Cardboard Corner: Review of Flick 'em Up

There are several motifs that cross medium regularly and often. Space adventure, knights & dragons, vampires—these and many other ideas appear in films, books, video games, music, and yes, board games. From bluffing game to economy management, so too has the wild west made its appearances. But nothing would seem to unleash the potential for cowboys and bandits like a flicking/dexterity game. Flick ‘Em Up (2015) is out to prove the theory right.

Flick ‘em Up is a game for 2-10 players (10 players not recommended, 2-6 is ok). Shootouts at the OK corral in finger-flicking form, each team has five plastic cowboys (or bandits, depending on your side), and need to meet the objective of the chosen scenario. This might be stealing X gold from the bank, or killing the sheriff/bandit chief, or protecting a certain building, or something else. The game comes with ten scenarios. It also comes with everything you need—cactuses, bales of straw, general stores, fences, banks, etc. to make your own little town to have a shootout in, or, from another perspective, assemble the chosen scenario.

A simple game, on their turn players have two action points to spend. They can move and shoot, or do one of those twice, in any order. To move, players place a special white movement disc beside their cowboy/bandit, and flick. If the disc doesn’t touch anything, the player relocates their cowboy/bandit to the new location. If the disc touches anything besides the table (fence, cactus, building, etc.), the move is not considered valid. To shoot, players put another, smaller disc beside their cowboy/bandit, and flick it at their desired target. Knock the cowboy/bandit over, and you score a hit. Three hits and the cowboy/bandit is removed from the game. And that’s the game. Sides take turns with their cowboys/bandits, trying to accomplish the scenario’s objectives.

There are a few additional rules which add layers of interest. For example, players can enter buildings by shooting the movement disc through it (like through goalposts). Once inside, they are safe from shots outside. But if a member of the opposing team enters the same building, there is a shootout. Just as you would imagine, the plastic figures are spaced correctly apart, and each player has a chance to take a shot at the other. There is also a timer (a manual clock conveniently kept on the bank building), which tries to keep players focused on their objectives rather than just shootout after shootout. And lastly, certain bonuses are available which give players the chance to take extra shots and the like.

One drawback to Flick ‘em Up, and perhaps a drawback to many dexterity games, is that everything depends on surface quality. Too smooth, and likely your game will be more chaotic and less fun. Bits of the environment will be flying everywhere, and the control the player has flicking bullets will be less, resulting in less predictable, semi-erratic flicks. Something with a touch of friction, like a billiards table, offers the best experience.

Flick ‘Em Up is a game that looks great on the table, and with the right group it can be a lot of fun. (The group’s sound effects and table talk can be great.) But as hinted a moment ago, it’s also possible the game devolves into shooting for shooting’s sake, the pieces of the environment quickly scattered into meaningless chaos. I guess it depends how “seriously” the group takes the game. Too serious, and it’s no fun. Not serious enough, and it degenerates quickly. But balanced, and it works well. The game is not for every child. My 5-year old son, at least, struggled with the dexterity aspect: his intentions rarely met with reality, leading to a lot of frustration.