Control by Keymaster Games

Stuck at home and looking for a fun and fast-paced card game? Check out Control by Keymaster Games. The sci-fi-themed CCG combines the mechanics of a traditional card game with an intense competitive strategic gameplay that will keep you coming back for more. This is our first card game review in a while and we will try to feature a card game review monthly.

Here’s the premise for Control: Players are time travelers who’ve been caught in a rupture in spacetime and displaced outside time. Each player must use Fuel Cells to refuel their own time machine to escape and at the same time stop other players from refueling theirs first. Whoever does so first closes the rupture, leaving all other travelers lost outside time.

SETUP

Control is very simple to learn and play. Each game round takes between 5-10 minutes. The goal is to close the rupture by reaching a Fuel Cell charge of 21 or more by laying down number cards in your play area adding up to 21 or higher at the same time stopping other players from achieving the goal by using different ability cards.

Depending on the number of players, the deck and discard pile is shared in the middle for 3-4 players while for 2 player games, each has its own. The deck consists of:

20x Stable cards (1-5 Fuel count)
28x Unstable cards (4-10 Fuel count)

Each card has a name and ability that will be triggered when played. Each player starts with 4 cards.

GAMEPLAY

Basically, on a turn, the player draws a card and perform one of the action below:

Draw a Card
Play a Card: To increase fuel count by playing Stable or Unstable cards). Abilities are triggered when played.
Discard an unstable card: Discard an unstable card from your hand. Abilities are triggered when played.
Diffuse a card: Discard a card from your hand and force an opponent to discard one of their fuel count. The number value of the card must be equal to or higher than the card to discard.

After the action is resolved, the play turn continues to the next player clockwise. Whoever has a fuel count of 21 or higher at the end of their turn wins!

Sounds pretty straight forward but once you get the hang of the game, there will be more strategy involved. You have to weigh the opportunity costs of your decisions, for example, high-value cards are very tempting to use to get to 21 quickly, but at the same time tempting to use for the powerful abilities. These unstable cards will be discarded once played.

Meanwhile, if one of the players is getting too close to winning, and in order to stop him you may need to discard a high-value card to force them to discard a card from their fuel count… and because you only have one action each turn, is it better just to wait and draw a card to give you more options in the next few turns?

Due to the fast-paced nature of the game, you will have to think fast as each turn will come quickly.

OVERALL

Control is a great game if you are looking for a short and sharp game. The sci-fi time traveling is almost irrelevant due to the fact that we focused on the number, card color, and reading the ability of each card.

The game flow is fast and there is never a dull moment once everyone gets the hang of it. Not only do you have to plan your moves a few turns ahead, but you also have to be aware of what the other players are doing… or else, it will be a short game.

The game consists of 54 cards and it is very convenient to bring this and play anywhere. The artwork is beautiful! I was initially drawn to the game due to the stunning gold foil on the black tuck box. The linework on the tuck and card backs are definitely eye-catching… sort of what you get from Theory11 decks. The face cards have a slight 60’s sci-fi vintage feel which fits the time-traveling theme really well.Definitely, a great game for game nights if you want something different to keep everyone engaged and entertained. Available from barnesandnoble.com for $12.99.