Toy Story: Obstacles & Adventures

Toy Story: Obstacles & Adventures is a cooperative deck-building game. Take on the roles of iconic Toy Story characters and work together to overcome hazards. The game includes six different adventures that will have players jumping back into action faster than Woody can say, “There’s a snake in my boot!”

A game of Obstacles & Adventures lasts around 30-90 minutes, depending on player count. It plays 2-5 players, ages 8+. It’s designed by Prospero Hall and Kami Mandell, and published by The Op. Note: this is a spoiler free review!

“You’ve Got A Play-Date with Destiny”

Take the components out of the box that corresponds with your chosen adventure. Shuffle the Danger, Hazard and Adventure decks and place them face down. If it is your first adventure, put Escape from Sid at the bottom of the hazard deck. Put a token on the starting space of the Adventure Track. Each player selects a toy character and takes their player board, starting deck, and health token (placed on the ten to start). Players shuffle their deck and draw five cards. Reveal the first Hazard card and draw six adventure cards to populate the market.

Dangers and Hazards

To kick things off, reveal Danger Cards as specified by the Adventure Track. Resolve and discard the Danger effects one at a time.

Then all Hazard cards in play must be resolved. Hazard effects can hinder the active player or all players, with health loss, forced discards, or advancing the Adventure Track.

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Play Adventure Cards and Take Actions

On your turn you may take any of the following actions in any order: play cards (and gain resources), assign Insight to defeat Hazards, and purchase new cards.

Play Cards and Gain Resources

Play cards to gain Insight, Imagination, or health. Look for card combos that will draw extra cards or help others.

Assign Insight to Hazards

Place collected Insight Tokens below a Hazard card on the board. When there is enough Insight to overcome the Hazard, discard it. If it’s the last one, you win! The game immediately ends and you can advance to the next game and unlock a new box of content.

Purchase Cards from the Market with Imagination

Spend Imagination tokens to purchase cards from the market. Left over Imagination is lost and doesn’t carry over to the next turn. Buying cards is the key to making your deck more flexible and powerful.

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End Turn Cleanup

After playing cards and taking actions, do the following to end your turn:

1. If the token on the Adventure Track is at the Game Over space, oh no! The game is over and you have lost.
2. If you cleared a Hazard, reveal a new one.
3. Refill the market with Adventure cards.
4. Discard your cards and tokens. If you played a card that helps others gain resources, they keep those for their turn.
5. Draw a new hand of five cards.

Now it’s the next player’s turn!

Winning the Game

To win the game, players work cooperatively to all defeat all Hazard Cards before the token reaches the end of the Adventure Track.

Impressions

Toy Story: Obstacles & Adventures will bring your family together for 6 action-packed adventures in the Toy Story universe. You’ll choose from popular characters: Woody, Jesse, Buzz Lightyear, Bo Peep and Rex. Can you thwart hazards that stand in the way of a happily-ever-after ending?

The game’s artwork and components are top notch. You’ll recognize familiar scenes from the movies.

Since each game begins with starter decks, you must work to gain Adventure cards that boost your deck’s abilities. Look for synergies that will chain together to get the most out of your turn. You can even help other players with the cards you acquire; be like Woody, and lend a helping hand.

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While the theme is playful, Obstacles & Adventures is not a walk in the park. The combinations of Dangers and Hazards are tricky to manage. You’ll need to balance losing health and keeping the Adventure Track at bay to avoid drawing multiple Danger cards. Seasoned gamers will enjoy the challenge.

Unboxing New Adventures

After a grueling battle against Hazards, one of the best parts of Toy Story Obstacles & Adventures is unboxing new adventures. My kids loved the anticipation of seeing cool new cards and surprises revealed.

Each adventure not only includes new cards, but sometimes also new components and/or rules that alter gameplay.

Family Friendly Campaign

Obstacles & Adventures is a campaign style game, which means you’ll play over many sessions. Play games back-to-back or stretch it out over a couple nights; it’s totally up to you. There are 6 adventure boxes to unlock.

Because Obstacles & Adventures is a cooperative game, I recommend playing with an open hand. Younger players will benefit from table talk, and it’s great for maximizing turns to overcome tricky hazards. Planning is integral: you won’t win by happenstance!

The game feels well balanced at many player counts. It’s just as challenging at 2 players as it was at 4 players. New to deck-building or looking for a way to introduce the genre to your family? Obstacles & Adventures is a perfect place to start. Its quick start rulebook will have your family up and running in no time.

Even though there’s a campaign, there’s no reason not to replay after everything has been unlocked. Everything can be easily reset (thanks to the included organizers).

There’s A Snake In My Boot

The only annoyance in Obstacles & Adventures is the fact that you can’t carry any of your acquired cards into future games. Making a big play to acquire an expensive card is frustrating if I never get to play it or only use it once. Each time you play, toy decks revert back to the starting ten cards. It’s a bummer that I can’t take a really cool card along.

I would have liked to see some story narrative to go along with each adventure. You get adventure objectives, but it would have been nice to weave in the movie storyline. In campaign style games, that is something I really enjoy. Story helps move the game along and immerse players into the world.

To Infinity and Beyond

Toy Story Obstacles & Adventures delivers on its promise for family-friendly cooperative gaming fun. For fans of the Toy Story franchise, this is a no-brainer purchase. And while it’s family-friendly, seasoned adult gamers will still find it fun and challenging.

If your family enjoyed Toy Story Obstacles & Adventures and are looking for some room to grow, the next step up should be Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle. The game is similar, but set in the Potterverse.

Find Toy Story Obstacles & Adventures for on Amazon or ask for it at your friendly local game store.

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Toy Story Obstacles & Adventures from The Op for this review.

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