Setup
1. Assemble the board by putting the four corner pieces together and Life Support Dial in the center.
2. Shuffle the Emergency Cards and place them face-down near the area of the board numbered 1 through 6. Place the Emergency Dice in the spot next to the number 1.
3. Shuffle the Patient Cards and deal a number face-down based on difficulty and player count.
4. Turn the Life Support Dial so that the connection with the diamond is lined up with the first space of one Patient Card.
5. Place a Power Cube on each Recharging Station.
6. Take the Power Meter equal to number of players, placing it on the green side for normal or red side for expert. Fill the Power Meter with the remaining eight Power Cubes.
7. Give the most experienced player the player aid tile. They are the Chief Medical Officer and are responsible for the flow of the game. Another player will be intern and in charge of sorting and redistributing dice.
8. Have each player choose a dice color and put six of them in their area, placing one die off to the side and the other back in the box.
9. Place the Cleared Tiles and Lock-Down Tiles within reach of the board.
Game Play - The goal of the game is treat all the Patient Cards before you run out of time. Each round is played as such:
Pre-Countdown
1. Lose Power - Remove the left-most Power Cube from the Power Meter.
2. Add Emergencies - Flip over a number of Emergency Cards equal to the number underneath the Power Cube just removed. Add them face-up to the board filling in empty spots on the numbers 1 through 6. If necessary, make a second row above the first row.
3. Roll the Emergency Dice - Roll the two Emergency Dice and resolve the Emergency Cards (in numeric order) based on the dice results.
4. Planning - Players can discuss a strategy now. Time is unlimited, but institute a timer if you deem necessary.
Countdown
5. Countdown - Players have one minute to place their dice. Once time expires or all dice or placed, this step is over. You must match your dice according to the icons on the Patient Cards, and follow rules accordingly, i.e., one player playing all dice or all players needing to place dice.
Resolution
6. Resolve Cards - Beginning with cards in the Stat Area and moving to Emergency Area, resolve cards. If a Stat Area card isn't cleared, it is flipped face-down and put near the red-edge of the board. (Note: Too many of these cards will cause you to lose the game.) If it is resolved, it is put near the green-edge of the board and will provide you a one-time bonus. Remove any Emergency Area cards you cleared.
7. Resolve Patient Cards and Recharging Stations - Beginning with the Patient Card connected to the diamond on the Life Support Dial, go line-by-line and see if a line on a Patient Card is fully resolved. If so, place a Cleared Tile on that line. If all lines are cleared on a Patient Card, that patient is saved and you might trigger a bonus or penalty. Next, if a Recharging Station was filled with the appropriate dice for that round, you may place a Power Cube back in the Power Meter.
8. Turn the Life Support Dial - After everything has been resolved and dice returned, turn the Life Support Dial once clockwise, so that the diamond is now on the first space of the next Patient Card.
The game ends in success if all Patient Cards are treated or failure if the last Power Cube is removed from the Power Meter or if 3 face-down cards are placed in the red-edge border of the board.
Review
If I am being completely honest, I hate real-time games. (Okay, hate is too strong of a word...it is more a strong dislike.) My game group generally like to take our time and think when playing. Add small children to the mix, and real-time games don't generally work for us. When I played FUSE, I found it a stressful 10 minutes, mixed with a low success rate, but I had fun trying, probably because it was only 10 minutes. However, it was not something I would seek out and play time and time again, mainly because it was real time. So what on earth made me want to try Flatline?
I think the biggest factor in trying another real time was that this one was micro-bursts. Unlike, FUSE, where it's 10 minutes of stress, This is one minute of stress followed by an evaluation. Then, another minute of stress followed by an evaluation. This was my kind of real-time game. I could deal with one-minute and taking time to briefly resolve and evaluate after the fact. This felt like a comfortable mix of strategy, planning, and chaos, as opposed to 10 minutes of no time to think, follow your gut, and hope for the best. Also, it being only a minute makes it a bit more friendly for gamers with kids. You can tell your kid, "Wait one minute," and they'll generally be okay. If you tell your kid, "Wait 10 minutes," your house might be in shambles when you look up from the game.
The theme is supposed to feel like a hospital or emergency room in space, but apart from the real time stress of hospitals/emergency rooms, it doesn't entirely immerse you in theme. Since it's not constant stress pounding away at you the entire time you are playing, you can spice up your game by naming the Patient Cards (sticky notes) or giving them roles, but this might make the game too real for some people. The components are top-notch and what I've come to expect from Renegade Game Studios
The cardboard is thick, and the dice are plentiful and the spinning cardboard dial adds a nice touch and feel.
After playing through this game a few times, I feel like I have finally found a real-time game that is just my speed. It provided a good balance of stress and calm, planning and frenetic execution. I still don't love real-time games, but if someone asked me to play this game, I would play it, and if someone asked me for a real-time recommendation, it would be this game. Good job, Kane Klenko! You made me like a real-time game!
This game was provided to me for free by Renegade Game Studios in exchange for an honest review.
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