The first step on my tour of demoing was to check out the one and only My Little Pony Collectible Card Game. I grew up during the rise of deck building games like Magic and Pokemon. As people went wild for them, other movies and T.V shows started to join in like, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Starwars. I never really understood the rules or substance behind the game; I just was really digging the designs on the card and used them more as collectibles then to battle my friends.
However, being such a super fan of the show to the point of cosplaying Pinkie every chance I get, I needed to dive deep into the still ever popular world of deck building and finally see what it is all about.
The My Little Pony Collectible Card Game is created by ENTERPLAY and can be found online or at gaming stores. Prices range from $4-$20 depending on what you are looking to buy. Starting off I would buy a Starter Set ($18.99) and then build with the smaller booster packs (3 for $10.99). So far they have some amazing packs out, including their newest Absolute Discord.
When setting up the game, you want two stacks (10 cards each) of problems, placed in the middle of the table. Then shuffle the draw cards (atleast 45) and draw six for your hand. Place the rest of the deck to the side, with enough space on the table to allow for a discard pile. On the other side of you, place your mane character and your point tracker. Make sure you are good about keeping track of your points, because as you gain more points you get to earn more tokens per turn. However, at the start of the game you begin at 0 points and 2 turn tokens. THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME IS THAT YOUR TOKENS ROLL OVER IF YOU DON’T USE THEM ALL!
Here is an example of a Mane character card. 
The Mane character card has two sides to it, “Start” and “Boosted”. I always advise in any type of card game to READ EVERYTHING! Everything you possibly need to know will be on the card. When you start the game, you will have the “Start” side up. The text on this side will explain what you have to do to turn over the card for the “Boosted” side. This new side will help you in the game, so it is important to get it turned over as soon as possible.
Problem Card
Now check out this Problem card. You will see that there are three different section of points. So anytime you fix a problem you get 1 point towards your 15. If you are the first person to fix the problem, then you get the bonus points as well. The way you fix the problem, is expressed in the numbers on the top and bottom of the card. Whatever number faces you during the game, is the number you need to be working towards. The upside down 5 with the multi colors around it, means you need 5 points of any color to face the problem. On the other side of the card you see 2 pink balloons + 2 non pink balloons. This means you need a card(s) that will give you a total or more of 2 pink balloons and 2
non pink balloons.
This is what the playing cards in your hand will look like. The top right corner is what will be used to help solve problems. For example Zecora is 2 purple, while that doesn’t match the 2 pink balloons I need, I can use it for the other part (2 non pink balloons). By playing this card from my hand it will cost 2 turn points, leaving my turn over when it is played (at the moment.) Since the problem is not fixed yet, I do not score any points and the next person takes their turn. Now if my turn comes around, I could play a card for 2 pink balloons and solve the problem first, gaining me 3 points (1 for solving the problem and 2 from the bonus points). Again remember to READ EVERYTHING! When I play this card, I get to look at the top 3 cards on my deck and put them back in any order, then draw a card. (Umm, can we just say that is AMAZING!)
You might have seen something called a Faceoff when you were scanning over Twilight Sparkle’s card and that is something important to be aware of. When the game was first explained to me, I didn’t understand this whole Faceoff thing, so I can only imagine how difficult it would be to try and break it down for you in an article. So instead of completely losing you and saving me from ripping out my hair, I’m going to give you the simplest breakdown possible. A Faceoff is when both ponies have completed what it takes to face a problem. First, each person counts up all their points from the cards they have played just on that problem.
So let’s say that I added these two cards to Zecora to overcome the problem I was facing. It clearly meets all the requirements. Now that we are in a Faceoff, I add all the points (1+2+2) which means I am facing the problem with a 5. Since they needed 5 total, we know they will either have 5 or more. If we are tied, then we discard a few cards and flip one over. We add that to our score, you keep going until the tie is broken. Leaving the highest number the winner, giving them a point. Once that is settled, you get rid of the problem card and start over with a new one. Sending all your cards back to “Home”. Now this is where you will need to discard cards until you hit your Home Limit, which is stated on your Mane Character card.
Of course there are tons of things on the side to know, like the number under the cost means you have to have at least 1 purple card already in play before you can play Zecora. (Which we do, because your Mane Character counts as in play. Since Twilight Sparkle is Purple, we are free to play Zecora all we want!) While the cards made me smile and oohh/aww all over the place, I really just loved the random quotes on the bottom of the cards. Not to mention, as an avid MLP fan, I loved the walk down memory lane as I remembered episodes I had forgotten otherwise. While winning is always great, this game is perfect for making new friends and bounding over what we really love. THE PONIES!!
