Nothing says family like sending little Timmy into the wasteland to retrieve bullets or water for the family. This is exactly what you’ll be doing in End of the Line from Fight in a Box Games. Players are given a hand of cards and a family of 5 and will try to survive the apocalypse for as long as they can. Whatever you do, just make sure that you don’t end up at the end of the line.
The Family Fun Apocalypse
End of the Line was originally designer Seppy Yoon’s first published game back in 2016. With years of design experience under his belt, this 2nd edition of the game has all the dark humor of the original with revised mechanics. I didn’t play the original game but, was lucky enough to check it out during our time at Origins Game Fair this Summer.
Players are choosing a family member, a card from their hand and one of four locations to place these items. Each card has a specific timing around when they will trigger, but no cards will trigger unless a specific location goes “terminal”. This means that once a location reaches the number of cards equal to the number of players, that line will resolve.
“Now” cards will resolve first, followed by “Event” cards, and finally all “Law” cards will resolve. These cards can create chaos in the line based on their effects. A Now card may swap the position of a family member in the line while an event card may kill a family member that is standing on that card when it’s triggered. Law cards can modify the rules for that line and will continue to stay on the table until something removes the Law for the line.
I think of this as a programming game where things rarely go right, but players who are paying close attention will have the upper hand.
A Pocket Full of Bullets
One player at the table will be the Mayor each round. You will be the first to reveal your card and the first to line up during the round. You will also flip over the cards when a line becomes terminal, resolving the effects. If no one dies during your time as Mayor, you get another term in the next round.
End of the Line gives players a nice variety of cards in their 5 card hand. But, all players will pass their hand to the player to their left before drawing back up to 5. It’s important not to give the other players the most powerful cards in your hand. If a player loses a family member in the round, they get to stash a card before passing their hand at the end of the round. Holding back a single card can be crucial in a tight game.
Players are collecting food, water, gas, and bullets as they line up under the different resources. If you play a Law card, you’ll receive the resource you lined up behind. If you’re first in that line, you’ll get an additional resource of that type. But, if you’re at the end of the line, you receive nothing at all.
A Dark and Humorous Future
End of the Line is a tongue in cheek game with a dark humor that leans into the pop culture of the apocalypse. The game is intentionally mean and many times, you’re your own worst enemy. There have been moments where I thought playing a card to shift my position would work to my advantage. Unfortunately, my opponents were a step ahead and their card led to my demise.
When enough family members die in a line (equal to the number of players), that line closes, forcing other lines to go terminal faster. Once a single family is eliminated, the player with the most in-tact family unit is the winner.
While the prototype doesn’t have all the final art and polish that the game will get, it’s easy to see how End of the Line will create memorable game night moments. With its dark humor, retro art style, and mean gameplay, End of the Line is an easy addition to the family game shelf.
Check out the End of the Line: 2nd Edition Kickstarter campaign through July 26, 2024.
A prototype of the game was provided for this coverage. Components and rules covered in this preview are not finalized. Read more about our preview policies at One Board Family.
