very impressed with the game.
Initial set up of the game, photo taken by myself.
It works quite simply, the game starts with between 25 and 60 enemy space ships and a mothership arrayed against you, and you have 2 ships per player and 20 total health before they destroy you. The enemies are laid out in 2 rows of 5 at the top of the table each turn with any ships left over from the last round remaining or being shuffled back into the deck.
Your job is ‘easy’, flip your ships from the side of the table (or off the handy launchpad) and get them to land on the enemy ships. If successful the enemy ship is destroyed although it can be shielded by other specialised enemies.
Each enemy ship can move a certain distance each and deals damage when it reaches the bottom of the table. When you have 6 enemies left on the table it’s the final round at the end of which the remaining enemy ships will all reach the bottom guaranteed and deal double damage. As you lose health you unlock more ships you can use though so you get more chances to destroy enemies as you become overwhelmed.
The Mothership, photo taken by myself
You then have one last chance to destroy the mothership by flipping your ships into it and reducing its health to 0 otherwise you lose the game.
It’s a fast and fun co-operative game and I can imagine the 4 player version will lead to howls of laughter wherever it is played. It also looks very pretty and will provide the wow factor for anyone seeing it for the first time.
My aim can be a bit hit and miss, photo taken by myself
Parents beware!
Whilst it is a fun game it isn’t cheap! The RRP is just shy of £40 however I’d say it’s definitely worth it for the hours of fun it will bring. Click here to see it’s Amazon listing (reminder that this is an affiliate link, see disclaimer above.)
It’s also a space invader of a game! The box is quite small but it needs a large table in order to play it properly.
Image courtesy of Freepik
Questions to explore character with:
In this game the constantly descending enemies and the need for precision in your flips can really ramp up tensions quickly and you can use it to explore how you deal with stress and unexpected outcomes.
1) When the enemies started to fill up the table how did that make you feel?
2) Have you ever felt that way in every day life?
3) How did it feel when a flipship landed exactly where you wanted it to?
4) How about when it didn’t?
5) Finally, how about when one of your team mates missed, how did that make you feel and how do you think it made them feel?
image courtesy of PublicDomainPictures
Links to faith
The constantly advancing ships can be linked to the concept of sin. We can never truly get rid of sin, it is constantly there ‘crouching at the door’ (Gen 4:7) just waiting to get let in. Jesus himself tells us:
20-23 He went on: “It’s what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution.” Mark 7:20-23 The Message
The sins are constantly generated by us. We cant help it, its the human condition. It’s like the enemies in flipships. You destroy one but another will take its place. It’s constant hard work to keep sin at bay. Obviously flipships isn’t a perfect analogy for this because you can eventually destroy all the enemies, however it can show how sin can quickly overwhelm us.
If we make poor decisions in life or if we allow small sins to get through unchecked it can eventually build into an unavoidable crescendo that we can no longer handle on our own, we need to accept the sacrifice Jesus made for us if we are ever to escape it and we need to be willing to ask for God’s help and forgiveness.
Suggested questions
1) When playing did you ever feel the number of ships was too big to handle?
2) Have you ever felt this way about a lie that has gotten out of hand or something you’ve done that’s gone out of control? How did that feel and was it easy to sort out yourself?
3) Do you think sin is like that, can it get so much that you can feel dragged down by it?
4) In the game as things get more dangerous for you it gives you more ships and power ups to help you survive. Who can help you fight off sin?
5) Why do you think Jesus had to die for us, did it have an effect on our sin?