All Time Wrestling: All or Nothing Board Game Review

Anyone who grew up successful the ‘90s similar I did knows the WWF (as it was called backmost then, earlier the World Wildlife Fund won the trademark dispute) was each the rage among kids. So, portion I opted to get my spandex hole with Power Rangers, I inactive had capable folks successful my ellipse to cognize who the Macho Man and the British Bulldog were. While ATW’s taxable substance whitethorn not beryllium a large selling constituent for me, its balancing enactment of managing your resources and knowing erstwhile to propulsion your luck kept maine coming backmost circular aft round.

In ATW, overmuch similar successful existent wrestling, players effort to exhaust and weaken each other, with the extremity end being to pin their hostile and instrumentality location the win. Each selectable wrestler – including legends similar Macho Man Randy Savage and the British Bulldog, alongside ATW archetypal characters – features unsocial abilities and varying levels of wellness and stamina, which adds immoderate beauteous assortment to the crippled and helps support matches breathtaking from 1 to the next.

Combat plays retired with the subordinate holding “initiative” playing cards from their manus and rolling dice to woody damage. Successful hits propulsion the Momentum Track successful that player’s favor, replicating the assemblage hyping up the wrestler. The higher the momentum, the easier it becomes to onshore hits and summation different bonuses, which incentivizes continued aggression. Initiative lone switches erstwhile an onslaught misses, the defender blocks, the defender uses their once-per-game “Reversal” quality (which instantly stops the combat), oregon the attacker voluntarily passes to regain immoderate stamina and cards.

Between the antithetic onslaught bonuses and the quality to combo cards together, determination is simply a pleasant magnitude of extent and strategy successful ATW without being overly complex. What I recovered astir interesting, though, is however initiative is handled – it's done successful a mode I haven’t encountered successful different games before. I truly enjoyed this “press your luck” approach, and it made managing my manus of cards, stamina, and momentum much exciting. It often near maine with a pugnacious choice: bash I propulsion hard and hazard leaving myself successful unsmooth signifier for a accidental to cinch a pin, oregon bash I walk and forfeit the onslaught to effort and upwind the adjacent assault, hoping I’ll beryllium successful a amended presumption to onslaught back?

On the taxable of cards, this is possibly wherever my biggest contented with ATW lies. Instead of relying connected text, the crippled heavy uses symbols and icons to denote things similar damage, stamina requirements, peculiar attributes, and different modifiers. As a wide regularisation of thumb, if a crippled can employment icons, it should – truthful agelong arsenic they are some readable and not overwhelming. Luckily, I ne'er recovered determination to beryllium excessively galore icons to decode successful ATW, but the readability leaves a batch to beryllium desired.

The enactment cards, which you usage the most, diagnostic colorful artwork of assorted wrestlers performing everything from jabs and punches to German suplexes and signature moves. However, this tin marque picking up connected each the symbols much of a hassle than it should beryllium – particularly if you're connected the receiving extremity and viewing them upside down oregon from a distance. More than a fewer times I encountered situations wherever finishers oregon dice modifiers were missed, oregon cards were mistaken for others, owed to duplicate artwork being utilized for attacks with antithetic stats. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that of my agelong past with games similar Magic: The Gathering, but I privation the accusation was presented atop a somewhat opaque background, alternatively than straight implicit the art. It’s not a finisher connected the game, but it’s surely a spot of a jab to the chin.

The halfway crippled container offers players plentifulness of worth and flexibility, providing not lone modular 1v1 matches but besides a tag-team-based 2v2 mode, a cage lucifer variant with caller rules, and a solo run mode that lets you amended your wrestler arsenic you progress. The automated systems successful solo mode are fine, but admittedly, arsenic idiosyncratic who has ne'er rather gotten into solo committee games, I spent acold much clip playing against others than diving into ATW’s campaign.

As for tag mode, the inclusion of specialty spouse abilities and the quality to tag successful my person to proceed combos added an other furniture of prime and strategy. Still, it didn’t rather deed arsenic hard arsenic the halfway 1v1 mode. Even with the caller tag mechanic, I couldn’t shingle the feeling that this mode simply adds much players astatine the disbursal of having much downtime, since lone 1 attacker and 1 defender are progressive astatine immoderate fixed time, with partners extracurricular the ring. It’s inactive amusive and led to immoderate awesome team-up moments with friends, but I personally similar the much intense, head-to-head two-player experience.

For those wanting to dive adjacent deeper into the All Time Wrestling universe, the creators proceed to merchandise caller expansions – afloat compatible with existing contented – that adhd legends similar Sgt. Slaughter and the Junkyard Dog, alongside caller crippled modes similar four-player free-for-alls and three-player-specific Triple Threat matches.

All Time Wrestling is 1 of those games worthy checking retired adjacent if the wrestling taxable doesn’t drawback you. With games clocking successful astatine nether 30 minutes for 2 players and astir 45 minutes for tag teams, it's a large filler during crippled nights oregon thing compact capable to instrumentality to a bar. I’d emotion to spot this strategy adapted for different themes – similar a shonen anime (think Dragon Ball Z) oregon thing Power Rangers-inspired. There’s a astonishing magnitude of extent here, portion inactive being approachable for players of varying committee crippled acquisition – adjacent those coming to it purely for a emotion of wrestling.

With All Time Wrestling, Cation Arts delivers a melodramatic and faithful practice of the chaotic past of wrestling successful a bundle that volition delight fans of head-to-head games, careless of whether you cognize what a DDT stands for oregon not.

Where to Buy

• Get it astatine Amazon
• Get it astatine Cation Arts
• Get it astatine The Wrestling Collection

Originally posted:

May 6, 2025 7:15 pm