Let me start out by saying this: Something Wild! isn’t a single game, but rather a product line of compatible games. Reviewing Nightmare Before Christmas Something Wild! and Peppermint Lane Something Wild! seems a bit silly to me. Maybe I’ll review more versions in the future, more likely I won’t. So this review will cover the general rules, some specifics for both games, and touch a bit on combining them.
Something Wild is not a difficult game, and is suggested for ages 6 and up. But if you are playing with young players who can’t read, you may want to help them with the Power cards, or just say they only count as points and ignore the text.
Each game comes with Character cards numbered 1-9 in five colours, a set of 10 Power cards, and a thematic mini Pop figure. Shuffle the Power cards, reveal the top card, and place the figure next to it. Shuffle the Character cards and deal out three cards to each player, and you’re ready to play.
On their turn, each player will draw a card and play a card down in front of them. If the card is the same colour as the face up Power card, they may take the figure, once they have the figure they may use the Power in the center or any power they have scored. To score a Power, that player discards a set of three matching cards (ie: 3-3-3) or a single colour run of three sequentially numbered cards (ie: 2-3-4) that they have played in front of them, and takes the face up Power card (revealing the next Power card). If at the end of your turn there are more than five cards in front of you, discard down to five. In theory, some cards allow you to play an extra card, and while it is not explicitly stated in the rules I assume you could score a second time if you had a lucky play. But that sort of situation would be rare enough that I can see why it’s not in the rules.
When a player scores their third Power card, they win.
I had to go look this up since the games only debuted in 2020, but the instruction books between Nightmare and Peppermint Lane are quite a bit different. Nightmare came out first, and has a much shorter book (4 card-sized pages, double-sided) and is less specific on a number of things. A year later and the Peppermint Lane rules are twice as long. They are clearer about things like taking the above actions in order and that you can only use one power, one time, on your turn. Previously it just said take these actions, and that you could use a Power card once per turn, not that you can only use one Power on your turn. The other big change is that cards have icons instead of words (ostensibly rendering my second paragraph at the start of this irrelevant. I understand that iconography is meant to remove language dependency, but the icons aren’t exactly intuitive and add just over two pages to the rules. It does, however, make non-English translations of the game much easier since you only need to replace the instructions (an easy download) and maybe the box. The cards are the same. I acknowledge my privilege as a literate native-English speaking adult when I say I prefer the words over the icons. But I understand the business and accessibility reasons that make it an important change.
The ability to combine games was one of the reasons I specifically wanted to review these two sets together. You can combine as many sets as you like, but there will be a point where you are just watering down the experience. These two pair nicely, because Christmas. There are two Star Wars sets, there are a variety of Disney sets; if you at least combine similar themes, you can avoid that watering down somewhat.
When combining decks, the Character cards are shuffled together but the Power cards for each set are kept separate. When you play a card that would allow you to take a figure, you only take the figure that matches the colour or choose one if multiple revealed Powers are the same colour. When you score you may choose any revealed Power card, but to use a Power you must have the figure matching that card. This is a great way to keep the game flowing and to spread the Power-plays around a bit more. Although I have no reason to believe this will happen, it also opens the door for Funko Games to sell extra figures with Power cards, or have Power card-only promo packs: got a full-sized Sandy Claws Pop Figure? Why not have cards for him. Got a Funkoverse set? Why not also have Something Wild! cards for them? The same Ooogie Boogie Power cards could even apply to any size/version of the figure!
Sorry, tangent. Let’s get back on track and talk a bit about the two sets:
The Nightmare Before Christmas Something Wild! cards feature all the characters you’d expect, minus Sandy Claws. The only real thing to say about them is that I appreciate that Lock, Shock, and Barrel are sequential, although I also can’t think of any reason they WOULDN’T be. Jack Skellington is obviously the included Mini Figure and is featured on the number 1 card. When you play the number 1, you get to draw a card for each player, play one, and then the other players each get to play one of them. This is one of those circumstances I mentioned earlier that could allow you or a subsequent player to score twice on their turn.
Peppermint Lane Something Wild! is a bit of a unique set. Funko has licences for darn near every intellectual property you can think of but Peppermint Lane is not a licenced IP. It’s a Funko original set of characters. Santa and Mrs. Claus are the only not specifically original characters with the rest being a combination of obvious homages and cute original characters that just happen to be dressed kinda Christmasy. Their version of Santa is the mini figure and number 1 card (I assume that’s a regular thing). When you play the number 1 it has an icon (rather than text) which indicates you can simply take a figure regardless of colour. (If you’re mixing sets, discuss with your group if that means you can only take the Santa figure or any figure because that detail is not specified anywhere.)
Something Wild! is a fun little game. I would happily play it again down the road, but I probably won’t actively seek it out unless I was interested enough in the specific theme. (Additional Christmas sets or Doctor Who sets are the only ones that really come to mind.) Will I pull this out at family gatherings with my various nibblings? You betcha!! Will I recommend it to friends with kids? Darn tootin’ I will!
You can find Funko Games, online at funkogames.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/funkogames.
Don’t forget you can read all of our current and past holiday reviews at TheRatHole.ca/Christmas!
We always end our holiday reviews with a song. This review is a medley of two games, so let’s have a medley of songs to go with it. Enjoy! (Apparently it took Peter Hollens 7 years to make this video.)