Terror Below by Renegade game Studio

I backed this one probably for the same reason many others did... I wanted a game that felt like the cult classic Tremors movie (and series of Sci Fi channel spin-offs that were just plain goofy fun.) But I am going to talk about the retail version of Terror Below by Renegade Game Studios and not all the kickstarter add-ons and upgrades.

The retail version runs about $45. The components for the game are excellent. Plastic worm eggs and rubble, wooden cars and a decent quality game board. The cards seem a bit thin and the dice are so-so, but overall, the quality rates well, especially for the price.

In the game, each player takes on the role of a hunter/collector/survivor trying to find worm eggs and deliver them to specific locations, which gain you victory points. There are also bounties in play that you can get to increase your victory points. The first one to reach 20 points wins.

Each character starts with a an item (in our first game we had a dog with a sharpened stick). Each character has a unique special ability from increasing hand size to allowing special actions. 

On your turn you will play a movement card. The card will tell you how much movement you have and how much vibration you will create, causing underground worms to move. The trick is to get the worms to move toward the other players and away from eggs you are trying to collect. But movement is not always easy as rubble can be in the space you want to move into. You will have to clear the rubble. But the game has a nice mechanic where you can turn in rubble you clear in order to get items.

As you play movement cards you assign them to one of the 3 worms in play. If a worm's target number of cards is reached, that worm attacks. It has a pattern on it's card showing how it attacks and if you are caught by it, you will use your item cards to try and kill it. If you fail... you die. But fear not! You have 2 other characters available (did I forget to mention that earlier), you now pull one of them out and they become your lead character.

There is a lot of "messing with the other players" so the game is definitely competitive. Make sure all players are able to handle having their well laid plans messed up by you triggering a worm in their location. We had a lot of fun playing and trying to figure out the best place to trigger a worm so as to mess with someone else. And the item cards are humorous, especially when certain characters get them (the Old Shepherd with explosives and Shep the sheepdog with his pointy stick are two examples).

The board is also double sided with special rules for the canyon side that includ being able to jump it a la Dukes of Hazzard.